Vehicle counts for links with no counter.
One scheduled pass over your corridor, detected and tallied by link and direction, as a CSV plus the marked-up frame it came from.
Spec table
- GSD
- ≤0.5 m (VHR)
- Cadence
- On demand
- Platform
- VHR satellite / aerial
- Spectral
- RGB
- Tally
- CSV, by link and direction
- Evidence
- Marked-up image of the frame
- Unit
- Vehicles in the frame at capture
Files in a delivery
| Deliverable | Format | What's in it | Cadence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Link tally | CSV | One row per link and direction, with the vehicle count for that pass. It is a plain table, so it pastes into the study worksheet or joins to your link IDs in a GIS. One file per pass. | Each pass |
| Marked-up frame | Image | The captured frame with every counted vehicle marked. Open it beside the CSV to check the tally against what you can see, link by link. It stays with the delivery as the record of what was counted. | With the pass |
| Repeat-pass tallies | CSV, one per pass | Order more than one pass and each gets its own tally on the same links. A set of passes across a capture window gives you a count you can feed into your own AADT estimate. That expansion stays yours. | One per pass |
| Capture notes | Note in the delivery | Where the frame was blocked, cut off by cloud or too dark to read, the note says which link and direction it touches, so you can treat that row as missing. | In the delivery |
How it works
You supply
Corridor in
Draw the corridor on a map or send your link layer. Say which direction is which and how many passes you want.
We book
Pass scheduled
We book an on-demand VHR satellite or aerial capture over the corridor. A pass needs daylight and a clear sky, so the date follows the weather.
We count
Detection
Vehicles in the frame are detected and counted by link and direction. Every counted vehicle is marked on the image.
Comes back
Delivery
The tally CSV and the marked-up frame come back together, for the engineer to check and take into the study.
Limits
| Condition | Effect on the count |
|---|---|
| One pass is one snapshot | The count is the vehicles in the frame at the moment of capture. It is not a flow rate and not a 24-hour count. An hourly volume, a peak-hour factor or an AADT needs repeat passes and your own expansion. |
| Resolution floor | At 0.5 m a car is a few pixels wide, enough to detect and count. We do not separate fine classes. Size is the only cue, so there are no axle counts and no make or model. |
| Queues and overlap | Vehicles bumper to bumper, or sitting under trees, bridges and tall building shadow, are harder to separate or see at all. The marked-up frame shows what was counted, so you can spot a stretch that read low. |
| Cloud and daylight | Optical capture needs a clear sky in daylight. A cloudy week can push a scheduled pass, and there is no night count. |
| Not continuous | There is no live feed and nothing between passes. This fills gaps between your permanent counters. It does not replace them. |
| Not a certified figure | The tally is raw input to your study. We do not claim an accuracy percentage or a validated AADT conversion. |
Why this exists
A link with no permanent counter gets counted the slow way. A crew lays road tubes and comes back to pick them up, or a lane is closed so a sensor can be mounted, or you borrow the nearest count station and assume the road behaves the same. For a capacity study or a signal-timing package that is a work order, a traffic-control plan and a wait, often for one line in a spreadsheet.
Who it's for
For
- Traffic engineers and planners at a metro DOT or MPO who need a volume on a link with no counter
- Capacity studies, signal-timing packages and corridor studies where tubes or lane closures cost more than the link is worth
- Screenline counts for travel demand model calibration, as one input among your other counts
Not for
- Continuous or real-time monitoring, or anything that needs night or live counts
- Turning movement counts, vehicle classification by axle, or make and model
- A replacement for your permanent counters or a certified AADT figure
Questions before a pilot
Is this a 24-hour count?
No. One pass is one snapshot of the vehicles on the link at capture. Order repeat passes if you want a profile across a window.
Can I use it as an AADT?
Treat it as an input. The tally is raw, and expanding it to an annual figure uses your own factors and your own judgment.
How do I check it against my own counts?
Pick a link where you already have a tube count or a station count, and compare it against the frame that the pass covered. The marked-up image shows each counted vehicle, so you can also check the tally by eye.
Does it separate vehicle classes?
Only by size, where that shows at this resolution. No axle counts, no make or model.
Does weather affect it?
Yes. Cloud blocks the capture, and we reschedule the pass to the next clear window.
Will it load into our systems?
The tally is a CSV keyed to your links, and the frame is an image. Anything that reads a spreadsheet or a GIS table can take the first. We do not write into your study software or model.
Who owns the imagery and the results?
Ownership and licence terms are written into the pilot agreement before anything is ordered. If your agency counsel needs to review them, ask early.
How is a pilot bought and priced?
The quote depends on the corridor and the number of passes. Tell us how your agency buys data collection and we will scope the pilot to fit it.
Pick a corridor, get a count.
Tell us the link, the direction and the study it is for. We will say plainly whether a pass can meet your schedule.
Start a pilot