This year, the Utopia Stage at Rock am Ring belonged to Blickfeld LiDAR sensors! A total of six sensors have been installed above the main stage of the popular music festival to capture test recordings for the LidarPredict project, supported by mFUND.
To enhance the safety of festival attendees, a LiDAR-based solution is currently being developed. As the audience is captivated by performances from popular acts like the Foo Fighters, Kings of Leon, and Die Toten Hosen, the movements and visitor flow in front of the stage were anonymously analyzed using Blickfeld LiDAR sensors and EvoCount software. This research initiative, known as LidarPredict, has been in progress since the end of last year. To validate the findings obtained thus far and compare them with real-world data, LiDAR sensors were mounted on the stage, and the respective EvoCount software was used for the first time in a live setting during the test. The plan is to implement this solution across the entire festival grounds at Rock am Ring 2024. By the conclusion of the project, an analysis method based on LiDAR sensors will be available to predict visitor flows and improve the safety infrastructure, enabling organizers to provide a safer experience for attendees at large events.
The LidarPredict Project
The LidarPredict project aims to develop methods for analyzing and predicting visitor flows based on 3D data collected by Blickfeld LiDAR sensors. This data is being analyzed using the specialized software provided by crowd analytics specialist EvoCount. Therefore, six Blickfeld LiDAR sensors have been strategically installed on the Utopia Stage at Rock am Ring to analyze the movement patterns of fans in front of the stage, determine the optimal sensor placement, and evaluate the underlying software. An important aspect to highlight is that the privacy rights of visitors are always respected, as LiDAR sensors do not capture any information that can identify individuals. The analysis is not focused on the individual movement patterns but rather on detecting situations where the number of people per square meter in an area exceeds a certain threshold. This triggers an alarm, enabling organizers to implement necessary measures to ensure the safety of the attendees. Additionally, effective visitor management helps to proactively prevent overcrowding situations.
Hendrick Siebrecht, Project Manager at EvoCount, shares, “This project is extremely exciting for us as it allows us to make the festival experience safer and more enjoyable for fans. To effectively prevent overcrowding in certain areas, it is crucial to have accurate information about the current location and quantity of people and an understanding of how visitor flows are moving. Identifying hotspots where overcrowding occurs allows us to take countermeasures. Collecting and analyzing such information on a massive site with tens of thousands of attendees is a complex task. The combination of Blickfeld LiDAR sensors and EvoCount analysis tools provides an efficient way to obtain this necessary data and draw the right conclusions from it.”
Dr. sc. Florian Petit, co-founder and CXO of Blickfeld says, “Blickfeld’s LiDAR sensors provide the exact performance needed for a festival with tens of thousands of guests. With complete anonymity, the sensors detect the number of people in various areas and provide digital information that can be further processed using EvoCount’s state-of-the-art algorithms. We are delighted to be part of LidarPredict because it enables us to help organizers understand crowd behavior and dynamics, predict dangerous situations, and implement intelligent visitor control measures in a timely manner.”
