BlueFox Count measures “visitors” at a moment in time and aggregates the number of “visits” over a period of time. Sensors report the probes from mobile phones several times each minute, keeping real time counts accurate. While the number of visitors is equal to the number of visits underway, the number of visits during the course of a day is generally much higher than the number of visitors at any time.
In the example above, visits over this time period measure 7. Visits over the first half of the time period shown measure 4, and visits over the second half measure 3. Unique visitors (indicated by color) measure 5.
Our cloud service records historical values of the number of visitors (occupancy at a moment in time), visits begun, and visits ended at a fifteen-minute grain for subsequent analysis.
For every fifteen minute period, we report
- the number of visits begun
- the number of visits ended
- the maximum number of visitors
- the minimum number of visitors
- the average number of visitors
Visitor measurement in real-time is important for control of crowds, production, and staffing. Visit measurement is important for businesses that depend on customer transactions–and even businesses like advertising that do not.
Different businesses demonstrate different profiles of visitors and visits. Beer stands at sporting events tend to show large numbers of visitors, but often during short intervals separated by periods of inactivity. Refreshment inventory requirements correlate with the number of visits, rather than the number of visitors. Identifying overcrowding in settings such as university dining halls, on the other hand, require understanding real time maximum visitors.
The number of visits during a time period (e.g. one hour or one day) must be at least as large as the maximum number of visitors at any point during that time period, though one visitor may account for multiple visits.
