The success of public spaces in a city does not depend only on the area they cover, but on their use and recognition by citizens. In this proposal, the term “Usability” is applied to public space as the correspondence between the number of users and the percentage of occupied area, and the physical conditions of the space, as they show how the space responds to the needs of people through the decisions made in its design.

The smart artificial vision systems designed and manufactured by Bosch make it possible to take reliable measurements 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, and to differentiate between people, bicycles, motorcycles, cars, buses or lorries, which provides an exceptional empirical system for city managers. Other systems for measuring the number of people and the occupancy percentage (such as the analysis of the geolocation of mobile terminals, whether by Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or 3G/4G/5G connectivity) are based on population estimates. Therefore, they do not offer data with as much information and precision as artificial vision. However, the possibility of integrating data from different sources will always bring greater richness to the project.

Thanks to the Privacy Mode in Bosch smart cameras, they can be configured as video sensors that protect personal data and, consequently, be deployed in public spaces without the need for permission from video surveillance committees: the purpose of these video sensors is not security; it is the measurement of anonymous movements in an area of the smart city or territory.