Track location business

March 13, 2023 3:44 AM

Is there a way to automagically track usage of a space indoors? I have some spaces at work that I know are under-utilised but I could do with proof. I can't rely on booking systems or self reporting and we have an electronic keying system that I can't request output from.

Free or low cost options are most relevant. Can I, for example, register the spaces somehow in google and see their busy times that way? I could probably do it with a simple motion detector attached to an arduino but people often sit for long periods of time in these rooms too, and I don't know how sensitive that is.

posted by Iteki to Grab Bag (4 answers total)

The simplest, cheapest "magnetic circuit counters", also called "door counters", are relatively inexpensive, but spending money at all when all that data is already in your keycard system seems impractical.
posted by mhoye at 7:43 AM on March 13, 2023

"Occupancy monitoring sensors" is a good phrase to search for. Some of them are reasonably privacy-sensitive and are measuring things like infrared and CO2 rather than trying to figure out who the specific people are,
posted by brainwane at 8:55 AM on March 13, 2023

Saw a story about this recently.
posted by grobstein at 9:26 AM on March 13, 2023

Wyze has motion sensors that can trigger events. You need one of their home hubs and a bunch of the motion sensors, one per room. Then just create some sort of trigger that writes a log onto your phone or PC and count the events.
posted by kschang at 9:38 AM on March 13, 2023