CAM-44
Horse-drawn carriages in the old town
The same old-town street, with a two-horse carriage coming down the road. Three people are aboard: the driver on the box and two passengers on the rear seat. A car follows behind and another is parked against the opposite kerb. Nothing is happening: the street is working, and what is needed is the figure.
Turn on IRIS Vision
AI-generated image
What IRIS understands
What it recognises in this scene
- harnessed horses
- carriage
- people on board
- car
- parked car
What this camera gives back
Nobody gets an alert here. Here you get numbers.
- 38+6%Carriages today
- 18:00 – 19:00Busiest time slot
- 8Crossings in that slot
- 09:00 – 20:00Hours with activity
- 2Horses harnessed
- 3People on board
The figures on this screen are an example from the illustration, not any client's measurement.
The series, not one figure
One number says nothing. A curve does.
Crossings by time slot
- Carriages
| Slot | Carriages |
|---|---|
| 06 | 0 |
| 08 | 4 |
| 10 | 7 |
| 12 | 6 |
| 14 | 3 |
| 16 | 4 |
| 18 | 8 |
| 20 | 6 |
| 22 | 0 |
Crossings by day of the week
- Carriages
| Slot | Carriages |
|---|---|
| Mon | 22 |
| Tue | 19 |
| Wed | 24 |
| Thu | 26 |
| Fri | 38 |
| Sat | 61 |
| Sun | 54 |
The figures on this screen are an example from the illustration, not any client's measurement.
How the counting works
Counting is not something you ask for. You draw a line.
There is a line drawn from kerb to kerb, across the direction of travel, and an area over that stretch of road. Every carriage that crosses the line is added up, and the direction of the line says whether it is coming down or going up; the area measures how long it takes to cross the stretch and whether it stops inside. This is not asked for in words: counting needs to know exactly where the line runs and which way, and a line cannot be described in a sentence — it has to be drawn onto the frame. Asking is for searching and describing; counting is set up by drawing. That is why the figure is repeatable and auditable: the line is where it was last year.
- counting line · Counting line
- road stretch · Dwell zone
What changes
What changes for whoever runs the city
In many cities horse-drawn carriages are a regulated trade: there is a cap on licences and a set of permitted hours. Today that is enforced by putting an inspector on a corner with a notebook, for a while, one day. With the line drawn, the council knows how many carriages go past, at what times and on which days, all year and with nobody on the corner. And there is a second reading, the one that ends up in the council chamber: animal welfare. Which part of the day the work happens, how many carriages are out at once and how many hours in a row there is activity are figures nobody has today, and they are exactly the ones campaign groups ask for. IRIS provides the number. The decision — how many licences, what hours, which months — is political, and a camera does not make it.
What people usually ask
Can IRIS tell me how many hours in a row one carriage has been working?
No. IRIS counts carriages crossing a line. It does not know which is which, it does not identify any particular carriage or its driver, and it cannot say 'this one has been out for six hours'. What it can say is how many have gone past and at what time: how many crossings per time slot, when in the day they cluster, how many days of the week and from what hour to what hour there is activity in that street. That shows the pattern of the whole trade, which is what gets debated in a council meeting, without following anyone in particular. If somebody needs the history of one specific carriage, that does not come from a camera: it comes from the licence register.
What use is counting horse-drawn carriages to a council?
For two things, and both come up every year. The first is enforcement: if there is a cap on licences and a set of permitted hours, somebody has to be able to check that the street matches that, and today it is checked by an inspector on a corner for a while. The second is animal welfare: which part of the day the work happens, how many carriages are out at once and how many hours in a row there is activity. Nobody has those figures today and they are the ones asked for in every debate. IRIS puts them on the table without taking sides: it counts crossings of a line, every day and at the same hours, which is why this year's figure can be compared with last year's. What is done with it is decided by whoever has to decide it.
Isn't it enough to tell IRIS 'count the carriages'?
No, and the difference is what separates the two halves of the product. Asking is for searching and for describing a situation: that is done by talking. Counting needs to know exactly where the line runs and which way, and a line cannot be described in a sentence — it has to be drawn onto the image. 'Count the carriages in this street' does not say whether to count the ones coming down, the ones going up or both, nor where the street begins. That is why counting is set up by drawing: the line stays put, the same thing is measured every time, and the figure is repeatable and auditable a year later. Asking is for searching. Counting is for measuring. And they are not done the same way.
A different case every time
No extra alarms here. Just what needs looking at.
Not a recorded video, not an explanatory drawing: a summary of the real screen, with a different case every time it starts. There is a lot more behind it.
- Finds the plate
- Reads the characters
- Follows the same plate
Next step
What does a venue with twenty thousand people inside see?
15 cases: 11 raise an alert when something happens and 4 only measure. You see each image as it is, and then with what IRIS understands on top.
When does a bad review get decided?
15 cases: 11 raise an alert when something happens and 4 only measure. You see each image as it is, and then with what IRIS understands on top.
And the best part
You can add more cameras;you cannot add more hours to anyone’s day.
Cameras can be multiplied; a person’s hours cannot. IRIS looks at everything coming in and leaves them the one thing no machine does better: deciding what to do.
Tell us your problem and we will say whether IRIS understands it, or not yet.
We reply the same working day.