Telraam

Telraam (the name is Dutch and means “counting window”) claims its tech is particularly useful for “addressing social issues” and “creating valuable citizen engagement for transport authorities and urban planners.” Traffic monitoring has been on the minds of urban planners and traffic wonks for a long time — TechCrunch published an impassioned plea for better data back in 2015, for example.

“The pilot will demonstrate the quality of data that can be gathered in partnership with community groups to the SFMTA, saving them money and time, adding a greater level of detail than was available previously, and creating new channels of engagement with the residents involved,” says Telraam’s CEO Kris Vanherle. “If these 50 devices can demonstrate that Slow Streets are, or are not, performing as expected, and which ones and what interventions are most successful, then both the counting network and the Slow Street networks can be expanded.”

The San Francisco project represents the first deployment of the company’s products outside of Europe — existing cities that are sensored up are Utrecht, Amsterdam, Berlin and Brussels. London is next.

The company says city planners need traffic data, but that the problem it is addressing has historically focused solely on motorized vehicle data on major roads. This is a challenge, because, of course, the urban traffic landscape is about more than cars, buses and the odd police car. By adding a focus on “livable urban streets,” the sensors also track walkers, bikers and other modes of transport.

The device is a camera sensor that detects moving objects from a residential window facing the street. It identifies the objects using machine learning and AI, then categorizes it along with the direction of travel and the speed (for vehicles). The anonymized data is then sent to Telraam servers. This creates an open data resource that is available to the device user on a dashboard but also to local network clients who monitor the devices in a particular area or region. From there, it’s made public via the company’s website map and API.

Privacy by design

As you might expect from a company based in Europe, which is becoming increasingly privacy-forward, Telraam has designed the device to be as private as possible. The low-resolution video images are processed on the device itself, then discarded, and the company says only the anonymized data table is transmitted off-device.

“The camera is deliberately low resolution. The quality is sufficient for the AI chip to process in order to recognize the moving objects and categorize them as a car, bike or pedestrian, for example, but not enough detail to be able to see a face or read a license plate. There is no chance to identify individuals or vehicles,” says Vanherle. “This means that Telraam S2 devices can provide useful traffic counts, but not collect any private information on the street users who pass by.”

You can check out the company’s traffic map yourself on the company’s website, and more industrial users can apply to gain access to an API to analyze the data in more detail.

“Individual campaigners can purchase a device for their own window and monitor their street, and use this to lobby their neighbors and local community for change. Ultimately they can also encourage whoever makes policy or planning decisions locally to gather more data together, and collaborate on local improvements,” Vanherle explains. “Telraam also works with local authorities to help organize and coordinate local networks that can be from 10 to 300+ devices depending on the requirements, and then to support them as they recruit local volunteers.”

www.telraam.net

The Telraam S2 is a custom-built device, designed in Belgium and built in the EU, to address the need for affordable devices that monitor street mobility in many more locations than is possible with traditional counting methods. The Telraam S2 camera device combines an Artificial Intelligence (AI) chip to count cars, vans, bikes, pedestrians and more, and an Internet-of-Things (IoT) connection to relay the data to its servers, which is then available as Open Data.
“Telraam is extremely excited about the potential of the new S2 devices to support transport and mobility professionals, as well as citizen campaigners all over the world. We have been working on this upgrade to our original device for several years. Our goal was to make a device that was attractive and useful but was also easy to install and run, all while delivering reliable data.” says Kris Vanherle, co-founder and CEO of Telraam.
Rapidly growing international expansion
Telraam already has almost 2000 of the original V1 devices built upon Raspberry Pi technology, active in 19 countries. To date, these devices have provided more than 26 million hours of traffic counts. New network deployments will use the S2 to take advantage of the wider range of objects that are recognised, and the built-in LTE-M connection.
There is growing demand in countries in Europe, UK, USA & Canada, but also fast-developing countries, for a device that can gather data in a simple, inexpensive and qualitative way to study the relationship between vehicle volumes and speeds, and measure the switch to active travel modes. The Telraam S2 is a solution for the complex mobility demands of cities and towns, combining technology and citizen participation. In addition to the 50 networks with the V1 sensor, the first contracts have already been signed for the rollout of the new sensor in various locations, worldwide.
AI counts traffic
The new device is the result of extensive development with various partners to achieve a high-performance solution.
“We are deploying our custom-trained AI model for traffic detection today which already has high levels of accuracy, but we also have the ability to regularly update this model remotely to each device to add further enhancements to deal with new scenarios and traffic patterns.” says Dr. Péter I. Pápics, chief data scientist.
Networks of Telraam S2 devices have custom dashboards designed to allow urban mobility professionals to manage numerous devices and engage their many users and volunteers. These devices are also available to individual citizens for collecting local traffic data, and they get free connections subsidised by Telraam.
For further details and specifications of the Telraam S2, visit: https://www.telraam.net/en/S2


ABOUT TELRAAM
Telraam is the trading name of Rear Window BV, a startup based in Leuven (Belgium), that is pioneering the use of AI technology to generate multimodal traffic data through citizen science to support local mobility campaigns and create opportunities for citizen engagement through its Telraam devices.
Telraam devices are currently found in 19 countries, and operate over 50 networks in partnership with city & local authorities, municipal and regional governments and mobility related campaigns.
For more information, visit: www.telraam.net