Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library
Suma is the most practical and reliable way to do this right now, I think. I've been investigating using a sensor network, but there are a lot of limits on the accuracy of PIR, and trip-lasers are low enough and require enough power that they'd be troublesome to maintain in a busy undergraduate environment. One idea was to use an array of sensors: PIR for motion, microphone for noise level and piezo/something similar for vibration. The thought is that elevated levels of these 3 measurements should correspond to high activity. The placement and calibration of the sensors, though, would be key, and you'd need to do some thorough spot checking with Suma or something similar in order to be confident that what you're measuring (motion, noise and vibration) actually correlate to number of people. The sensors would also need to be made out of cheap enough materials and use low-congestion wireless frequencies in order to be practical. Balancing this with accuracy may never happen... but it would certainly be a fun experiment! -Ian -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Andreas Orphanides Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 9:27 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library In that case, Suma is probably your thing. On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 7:49 PM, Thomas Misilo misi...@fit.edu wrote: Thank you all for the suggestions. I guess I should be a little more specific. I am looking for something that can be loaded up on a tablet (ipad and/or nexus 7), and have the laylout of the floor + chairs and tables. We are wanting to track usage of specific carrels and tables in different locations on the floor. To determine if they are in a good place or if they need to be repositioned or repurposed. Thanks again! s Tom -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of stuart yeates Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 6:43 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library Many buildings have IR sensors already installed for burglar alarms / fire detection. If you can get a read-only feed from that system you may be able to piggyback. Of course, these kinds of sensors are tripped by staff making regular rounds of all spaces and similar non-patron activity. cheers stuart On 16/08/13 06:33, Brian Feifarek wrote: Motion sensors might be the ticket. For example, https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8630 Brian - Original Message - From: Andreas Orphanides akorp...@ncsu.edu To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 11:12:02 AM Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library Oh, that's a much better idea than light sensors. One challenge with that might be difficulty in determining what vacant looks like authoritatively, especially if people move chairs, walk through room, etc. But much more accessible than actually bolting stuff to the table, I would think. On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 1:03 PM, Schwartz, Raymond schwart...@wpunj.eduwrote: Hey Dre, Perhaps a video camera with some OpenCV? -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Andreas Orphanides Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 8:55 AM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library If I were feeling really ambitious -- and fair warning, I'm a big believer that any solution worth engineering is worth over-engineering -- I'd come up with something involving light sensors (a la a gate counter) mounted on the table legs, just above seat height. Throw in some something something Arduino or Raspberry Pi, and Bob's your uncle. I find myself more intimidated by the practicality of maintaining such a system (batteries, cord management etc) than about the practicality of this implementation, actually. -dre. On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 7:59 PM, Thomas Misilo misi...@fit.edu wrote: Hi, I was wondering if anyone has been asked before to come up with a way to record usage of tables. The ideal solution would be a web app, that we can create floor plans with where all the tables/chairs are and select the reporting time, say 9PM at night. Go around the library and select all the seats/tables/rooms that are currently being used/occupied for statistical data. We would be wanting to go around probably multiple times a day. The current solution I have seen is a pen and paper task, and then someone will have to manually put the data into a spreadsheet for analysis. Thanks! Tom -- Stuart Yeates Library
Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library
On Aug 16, 2013, at 9:52 AM, Ian Walls wrote: Suma is the most practical and reliable way to do this right now, I think. I've been investigating using a sensor network, but there are a lot of limits on the accuracy of PIR, and trip-lasers are low enough and require enough power that they'd be troublesome to maintain in a busy undergraduate environment. One idea was to use an array of sensors: PIR for motion, microphone for noise level and piezo/something similar for vibration. The thought is that elevated levels of these 3 measurements should correspond to high activity. The placement and calibration of the sensors, though, would be key, and you'd need to do some thorough spot checking with Suma or something similar in order to be confident that what you're measuring (motion, noise and vibration) actually correlate to number of people. The sensors would also need to be made out of cheap enough materials and use low-congestion wireless frequencies in order to be practical. Balancing this with accuracy may never happen... but it would certainly be a fun experiment! If you're going to take the sensor approach, and it's just a matter of if there are bodies in specific places, you *might* be able to do it by modifying cheap webcams. Many are sensitive in infrared, so you take the IR filter out, and then add a visible filter. Position the cameras so that you have coverage of the area you care about, have them take a picture at whatever times you care about, and then it's just looking for hot spots. (although of course, if you do this, it'd be just as easy for someone to review security camera footage, if you have coverage in the places you care about; the IR might be easier to automate the counting, though, if you have someone who's good with automated image analysis) And if it's just a matter of activity counting -- you might be able to see if your wireless access points can tell how many items they're in contact with, and use that as a proxy. -Joe
Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library
