5 ms·

Ok, I'll bite. How would you do that? How do they stay connected and powered?

by generalizations 4y ago

mschuster91 4y ago
Solar panels, probably.
- dagw 4y ago
  You'll either have to do this guerrilla style, in which case solar panels will be far too obvious. Or you'll have to apply for all relevant permits, in which case you'll never get them.
  - cronix 4y ago
    Permits? We're not talking a solar farm to power a small device. There are a lot of trail cams that have solar built in, are very small, camouflaged, and motion activated with 20MP cameras for under $200.
    - dagw 4y ago
      We're talking about filming major roads here. "Motion activated" effectively means running 24/7. No way a built in solar panel in a camouflaged trail camera will manage that. Also it doesn't matter how small the device is, if you legally want to attach a camera to any sort of infrastructure overlooking a road, then yes you need permits you almost certainly will not get. You could possibly attach it to a pole on private land next to the road, but even then you'd need the permission of the land owner.
      - cronix 4y ago
        I suppose it depends on the jurisdiction. For instance, some courts, like the 9th District Court of Appeals have ruled that cities can't remove homeless camping on public property. Public forests are public, and there's lots of trail cams. https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/court-ruling-homless-sleep-public/ https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/court-ruling-homless...
        kube-system 4y ago
        Forcibly moving living people and removing unattended property are entirely different scenarios.
        bobthepanda 4y ago
        Yeah, the issue with those who are homeless is that it essentially criminalizes living for people who cannot rent or own, and thus infringes on their liberties. There’s no right to hang up privately owned cameras in public.
        orangepurple 4y ago
        I am imagining an army of homeless sitting at every intersection in the US holding surveillance cameras and getting paid by # of unique plates scanned per minute
        squeaky-clean 4y ago
        Reminds me of the company that got homeless people to be 4g wifi hotspots at SXSW https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2012/03/13/148506762/turning-homeless-men-into-wifi-hotspots-at-sxsw-ignites-debate https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2012/03/13/148506762...
      - beambot 4y ago
        Partner with roadside billboard providers. Sell it to them on the cheap as "analytics", and then just re-sell the LPR data.
        vineyardmike 4y ago
        I wonder if something like this already exists. This seems like a great business. By great business I mean it seems like something people would say for. I don’t know if it would actually be valuable data to billboard owners though. But I can imagine a mega unicorn startup advertising IRL advertisement analytics and back-selling the data to tons of data brokers.
    - squeaky-clean 4y ago
      A random solar powered android phone is found fastened to a bridge and you can be sure the police are going to look into it and take it down.
      - brokenmachine 4y ago
        Put a police sticker on it and they will think it's theirs and leave it alone.
doublerabbit 4y ago
Within the UK, 4G sim cards and data are cheap. Android phone with tether capabilities, Raspberry Pi with solar and a webcam. Or even better to save all that faff, root a phone, run the drivers plate OCR software using the phones camera, stick to a gantry and send results via text message. You wouldn't even need live updates, pull the latest data at midnight each day. Text is cheap.
- arethuza 4y ago
  I suspect the computing and communication parts of a project like this are by far the easiest bits. Weatherproofing the camera and solar panels, getting permission to get them installed, actually installing them (working at heights over busy roads) and then maintaining them would be pretty expensive. You might also have to pay rent to whoever owns gantries, and what about locations where there aren't any existing gantries? What about insurance in case you camera falls off the gantry onto a car and kills someone? Edit: What about roads that don't have network coverage (not that uncommon in the Scottish Highlands)
  - londons_explore 4y ago
    You wouldn't get permission. Just walk with a phone+solar panel in a weatherproof box. Either use magnets or zip ties to tie to the the pedestrian rail of a bridge overlooking a freeway. Done. I would likely order some chinaphone motherboards only - for example[1] - without the screen+case+accessories you save ~50% on the retail price. They're then not valuable enough to be worth stealing either. If it's a small road with no bridges, tie to a lamp post instead. You need to be able to install 3 per hour to make the finances work out - 10 mins driving, and 10 mins installing, and repeat. If the city catches you, it's only a littering penalty. They likely wouldn't care. [1]: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003892325502.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003892325502.html Breakeven is 1 year average residency - that has to include failure, end-of-life, theft, and removal by the city.
    - arethuza 4y ago
      Anything placed in a location which has easy accessed to pedestrians is going to get stolen and vandalised - particularly once people realise what they are.
analog31 4y ago
buy the data from someone else.

