Active mobility traffic data
Pedestrian and cyclist counting helps cities understand how people actually move through crossings, bike lanes, shared paths, public spaces and complex mixed-traffic environments. Viscando’s OTUS3D sensor combines 3D sensing and AI to count active-mobility flows and connect the numbers to directions, speeds, movement patterns and planning insight.
For traffic planners, municipalities, road authorities and consultants, the value is not only knowing how many people walked or cycled past a point. The real planning question is how those movements change over time, how different road users interact, and what evidence is needed before and after a street, crossing or cycling-infrastructure decision.
Talk to Viscando about your active-mobility counting project
Count pedestrians and cyclists in real traffic environments
Pedestrian and cyclist counting measures walking and cycling activity at a defined location so planners can understand volumes, directions, speeds, peaks and movement patterns. Viscando’s OTUS3D is designed for real public environments where people on foot, bicycles and motor vehicles often share the same space.
A dedicated pedestrian and cyclist counting system helps teams build a more repeatable evidence base. Instead of treating active mobility as an anecdote or assumption, planners can discuss walking and cycling behaviour with objective traffic data and visual material that is easier to share with stakeholders.
See more than volume
A pedestrian and cyclist counter should do more than return a total number. Planning teams often need to understand where people come from, where they go, when activity changes, and how walking and cycling flows relate to the surrounding traffic environment.
Depending on the project scope and measurement setup, Viscando can help teams work with data such as:
- Pedestrian and cyclist volumes.
- Road-user classification across pedestrians, cyclists and motor vehicles.
- Direction of travel.
- Speed and flow patterns.
- Movement paths through crossings, intersections, bike lanes and shared spaces.
- Modal mix and active-mobility share.
- Peak periods, time-of-day patterns and trend changes.
- Before-and-after comparisons for infrastructure or policy changes.
- Visual material and reports for stakeholder communication.
These outputs help connect counts to decisions. A location can have similar total volume before and after a change, while direction, speed, modal share, movement paths or interaction patterns shift in ways that matter for design and safety discussions.
One sensor system for mixed traffic context
Active-mobility counting often happens in places where pedestrians and cyclists do not move in isolation. They cross vehicle lanes, share space with other road users, pass through intersections, use bridges and interact with traffic signals, turning movements and street design.
Viscando’s source material states that OTUS3D can measure pedestrians, cyclists and motor vehicles simultaneously. That multimodal context is important when a project needs more than a narrow bike counter or one-direction pedestrian counter. A traffic team may need to understand the full site: how pedestrians cross, how cyclists approach, how vehicles move nearby, and how those patterns change after an intervention.
This does not mean every project needs the same setup. A measurement plan should start with the decision the data must support. For some sites, the core question is pedestrian volume. For others, it is cycling demand, crossing behaviour, shared-path use, modal mix, or how vulnerable road users move in relation to motor traffic.
Read more about the sensing layer: 3D and AI sensing.
Active-mobility planning use cases
Pedestrian and cyclist counting supports practical decisions about walking, cycling and public-space infrastructure. The data can help planners, consultants and authorities compare actual use with policy goals, design assumptions and stakeholder expectations.
Cycling infrastructure and bike-lane evaluation
Cycling projects need evidence about demand, direction, peak use and how bike traffic changes after new infrastructure is introduced. Automated pedestrian and bicycle counts can help evaluate whether a bike lane, corridor, bridge or intersection redesign changes movement patterns over time.
Pedestrian crossings and shared spaces
At crossings, plazas and shared spaces, simple volume can be less useful than understanding how people move through the area. Direction, speed and path data can support discussions about layout, accessibility, signal timing, visibility, traffic calming and user conflicts.
Before-and-after studies
Before-and-after studies need comparable data from the same location across relevant time periods. Pedestrian and cyclist counts can support evaluation before and after a street redesign, pedestrianization project, school-route change, cycling-network investment or temporary traffic measure.
Seasonal, commute and event patterns
Active mobility varies by weather, season, weekday, hour and local activity. Repeatable counting helps teams identify patterns that a single manual observation window could miss, such as morning commute peaks, school-start periods, weekend leisure flows or seasonal cycling changes.
Stakeholder and public-sector reporting
Traffic data is often used by more than technical teams. Municipal leaders, consultants, researchers, residents and funding stakeholders may all need to understand why a change is proposed or how an intervention performed. Visual traffic data and clear reporting make that discussion easier.
Privacy-aware traffic data
Traffic sensing in public environments must be handled carefully. Viscando’s current source messaging describes OTUS3D as a privacy-conscious approach where images are transformed into numbers and graphs rather than stored or sent as image material.