Just install the callback with your singularity. On 13-08-15 05:36 PM, Terrell, Trey wrote: It's funny you mention this - we had some ECE students build this exact thing for us for one of their projects. They ended up being $100/piece and required a plugin. They used wifi (definitely some room for improvement there) to notify a web interface and an infrared sensor to detect if people were there. It was a really neat project, the cost and implementation requirements just pushed it out of range to deploy it on a library-wide scale right now. -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Andreas Orphanides Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 5:55 AM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library If I were feeling really ambitious -- and fair warning, I'm a big believer that any solution worth engineering is worth over-engineering -- I'd come up with something involving light sensors (a la a gate counter) mounted on the table legs, just above seat height. Throw in some something something Arduino or Raspberry Pi, and Bob's your uncle. I find myself more intimidated by the practicality of maintaining such a system (batteries, cord management etc) than about the practicality of this implementation, actually. -dre. On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 7:59 PM, Thomas Misilo misi...@fit.edu wrote: Hi, I was wondering if anyone has been asked before to come up with a way to record usage of tables. The ideal solution would be a web app, that we can create floor plans with where all the tables/chairs are and select the reporting time, say 9PM at night. Go around the library and select all the seats/tables/rooms that are currently being used/occupied for statistical data. We would be wanting to go around probably multiple times a day. The current solution I have seen is a pen and paper task, and then someone will have to manually put the data into a spreadsheet for analysis. Thanks! Tom
Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library
Hi Tom, It's nice to see Suma discussed on this thread, and I do think that it is a pretty nice tool for collecting, managing, and analyzing a variety of transactional and observational use data. We're using it at NCSU to collect a fairly wide range of data, including head counts, service desk transactions, roaming service, technology lending issues, and detailed space usage for new or experimental spaces. I wanted to respond specifically to two of the requirements you listed with a brief explanation of our design decisions. 1) Chair-level data A central goal of Suma from a very early point in the project has been to support frequent, long-running, and (optionally) mobile data collection initiatives with stable, simple, and reusable tools for collection, management, and analysis of this data. In our conversations about highly granular data like chair usage, several conflicts with Suma's priorities of simplicity and flexibility were identified. First, this kind of data can be very brittle. Even minor changes to furniture layouts can introduce a serious disruption to long-term data. For example, if you decide to change out the chairs at a table with a new style, are those the same chairs that were counted earlier, or are these new chairs? Or if you add a chair to a table, or push two tables together, which chairs are new and which are old? How do you encode that information? How often do you need to update the collection interface? Second, we felt it would be much more difficult to design simple but sophisticated reusable data visualization and analysis tools with geographic data (say, the specific location coordinate of a chair) and, in order to provide more than a floor plan heat map, we would need to map these coordinates to regions, and those regions to larger regions, etc., which would quickly obscure the chair-level data. Finally, when we collected examples of questions that people would like to ask of the data, the tools to answer them rarely required chair-level usage information. We decided to represent locations as a hierarchy where a data collector just drills down to the most relevant location label. This isn't to say that Suma couldn't support very specific regions. In a couple of cases where we have particularly specific questions about space use, we do break down spaces into detailed regions such as lockers or soft seating. It would be pretty difficult to collect chair-level data in Suma, though. I do also recognize that there are cases where chair-level data is critical. There are proprietary tools used by interior design and architecture firms to support these activities, and our Building Services department uses PlanGrid for tracking issues on a floor plan using an iOS device, but we have focused more on regional data in Suma so far. There are probably some other options out there that I've missed. 2) Floor plan interface This was a big part of our early design discussions. Like many libraries, our earlier usage data collection methods were quite varied, and included a variety of paper forms (to later be entered into spreadsheets) and sometimes paper floor plans with seat-level pencil marks. While we felt that seat-level or coordinate data generally could not justify its cost for the reasons described above, the ability to select a regional location using a floor plan would definitely be convenient and may improve data consistency in ambiguous connective spaces. In this case, our decision was really driven by technical expediency and open-source community support. Providing a floor plan interface would require the development of a system for managing and coding floor plan images (we could probably use OpenLayers for part of this), which would have slowed our initial development and created hurdles for deployments to new locations. We have always maintained, though, that this kind of interface could be developed for Suma if it were compatible with our location hierarchies (and, of course, pull requests are always welcome). In two years of heavy internal use, though, we have found that the text-based location hierarchies require only a small amount of training in order to ensure consistent use. If you do think that you might want to try out Suma, just drop me a line and I can show you around a live demo. Also, I can't resist joining in on the seat usage spitballing. I saw a presentation once that described an NFC-based seat reservation system at a Korean library. Something like this might help answer questions about furniture preferences based on academic affiliation:-) Thanks, Jason On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 7:49 PM, Thomas Misilo misi...@fit.edu wrote: Thank you all for the suggestions. I guess I should be a little more specific. I am looking for something that can be loaded up on a tablet (ipad and/or nexus 7), and have the laylout of the floor + chairs and tables. We are wanting to track usage of specific carrels and tables in different locations on the floor. To
[CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library
