Workshop: Measuring Behaviour in Open Spaces

Date:  Thursday, August 30
Time:  10:00-13:20
Location:  42

Organizers :

• Hayley Hung - University of Amsterdam
• Janienke Sturm - Eindhoven University of Technology / Fontys University of Applied Sciences
• Ronald Poppe - University of Twente

Abstract
 Open spaces such as lobbies, playgrounds, museums and streets are common locations  where people meet and interact with the environment. For various reasons, we might be  interested in the behaviour of individuals and groups. Detection of suspicious behaviour  or traffic control are typical applications in the areas of security and surveillance. But we  can also analyse how people navigate through crowded places, whether children play co- operative or competitive on a playground or whether people are attending items on sale in  a clothing store.

When the behaviour of people is analysed, we can also try to influence this behaviour as  an interactive system. When displays or actuators are present in the open space, these can  be used to navigate people through crowded halls or try to stimulate interactions between  people that appear to have similar interests in a museum. An interactive system can even  try to seduce people to explore how the system responds to them.

In all these examples, there is a need to robustly identify and track people around the  space. Sensors such as cameras, microphones and Kinects are employed and their  signals processed to obtain information about the people’s locations and movements.  Subsequently, we can analyse these to understand the behaviour, either for individuals  or for groups. This interpretation is non-trivial as it strongly depends on the spatial and  social context in which the behaviour occurs. Moreover, unexpected behaviour and  inconsistencies in the tracking make this task a challenging one.

Besides the challenges in proper sensor technology and behaviour interpretation, research  on measuring behaviour in open spaces also depends on the availability of labelled  behaviours for the training and evaluation of various aspects of the system. This workshop  addresses the challenges and opportunities in the analysis and understanding of (groups  of) people in open spaces. 

Program

10:00     Introduction (Ronald Poppe, University of Twente)

10:10     Mettina Veenstra (Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences)
Creating Interactive Public Spaces

10:40     Ben Schouten (Eindhoven University of Technology / Fontys University of Applied Sciences)
Human behavior analysis for the design of playful interactions

11:10     Coffee break

11:30     Marco Cristani (University of Verona)
Social Computer Vision for Group Behavior Analysis

12:00     Andries Lohmeijer (KITT Engineering)
25 years Motion Interpreted Media Interface Control (MIMIC)

12:30     Liesbeth Jans (Fontys Sporthogeschool Tilburg)

13:00     Discussion

13:20     Lunch