Ok, I'll bite. How would you do that? How do they stay connected and powered?

mschuster91 4y ago

Solar panels, probably.

dagw 4y ago
You'll either have to do this guerrilla style, in which case solar panels will be far too obvious. Or you'll have to apply for all relevant permits, in which case you'll never get them.
- cronix 4y ago
  Permits? We're not talking a solar farm to power a small device. There are a lot of trail cams that have solar built in, are very small, camouflaged, and motion activated with 20MP cameras for under $200.
  - dagw 4y ago
    We're talking about filming major roads here. "Motion activated" effectively means running 24/7. No way a built in solar panel in a camouflaged trail camera will manage that. Also it doesn't matter how small the device is, if you legally want to attach a camera to any sort of infrastructure overlooking a road, then yes you need permits you almost certainly will not get. You could possibly attach it to a pole on private land next to the road, but even then you'd need the permission of the land owner.
    - cronix 4y ago
      I suppose it depends on the jurisdiction. For instance, some courts, like the 9th District Court of Appeals have ruled that cities can't remove homeless camping on public property. Public forests are public, and there's lots of trail cams. https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/court-ruling-homless-sleep-public/ https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/court-ruling-homless...
      - kube-system 4y ago
        Forcibly moving living people and removing unattended property are entirely different scenarios.
        bobthepanda 4y ago
        Yeah, the issue with those who are homeless is that it essentially criminalizes living for people who cannot rent or own, and thus infringes on their liberties. There’s no right to hang up privately owned cameras in public.
        orangepurple 4y ago
        I am imagining an army of homeless sitting at every intersection in the US holding surveillance cameras and getting paid by # of unique plates scanned per minute
        squeaky-clean 4y ago
        Reminds me of the company that got homeless people to be 4g wifi hotspots at SXSW https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2012/03/13/148506762/turning-homeless-men-into-wifi-hotspots-at-sxsw-ignites-debate https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2012/03/13/148506762...
    - beambot 4y ago
      Partner with roadside billboard providers. Sell it to them on the cheap as "analytics", and then just re-sell the LPR data.
      - vineyardmike 4y ago
        I wonder if something like this already exists. This seems like a great business. By great business I mean it seems like something people would say for. I don’t know if it would actually be valuable data to billboard owners though. But I can imagine a mega unicorn startup advertising IRL advertisement analytics and back-selling the data to tons of data brokers.
  - squeaky-clean 4y ago
    A random solar powered android phone is found fastened to a bridge and you can be sure the police are going to look into it and take it down.
    - brokenmachine 4y ago
      Put a police sticker on it and they will think it's theirs and leave it alone.

doublerabbit 4y ago

Within the UK, 4G sim cards and data are cheap. Android phone with tether capabilities, Raspberry Pi with solar and a webcam. Or even better to save all that faff, root a phone, run the drivers plate OCR software using the phones camera, stick to a gantry and send results via text message. You wouldn't even need live updates, pull the latest data at midnight each day. Text is cheap.

arethuza 4y ago
I suspect the computing and communication parts of a project like this are by far the easiest bits. Weatherproofing the camera and solar panels, getting permission to get them installed, actually installing them (working at heights over busy roads) and then maintaining them would be pretty expensive. You might also have to pay rent to whoever owns gantries, and what about locations where there aren't any existing gantries? What about insurance in case you camera falls off the gantry onto a car and kills someone? Edit: What about roads that don't have network coverage (not that uncommon in the Scottish Highlands)
- londons_explore 4y ago
  You wouldn't get permission. Just walk with a phone+solar panel in a weatherproof box. Either use magnets or zip ties to tie to the the pedestrian rail of a bridge overlooking a freeway. Done. I would likely order some chinaphone motherboards only - for example[1] - without the screen+case+accessories you save ~50% on the retail price. They're then not valuable enough to be worth stealing either. If it's a small road with no bridges, tie to a lamp post instead. You need to be able to install 3 per hour to make the finances work out - 10 mins driving, and 10 mins installing, and repeat. If the city catches you, it's only a littering penalty. They likely wouldn't care. [1]: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003892325502.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003892325502.html Breakeven is 1 year average residency - that has to include failure, end-of-life, theft, and removal by the city.
  - arethuza 4y ago
    Anything placed in a location which has easy accessed to pedestrians is going to get stolen and vandalised - particularly once people realise what they are.

analog31 4y ago

buy the data from someone else.