Hi, I was wondering if anyone has been asked before to come up with a way to record usage of tables. The ideal solution would be a web app, that we can create floor plans with where all the tables/chairs are and select the “reporting time”, say 9PM at night. Go around the library and select all the seats/tables/rooms that are currently being used/occupied for statistical data. We would be wanting to go around probably multiple times a day. The current solution I have seen is a pen and paper task, and then someone will have to manually put the data into a spreadsheet for analysis. Thanks! Tom (PS: Sorry if Sent Twice can't find a copy in the archives)
Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library
There are a few decent ones on Sourceforge, are you looking for a commercial application or a open source app? *Riley Childs* *Library Technology Manager at Charlotte United Christian Academyhttp://cucawarriors.com/ * *Head Programmer/Manager at Open Library Management Projechttp://openlibman.sf.net/ t http://openlibman.sourceforge.net/* *Cisco Certified Entry Level Technician * _ *Phone: +1 (704) 497-2086 * *email: ri...@tfsgeo.com* *email: ri...@rileychilds.net* *Twitter: @RowdyChildren http://twitter.com/rowdychildren* * * On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 7:13 AM, Tom Misilo misi...@fit.edu wrote: Hi, I was wondering if anyone has been asked before to come up with a way to record usage of tables. The ideal solution would be a web app, that we can create floor plans with where all the tables/chairs are and select the “reporting time”, say 9PM at night. Go around the library and select all the seats/tables/rooms that are currently being used/occupied for statistical data. We would be wanting to go around probably multiple times a day. The current solution I have seen is a pen and paper task, and then someone will have to manually put the data into a spreadsheet for analysis. Thanks! Tom (PS: Sorry if Sent Twice can't find a copy in the archives)
Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library
We are experimenting with NCSU Libraries' open source project called Suma which is a web-based space assessment tool. http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/dli/projects/spaceassesstool On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 7:59 PM, Thomas Misilo misi...@fit.edu wrote: Hi, I was wondering if anyone has been asked before to come up with a way to record usage of tables. The ideal solution would be a web app, that we can create floor plans with where all the tables/chairs are and select the reporting time, say 9PM at night. Go around the library and select all the seats/tables/rooms that are currently being used/occupied for statistical data. We would be wanting to go around probably multiple times a day. The current solution I have seen is a pen and paper task, and then someone will have to manually put the data into a spreadsheet for analysis. Thanks! Tom -- Jason Paul Michel User Experience Librarian Miami University Libraries 513.529.3935 miche...@muohio.edu @jpmichel https://twitter.com/jpmichel
Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library
I would prefer an open source application. However depending on the benefits of the commercial application I would consider it. Thanks! -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Riley Childs Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 8:47 AM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library There are a few decent ones on Sourceforge, are you looking for a commercial application or a open source app? *Riley Childs* *Library Technology Manager at Charlotte United Christian Academyhttp://cucawarriors.com/ * *Head Programmer/Manager at Open Library Management Projechttp://openlibman.sf.net/ t http://openlibman.sourceforge.net/* *Cisco Certified Entry Level Technician * _ *Phone: +1 (704) 497-2086 * *email: ri...@tfsgeo.com* *email: ri...@rileychilds.net* *Twitter: @RowdyChildren http://twitter.com/rowdychildren* * * On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 7:13 AM, Tom Misilo misi...@fit.edu wrote: Hi, I was wondering if anyone has been asked before to come up with a way to record usage of tables. The ideal solution would be a web app, that we can create floor plans with where all the tables/chairs are and select the reporting time, say 9PM at night. Go around the library and select all the seats/tables/rooms that are currently being used/occupied for statistical data. We would be wanting to go around probably multiple times a day. The current solution I have seen is a pen and paper task, and then someone will have to manually put the data into a spreadsheet for analysis. Thanks! Tom (PS: Sorry if Sent Twice can't find a copy in the archives)
Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library
If I were feeling really ambitious -- and fair warning, I'm a big believer that any solution worth engineering is worth over-engineering -- I'd come up with something involving light sensors (a la a gate counter) mounted on the table legs, just above seat height. Throw in some something something Arduino or Raspberry Pi, and Bob's your uncle. I find myself more intimidated by the practicality of maintaining such a system (batteries, cord management etc) than about the practicality of this implementation, actually. -dre. On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 7:59 PM, Thomas Misilo misi...@fit.edu wrote: Hi, I was wondering if anyone has been asked before to come up with a way to record usage of tables. The ideal solution would be a web app, that we can create floor plans with where all the tables/chairs are and select the reporting time, say 9PM at night. Go around the library and select all the seats/tables/rooms that are currently being used/occupied for statistical data. We would be wanting to go around probably multiple times a day. The current solution I have seen is a pen and paper task, and then someone will have to manually put the data into a spreadsheet for analysis. Thanks! Tom
Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library
Hey Dre, Perhaps a video camera with some OpenCV? -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Andreas Orphanides Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 8:55 AM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library If I were feeling really ambitious -- and fair warning, I'm a big believer that any solution worth engineering is worth over-engineering -- I'd come up with something involving light sensors (a la a gate counter) mounted on the table legs, just above seat height. Throw in some something something Arduino or Raspberry Pi, and Bob's your uncle. I find myself more intimidated by the practicality of maintaining such a system (batteries, cord management etc) than about the practicality of this implementation, actually. -dre. On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 7:59 PM, Thomas Misilo misi...@fit.edu wrote: Hi, I was wondering if anyone has been asked before to come up with a way to record usage of tables. The ideal solution would be a web app, that we can create floor plans with where all the tables/chairs are and select the reporting time, say 9PM at night. Go around the library and select all the seats/tables/rooms that are currently being used/occupied for statistical data. We would be wanting to go around probably multiple times a day. The current solution I have seen is a pen and paper task, and then someone will have to manually put the data into a spreadsheet for analysis. Thanks! Tom
Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library
Oh, that's a much better idea than light sensors. One challenge with that might be difficulty in determining what vacant looks like authoritatively, especially if people move chairs, walk through room, etc. But much more accessible than actually bolting stuff to the table, I would think. On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 1:03 PM, Schwartz, Raymond schwart...@wpunj.eduwrote: Hey Dre, Perhaps a video camera with some OpenCV? -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Andreas Orphanides Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 8:55 AM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library If I were feeling really ambitious -- and fair warning, I'm a big believer that any solution worth engineering is worth over-engineering -- I'd come up with something involving light sensors (a la a gate counter) mounted on the table legs, just above seat height. Throw in some something something Arduino or Raspberry Pi, and Bob's your uncle. I find myself more intimidated by the practicality of maintaining such a system (batteries, cord management etc) than about the practicality of this implementation, actually. -dre. On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 7:59 PM, Thomas Misilo misi...@fit.edu wrote: Hi, I was wondering if anyone has been asked before to come up with a way to record usage of tables. The ideal solution would be a web app, that we can create floor plans with where all the tables/chairs are and select the reporting time, say 9PM at night. Go around the library and select all the seats/tables/rooms that are currently being used/occupied for statistical data. We would be wanting to go around probably multiple times a day. The current solution I have seen is a pen and paper task, and then someone will have to manually put the data into a spreadsheet for analysis. Thanks! Tom
Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library
Motion sensors might be the ticket. For example, https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8630 Brian - Original Message - From: Andreas Orphanides akorp...@ncsu.edu To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 11:12:02 AM Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library Oh, that's a much better idea than light sensors. One challenge with that might be difficulty in determining what vacant looks like authoritatively, especially if people move chairs, walk through room, etc. But much more accessible than actually bolting stuff to the table, I would think. On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 1:03 PM, Schwartz, Raymond schwart...@wpunj.eduwrote: Hey Dre, Perhaps a video camera with some OpenCV? -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Andreas Orphanides Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 8:55 AM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library If I were feeling really ambitious -- and fair warning, I'm a big believer that any solution worth engineering is worth over-engineering -- I'd come up with something involving light sensors (a la a gate counter) mounted on the table legs, just above seat height. Throw in some something something Arduino or Raspberry Pi, and Bob's your uncle. I find myself more intimidated by the practicality of maintaining such a system (batteries, cord management etc) than about the practicality of this implementation, actually. -dre. On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 7:59 PM, Thomas Misilo misi...@fit.edu wrote: Hi, I was wondering if anyone has been asked before to come up with a way to record usage of tables. The ideal solution would be a web app, that we can create floor plans with where all the tables/chairs are and select the reporting time, say 9PM at night. Go around the library and select all the seats/tables/rooms that are currently being used/occupied for statistical data. We would be wanting to go around probably multiple times a day. The current solution I have seen is a pen and paper task, and then someone will have to manually put the data into a spreadsheet for analysis. Thanks! Tom
Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library
Depending on the size of the space you're working with, you could totally do this with a Kinect. I'm not completely sure on how far you could go with the coding, but you could probably use it to track the length of time people sit at a given location. The drawback here would likely be people getting squicked out about the panopticon-ness of it all, but you could probably even turn it into an exhibit of source - if nothing else then to demonstrate that you're just scanning stick-figure outlines and not full recordings of people. On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 1:33 PM, Brian Feifarek bfeifa...@q.com wrote: Motion sensors might be the ticket. For example, https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8630 Brian - Original Message - From: Andreas Orphanides akorp...@ncsu.edu To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 11:12:02 AM Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library Oh, that's a much better idea than light sensors. One challenge with that might be difficulty in determining what vacant looks like authoritatively, especially if people move chairs, walk through room, etc. But much more accessible than actually bolting stuff to the table, I would think. On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 1:03 PM, Schwartz, Raymond schwart...@wpunj.edu wrote: Hey Dre, Perhaps a video camera with some OpenCV? -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Andreas Orphanides Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 8:55 AM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library If I were feeling really ambitious -- and fair warning, I'm a big believer that any solution worth engineering is worth over-engineering -- I'd come up with something involving light sensors (a la a gate counter) mounted on the table legs, just above seat height. Throw in some something something Arduino or Raspberry Pi, and Bob's your uncle. I find myself more intimidated by the practicality of maintaining such a system (batteries, cord management etc) than about the practicality of this implementation, actually. -dre. On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 7:59 PM, Thomas Misilo misi...@fit.edu wrote: Hi, I was wondering if anyone has been asked before to come up with a way to record usage of tables. The ideal solution would be a web app, that we can create floor plans with where all the tables/chairs are and select the reporting time, say 9PM at night. Go around the library and select all the seats/tables/rooms that are currently being used/occupied for statistical data. We would be wanting to go around probably multiple times a day. The current solution I have seen is a pen and paper task, and then someone will have to manually put the data into a spreadsheet for analysis. Thanks! Tom
Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library
Or -- what about piezoelectric sensors mounted to the underside of the tables? It would be highly dependent on the table and the sensor, but you could probably assume that anything above X noise level in the sensor represents table usage. On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 2:41 PM, Toby Greenwalt theanalogdiv...@gmail.comwrote: Depending on the size of the space you're working with, you could totally do this with a Kinect. I'm not completely sure on how far you could go with the coding, but you could probably use it to track the length of time people sit at a given location. The drawback here would likely be people getting squicked out about the panopticon-ness of it all, but you could probably even turn it into an exhibit of source - if nothing else then to demonstrate that you're just scanning stick-figure outlines and not full recordings of people. On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 1:33 PM, Brian Feifarek bfeifa...@q.com wrote: Motion sensors might be the ticket. For example, https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8630 Brian - Original Message - From: Andreas Orphanides akorp...@ncsu.edu To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 11:12:02 AM Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library Oh, that's a much better idea than light sensors. One challenge with that might be difficulty in determining what vacant looks like authoritatively, especially if people move chairs, walk through room, etc. But much more accessible than actually bolting stuff to the table, I would think. On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 1:03 PM, Schwartz, Raymond schwart...@wpunj.edu wrote: Hey Dre, Perhaps a video camera with some OpenCV? -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Andreas Orphanides Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 8:55 AM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library If I were feeling really ambitious -- and fair warning, I'm a big believer that any solution worth engineering is worth over-engineering -- I'd come up with something involving light sensors (a la a gate counter) mounted on the table legs, just above seat height. Throw in some something something Arduino or Raspberry Pi, and Bob's your uncle. I find myself more intimidated by the practicality of maintaining such a system (batteries, cord management etc) than about the practicality of this implementation, actually. -dre. On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 7:59 PM, Thomas Misilo misi...@fit.edu wrote: Hi, I was wondering if anyone has been asked before to come up with a way to record usage of tables. The ideal solution would be a web app, that we can create floor plans with where all the tables/chairs are and select the reporting time, say 9PM at night. Go around the library and select all the seats/tables/rooms that are currently being used/occupied for statistical data. We would be wanting to go around probably multiple times a day. The current solution I have seen is a pen and paper task, and then someone will have to manually put the data into a spreadsheet for analysis. Thanks! Tom
Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library
It's funny you mention this - we had some ECE students build this exact thing for us for one of their projects. They ended up being $100/piece and required a plugin. They used wifi (definitely some room for improvement there) to notify a web interface and an infrared sensor to detect if people were there. It was a really neat project, the cost and implementation requirements just pushed it out of range to deploy it on a library-wide scale right now. -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Andreas Orphanides Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 5:55 AM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library If I were feeling really ambitious -- and fair warning, I'm a big believer that any solution worth engineering is worth over-engineering -- I'd come up with something involving light sensors (a la a gate counter) mounted on the table legs, just above seat height. Throw in some something something Arduino or Raspberry Pi, and Bob's your uncle. I find myself more intimidated by the practicality of maintaining such a system (batteries, cord management etc) than about the practicality of this implementation, actually. -dre. On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 7:59 PM, Thomas Misilo misi...@fit.edu wrote: Hi, I was wondering if anyone has been asked before to come up with a way to record usage of tables. The ideal solution would be a web app, that we can create floor plans with where all the tables/chairs are and select the reporting time, say 9PM at night. Go around the library and select all the seats/tables/rooms that are currently being used/occupied for statistical data. We would be wanting to go around probably multiple times a day. The current solution I have seen is a pen and paper task, and then someone will have to manually put the data into a spreadsheet for analysis. Thanks! Tom
Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library
