This paper proposes a new method for counting vehicles based on video tracking. The process consists of two main steps: tracking vehicles and processing the output with minimal user input, separating the vehicle positions into sets of trajectories, which correspond to the paths drivers can take. The method allows to rapidly analyze videos from road sections and intersections, and yields detailed results in the form of turning movement counts. A large dataset of five hundred hours of traffic videos was processed using this method and the results are promising as mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) can get as low as 14 % depending on the conditions and the quality of the video capture. This paper also discusses the factors that affect counting performance and how to improve counting accuracy.
['Adrien Lessard', 'François Bélisle', 'Guillaume-Alexandre Bilodeau', 'Nicolas Saunier']
The Counting App, or How to Count Vehicles in 500 Hours of Video