I've heard of traffic counts to automobiles. Has anyone ever compiled a foot traffic count for the sidewalks in downtown Youngstown? The information would be useful in marketing downtown properties.
Traffic counting for vehicles is pretty much a no-brainer. The basic method involves
running a rubber hose across the road, which is connected to a device that counts
the air pulses created when a vehicle runs over the hose.
Some kind of calculation has to to be done of course, as cars have two axles and
trucks often have multiple axles... but I don't know what the exact method is.There
are probably probably more hi-tech gadgets to do this now, but I still see these setups
down here in MD occasionally so they must not be obsolete yet.
Counting pedestrian traffic might be a bit trickier - I don't think I've ever seen an
outdoor device for doing this but it probably wouldn't be something that people walk
on top of, probably something along the lines of a motion sensor, infra-red, etc to
detect passers-by.... maybe a wireless link to a computer nearby, which could compile
the data for each sensor.