Software, People can break hardware, just require people to sign in with a kiosk outside the door! PHP and MySQL makes it easy! *Riley Childs* *Library Technology Manager at Charlotte United Christian Academyhttp://cucawarriors.com/ * *Head Programmer/Manager at Open Library Management Projechttp://openlibman.sf.net/ t http://openlibman.sourceforge.net/* *Cisco Certified Entry Level Technician * _ *Phone: +1 (704) 497-2086 * *email: ri...@tfsgeo.com* *email: ri...@rileychilds.net* *Twitter: @RowdyChildren http://twitter.com/rowdychildren* * * On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 4:20 PM, Andreas Orphanides akorp...@ncsu.eduwrote: Or -- what about piezoelectric sensors mounted to the underside of the tables? It would be highly dependent on the table and the sensor, but you could probably assume that anything above X noise level in the sensor represents table usage. On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 2:41 PM, Toby Greenwalt theanalogdiv...@gmail.comwrote: Depending on the size of the space you're working with, you could totally do this with a Kinect. I'm not completely sure on how far you could go with the coding, but you could probably use it to track the length of time people sit at a given location. The drawback here would likely be people getting squicked out about the panopticon-ness of it all, but you could probably even turn it into an exhibit of source - if nothing else then to demonstrate that you're just scanning stick-figure outlines and not full recordings of people. On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 1:33 PM, Brian Feifarek bfeifa...@q.com wrote: Motion sensors might be the ticket. For example, https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8630 Brian - Original Message - From: Andreas Orphanides akorp...@ncsu.edu To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 11:12:02 AM Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library Oh, that's a much better idea than light sensors. One challenge with that might be difficulty in determining what vacant looks like authoritatively, especially if people move chairs, walk through room, etc. But much more accessible than actually bolting stuff to the table, I would think. On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 1:03 PM, Schwartz, Raymond schwart...@wpunj.edu wrote: Hey Dre, Perhaps a video camera with some OpenCV? -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Andreas Orphanides Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 8:55 AM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library If I were feeling really ambitious -- and fair warning, I'm a big believer that any solution worth engineering is worth over-engineering -- I'd come up with something involving light sensors (a la a gate counter) mounted on the table legs, just above seat height. Throw in some something something Arduino or Raspberry Pi, and Bob's your uncle. I find myself more intimidated by the practicality of maintaining such a system (batteries, cord management etc) than about the practicality of this implementation, actually. -dre. On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 7:59 PM, Thomas Misilo misi...@fit.edu wrote: Hi, I was wondering if anyone has been asked before to come up with a way to record usage of tables. The ideal solution would be a web app, that we can create floor plans with where all the tables/chairs are and select the reporting time, say 9PM at night. Go around the library and select all the seats/tables/rooms that are currently being used/occupied for statistical data. We would be wanting to go around probably multiple times a day. The current solution I have seen is a pen and paper task, and then someone will have to manually put the data into a spreadsheet for analysis. Thanks! Tom
Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library
Y'all are making this way too complicated. Simply cover any furniture you're interested in getting stats on with oil dyed with some color that makes it unnoticeable. Then count the complaints... On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 2:40 PM, Riley Childs ri...@tfsgeo.com wrote: Software, People can break hardware, just require people to sign in with a kiosk outside the door! PHP and MySQL makes it easy! *Riley Childs* *Library Technology Manager at Charlotte United Christian Academyhttp://cucawarriors.com/ * *Head Programmer/Manager at Open Library Management Projechttp://openlibman.sf.net/ t http://openlibman.sourceforge.net/* *Cisco Certified Entry Level Technician * _ *Phone: +1 (704) 497-2086 * *email: ri...@tfsgeo.com* *email: ri...@rileychilds.net* *Twitter: @RowdyChildren http://twitter.com/rowdychildren* * * On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 4:20 PM, Andreas Orphanides akorp...@ncsu.edu wrote: Or -- what about piezoelectric sensors mounted to the underside of the tables? It would be highly dependent on the table and the sensor, but you could probably assume that anything above X noise level in the sensor represents table usage. On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 2:41 PM, Toby Greenwalt theanalogdiv...@gmail.comwrote: Depending on the size of the space you're working with, you could totally do this with a Kinect. I'm not completely sure on how far you could go with the coding, but you could probably use it to track the length of time people sit at a given location. The drawback here would likely be people getting squicked out about the panopticon-ness of it all, but you could probably even turn it into an exhibit of source - if nothing else then to demonstrate that you're just scanning stick-figure outlines and not full recordings of people. On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 1:33 PM, Brian Feifarek bfeifa...@q.com wrote: Motion sensors might be the ticket. For example, https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8630 Brian - Original Message - From: Andreas Orphanides akorp...@ncsu.edu To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 11:12:02 AM Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library Oh, that's a much better idea than light sensors. One challenge with that might be difficulty in determining what vacant looks like authoritatively, especially if people move chairs, walk through room, etc. But much more accessible than actually bolting stuff to the table, I would think. On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 1:03 PM, Schwartz, Raymond schwart...@wpunj.edu wrote: Hey Dre, Perhaps a video camera with some OpenCV? -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Andreas Orphanides Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 8:55 AM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library If I were feeling really ambitious -- and fair warning, I'm a big believer that any solution worth engineering is worth over-engineering -- I'd come up with something involving light sensors (a la a gate counter) mounted on the table legs, just above seat height. Throw in some something something Arduino or Raspberry Pi, and Bob's your uncle. I find myself more intimidated by the practicality of maintaining such a system (batteries, cord management etc) than about the practicality of this implementation, actually. -dre. On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 7:59 PM, Thomas Misilo misi...@fit.edu wrote: Hi, I was wondering if anyone has been asked before to come up with a way to record usage of tables. The ideal solution would be a web app, that we can create floor plans with where all the tables/chairs are and select the reporting time, say 9PM at night. Go around the library and select all the seats/tables/rooms that are currently being used/occupied for statistical data. We would be wanting to go around probably multiple times a day. The current solution I have seen is a pen and paper task, and then someone will have to manually put the data into a spreadsheet for analysis. Thanks! Tom
Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library
Many buildings have IR sensors already installed for burglar alarms / fire detection. If you can get a read-only feed from that system you may be able to piggyback. Of course, these kinds of sensors are tripped by staff making regular rounds of all spaces and similar non-patron activity. cheers stuart On 16/08/13 06:33, Brian Feifarek wrote: Motion sensors might be the ticket. For example, https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8630 Brian - Original Message - From: Andreas Orphanides akorp...@ncsu.edu To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 11:12:02 AM Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library Oh, that's a much better idea than light sensors. One challenge with that might be difficulty in determining what vacant looks like authoritatively, especially if people move chairs, walk through room, etc. But much more accessible than actually bolting stuff to the table, I would think. On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 1:03 PM, Schwartz, Raymond schwart...@wpunj.eduwrote: Hey Dre, Perhaps a video camera with some OpenCV? -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Andreas Orphanides Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 8:55 AM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library If I were feeling really ambitious -- and fair warning, I'm a big believer that any solution worth engineering is worth over-engineering -- I'd come up with something involving light sensors (a la a gate counter) mounted on the table legs, just above seat height. Throw in some something something Arduino or Raspberry Pi, and Bob's your uncle. I find myself more intimidated by the practicality of maintaining such a system (batteries, cord management etc) than about the practicality of this implementation, actually. -dre. On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 7:59 PM, Thomas Misilo misi...@fit.edu wrote: Hi, I was wondering if anyone has been asked before to come up with a way to record usage of tables. The ideal solution would be a web app, that we can create floor plans with where all the tables/chairs are and select the reporting time, say 9PM at night. Go around the library and select all the seats/tables/rooms that are currently being used/occupied for statistical data. We would be wanting to go around probably multiple times a day. The current solution I have seen is a pen and paper task, and then someone will have to manually put the data into a spreadsheet for analysis. Thanks! Tom -- Stuart Yeates Library Technology Services http://www.victoria.ac.nz/library/
Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library
Thank you all for the suggestions. I guess I should be a little more specific. I am looking for something that can be loaded up on a tablet (ipad and/or nexus 7), and have the laylout of the floor + chairs and tables. We are wanting to track usage of specific carrels and tables in different locations on the floor. To determine if they are in a good place or if they need to be repositioned or repurposed. Thanks again! s Tom -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of stuart yeates Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 6:43 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library Many buildings have IR sensors already installed for burglar alarms / fire detection. If you can get a read-only feed from that system you may be able to piggyback. Of course, these kinds of sensors are tripped by staff making regular rounds of all spaces and similar non-patron activity. cheers stuart On 16/08/13 06:33, Brian Feifarek wrote: Motion sensors might be the ticket. For example, https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8630 Brian - Original Message - From: Andreas Orphanides akorp...@ncsu.edu To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 11:12:02 AM Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library Oh, that's a much better idea than light sensors. One challenge with that might be difficulty in determining what vacant looks like authoritatively, especially if people move chairs, walk through room, etc. But much more accessible than actually bolting stuff to the table, I would think. On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 1:03 PM, Schwartz, Raymond schwart...@wpunj.eduwrote: Hey Dre, Perhaps a video camera with some OpenCV? -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Andreas Orphanides Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 8:55 AM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library If I were feeling really ambitious -- and fair warning, I'm a big believer that any solution worth engineering is worth over-engineering -- I'd come up with something involving light sensors (a la a gate counter) mounted on the table legs, just above seat height. Throw in some something something Arduino or Raspberry Pi, and Bob's your uncle. I find myself more intimidated by the practicality of maintaining such a system (batteries, cord management etc) than about the practicality of this implementation, actually. -dre. On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 7:59 PM, Thomas Misilo misi...@fit.edu wrote: Hi, I was wondering if anyone has been asked before to come up with a way to record usage of tables. The ideal solution would be a web app, that we can create floor plans with where all the tables/chairs are and select the reporting time, say 9PM at night. Go around the library and select all the seats/tables/rooms that are currently being used/occupied for statistical data. We would be wanting to go around probably multiple times a day. The current solution I have seen is a pen and paper task, and then someone will have to manually put the data into a spreadsheet for analysis. Thanks! Tom -- Stuart Yeates Library Technology Services http://www.victoria.ac.nz/library/
Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library