For public-sector mobility projects, this distinction matters. The goal is to create useful planning data about movement, not to turn a traffic-counting project into stored video surveillance. Any stronger legal or GDPR wording should follow Viscando’s approved website language and be confirmed before publication.
A good procurement discussion should clarify how the system processes data, what is stored, what is transmitted, who can access the outputs, and how the measurement setup fits the public environment. This page should keep the privacy message factual and cautious while linking readers to Viscando’s technology context.
Read more about the sensing layer: 3D and AI sensing.
From sensor data to decisions in VisualDB
Pedestrian and cyclist counts become more valuable when teams can explore, visualize and explain the results. Viscando’s VisualDB helps turn traffic measurements into visual data, dashboards and stakeholder-ready reporting.
For planners and consultants, that means the same measurement can support several decision layers. Technical users can inspect flows, directions and trends. Project teams can compare before-and-after patterns. Decision-makers and stakeholders can review visual outputs that make the traffic situation easier to understand.
This data-to-decision layer is especially important for active-mobility projects. Walking and cycling investments often need to be explained to different audiences: engineers, elected officials, funding bodies, local businesses, residents and public-space teams. Clear visualization helps bridge the gap between raw counts and planning action.
Read more about the reporting layer: Data visualization.
Pedestrian counter, bicycle counter or active-mobility counting system?
Buyers use different terms for this category. A pedestrian counter may describe a device that counts people walking through a location. A bicycle counter or bike counter may describe a system focused on cycling flows. A pedestrian and cyclist counting system should support the wider active-mobility context: walking, cycling, directions, peaks, modal mix and planning insight.
This distinction matters for procurement. If a project only needs a simple one-mode count, a basic counter may be enough. If the project needs pedestrians, cyclists, nearby vehicle context, directions, speed, movement paths, before-and-after analysis and stakeholder reporting, a richer system is more relevant.
How to plan a pedestrian and cyclist counting project
Every measurement project should start with the decision the data needs to support. Before choosing a sensor setup, define the site, user groups, time period, outputs and reporting needs.
Useful planning questions include:
- Which road users need to be counted: pedestrians, cyclists, motor vehicles or several modes together?
- Is the location a crossing, bike lane, shared path, bridge, intersection, public space or corridor?
- Do you need only volume, or also direction, speed, movement paths, modal mix and trend data?
- Will the data support a before-and-after study?
- Which time periods matter: commuter peaks, school hours, weekends, seasonal variation or events?
- Who needs to understand the findings: technical teams, consultants, politicians, residents or funding stakeholders?
- What privacy and procurement requirements must be addressed before measurement starts?
Viscando can help traffic teams design a measurement approach that fits the context rather than treating every active-mobility location as the same counting problem.
Talk to Viscando about your active-mobility counting project
If you need pedestrian and cyclist counts for planning, evaluation or stakeholder reporting, Viscando can help you turn active-mobility movement into objective traffic data and planning insight.
Use OTUS3D and VisualDB to support pedestrian counting, bicycle counting, multimodal traffic context, before-and-after evaluation and public-sector reporting.
Contact Viscando to discuss your measurement context.
FAQ
What is pedestrian and cyclist counting?
Pedestrian and cyclist counting measures how people walking and cycling use a specific location. It can support planning decisions for crossings, bike lanes, shared paths, public spaces, intersections, before-and-after studies and active-mobility investments.
Can one system count pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles?
Yes. Viscando’s source material states that OTUS3D can measure pedestrians, cyclists and motor vehicles simultaneously. The exact setup for a specific location should be confirmed with Viscando during project planning.
What data can active-mobility counting provide beyond totals?
Beyond total volume, active-mobility counting can support analysis of direction, speed, movement paths, modal mix, peak periods, trends and before-and-after changes. With VisualDB, the data can also be visualized and shared with stakeholders.
How can pedestrian and cyclist counts support before-and-after studies?
Before-and-after studies compare movement patterns before and after an infrastructure, street-design or policy change. Pedestrian and cyclist counts can help teams compare volumes, directions, speeds, modal mix and time patterns across comparable periods.
How does Viscando handle privacy in traffic sensing?
Viscando’s current messaging describes OTUS3D as a privacy-conscious system where images are converted into numbers and graphs rather than stored or sent as image material. Any stronger legal or GDPR wording should be reviewed against Viscando’s approved website language before publication.
Where can pedestrian and cyclist counting be used?
Pedestrian and cyclist counting can be used at crossings, bike lanes, shared paths, bridges, school routes, intersections, commuter corridors, public spaces and areas being evaluated for traffic calming, pedestrianization or active-mobility investment.