You could tie one end of a string to a carrel door or some chair near a table you want to track. Then tie the other end around a seldom used book (preferably durable). Finding the proper length will require troubleshooting -- the book needs to be removed from the shelf without significant effort from the patron. Using this method you can take advantage of preexisting library usage statistics best practices. On Aug 15, 2013, at 7:50 PM, Thomas Misilo misi...@fit.edu wrote: Thank you all for the suggestions. I guess I should be a little more specific. I am looking for something that can be loaded up on a tablet (ipad and/or nexus 7), and have the laylout of the floor + chairs and tables. We are wanting to track usage of specific carrels and tables in different locations on the floor. To determine if they are in a good place or if they need to be repositioned or repurposed. Thanks again! s Tom -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of stuart yeates Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 6:43 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library Many buildings have IR sensors already installed for burglar alarms / fire detection. If you can get a read-only feed from that system you may be able to piggyback. Of course, these kinds of sensors are tripped by staff making regular rounds of all spaces and similar non-patron activity. cheers stuart On 16/08/13 06:33, Brian Feifarek wrote: Motion sensors might be the ticket. For example, https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8630 Brian - Original Message - From: Andreas Orphanides akorp...@ncsu.edu To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 11:12:02 AM Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library Oh, that's a much better idea than light sensors. One challenge with that might be difficulty in determining what vacant looks like authoritatively, especially if people move chairs, walk through room, etc. But much more accessible than actually bolting stuff to the table, I would think. On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 1:03 PM, Schwartz, Raymond schwart...@wpunj.eduwrote: Hey Dre, Perhaps a video camera with some OpenCV? -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Andreas Orphanides Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 8:55 AM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library If I were feeling really ambitious -- and fair warning, I'm a big believer that any solution worth engineering is worth over-engineering -- I'd come up with something involving light sensors (a la a gate counter) mounted on the table legs, just above seat height. Throw in some something something Arduino or Raspberry Pi, and Bob's your uncle. I find myself more intimidated by the practicality of maintaining such a system (batteries, cord management etc) than about the practicality of this implementation, actually. -dre. On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 7:59 PM, Thomas Misilo misi...@fit.edu wrote: Hi, I was wondering if anyone has been asked before to come up with a way to record usage of tables. The ideal solution would be a web app, that we can create floor plans with where all the tables/chairs are and select the reporting time, say 9PM at night. Go around the library and select all the seats/tables/rooms that are currently being used/occupied for statistical data. We would be wanting to go around probably multiple times a day. The current solution I have seen is a pen and paper task, and then someone will have to manually put the data into a spreadsheet for analysis. Thanks! Tom -- Stuart Yeates Library Technology Services http://www.victoria.ac.nz/library/
Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library
In that case, Suma is probably your thing. On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 7:49 PM, Thomas Misilo misi...@fit.edu wrote: Thank you all for the suggestions. I guess I should be a little more specific. I am looking for something that can be loaded up on a tablet (ipad and/or nexus 7), and have the laylout of the floor + chairs and tables. We are wanting to track usage of specific carrels and tables in different locations on the floor. To determine if they are in a good place or if they need to be repositioned or repurposed. Thanks again! s Tom -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of stuart yeates Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 6:43 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library Many buildings have IR sensors already installed for burglar alarms / fire detection. If you can get a read-only feed from that system you may be able to piggyback. Of course, these kinds of sensors are tripped by staff making regular rounds of all spaces and similar non-patron activity. cheers stuart On 16/08/13 06:33, Brian Feifarek wrote: Motion sensors might be the ticket. For example, https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8630 Brian - Original Message - From: Andreas Orphanides akorp...@ncsu.edu To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 11:12:02 AM Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library Oh, that's a much better idea than light sensors. One challenge with that might be difficulty in determining what vacant looks like authoritatively, especially if people move chairs, walk through room, etc. But much more accessible than actually bolting stuff to the table, I would think. On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 1:03 PM, Schwartz, Raymond schwart...@wpunj.eduwrote: Hey Dre, Perhaps a video camera with some OpenCV? -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Andreas Orphanides Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 8:55 AM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library If I were feeling really ambitious -- and fair warning, I'm a big believer that any solution worth engineering is worth over-engineering -- I'd come up with something involving light sensors (a la a gate counter) mounted on the table legs, just above seat height. Throw in some something something Arduino or Raspberry Pi, and Bob's your uncle. I find myself more intimidated by the practicality of maintaining such a system (batteries, cord management etc) than about the practicality of this implementation, actually. -dre. On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 7:59 PM, Thomas Misilo misi...@fit.edu wrote: Hi, I was wondering if anyone has been asked before to come up with a way to record usage of tables. The ideal solution would be a web app, that we can create floor plans with where all the tables/chairs are and select the reporting time, say 9PM at night. Go around the library and select all the seats/tables/rooms that are currently being used/occupied for statistical data. We would be wanting to go around probably multiple times a day. The current solution I have seen is a pen and paper task, and then someone will have to manually put the data into a spreadsheet for analysis. Thanks! Tom -- Stuart Yeates Library Technology Services http://www.victoria.ac.nz/library/
[CODE4LIB] Way to record usage of tables/rooms/chairs in Library
Hi, I was wondering if anyone has been asked before to come up with a way to record usage of tables. The ideal solution would be a web app, that we can create floor plans with where all the tables/chairs are and select the reporting time, say 9PM at night. Go around the library and select all the seats/tables/rooms that are currently being used/occupied for statistical data. We would be wanting to go around probably multiple times a day. The current solution I have seen is a pen and paper task, and then someone will have to manually put the data into a spreadsheet for analysis. Thanks! Tom
