Reports
Reporting mode in the corresponding Macula Monitor tab provides reporting functionality based on the previously collected data. There are two types of reports: heatmaps, based on motion information, and charts, which use data from the software and VCA counters. You can view the reports in the application and then export the results.
Heatmaps
Heatmap type reports represent motion density in the picture, thus highlighting the regions where the most motion has happened during the selected time range. Heatmaps are generated based on the motion detector (MD) data, therefore, motion detection must be enabled beforehand for the target channel via Macula Console application.
Here are the requirements and some recommendations regarding heatmap reports:
target channel must have grid type MD enabled
motion information must be recorded with the video (represented by cyan colour on the timeline in playback mode)
for PTZ cameras, make sure to select a static interval (during which the camera was not panned, tilted or zoomed), otherwise the map will be inaccurate
if you are using server-side MD and your video stream has camera-side timestamp overlay, make sure to add it to MD exclusions via Macula Console (otherwise, the changing digits will trigger false motion and your heatmap will be biased)
To start, drag and drop a channel from the resources panel on the left. The channel name will appear on top of the viewing area. If, for some reason, there is no motion data, or it is incompatible (frame type instead of grid), you will get a corresponding error.
Next, select the target time interval, days and hours to be analysed:
Heatmap interval: defines the total report period
Filters: define the target range of time and exact days to be taken into account
For example, you can select one month as the time interval, and then only select weekdays (Mon-Fri), from 8AM to 8PM.
Use the Set time, +1h and -1h buttons below the channel preview to select the image to be used for the heatmap overlay. Particularly, this makes sense for PTZ or zoom-only cameras, where the snapshot time matters. Also, you might want to use this option to find a timestamp where lighting conditions are optimal, or there are no unwanted objects in the scene. Use the Reset filters button below the settings in the right-hand panel to restore the default filters (all days 24/7).
When ready, hit the Generate heatmap button: depending on the selected interval, this may take some time, and you will see the generation progress displayed as percentage.
As soon as the analysis is complete, the heatmap will appear in the viewing area.
Colours on the heatmap range from blue to red, blue representing the "coldest" places (where the minimum amount of motion was detected for the given period), and red stands for the "hottest" places (the maximum amount of motion). The rest values will be in between (blue>>violet>>red). Regions without any colour overlay are those without any motion detected for the specified period (including, but not limited to, non-detection zones).
Click the Export heatmap... button below the image to save the snapshot with the heatmap overlay as a JPEG file. An additional dialog box will pop up, allowing you to choose the destination folder and the file name.
When the heatmap is generated, only the top motion areas are taken into account (and those with the least amount of motion are dropped). This means, if some regions are too "hot", you may see other areas not highlighted at all, as they do not have enough motion events compared to the "hottest" ones. In other words, if you see that some area in the heatmap is not coloured, it does not mean it had no motion at all; rather, it had none or almost none during the selected period compared to the "hottest" areas.
To avoid such situations, make sure to configure MD exclusion zones for objects like bushes & trees, as well as the camera-side timestamp.
Charts
Macula Monitor application provides an opportunity to build graphs based on the counter data, which has been recorded with the video stream(s). Depending on the collected information context, these reports can be used, for example, to estimate the average number of customers during specific hours, compare the number of passing cars to the number of trucks etc. Counter information is collected from Macula Open VCA video analytics, camera-side VCA (for certain manufacturers) and software counters.
There are three report types: bar, line and pie diagram. Regardless of the chosen type, all reports are based on Open VCA counters and have configurable report interval and days and times of interest. Counter values are compared for the given period and with the specified scale, and the results are then reflected in the chart of the selected type. Any report can be also exported as PDF.
In your Macula Monitor application, switch to the Reports tab: this functionality will be available when at least one of the connected servers has Open VCA operating or software counters configured for at least one of its channels, and the used user account has sufficient privileges to access the recorded counter metadata. If you have just added a new counter, please wait several minutes for the data to be collected and flushed into the database before it becomes available.
You do not need to set VCA channels manually: all the available counters are listed automatically in the right-hand panel, under Counters, with the channel title displayed in brackets next to the counter name.
Specify the reporting criteria in the right-hand panel, which is divided into three sections:
Counters:
Select desired one or more counters to be included in the report (none are selected by default)
All the counters present in the system are listed, with their source channels specified in brackets, if relevant
Report time interval:
Choose start and end date and time for the target report
Report filters:
Week days: select days of the week that you want to be included in the report (e.g., ignore weekends) (all days are selected by default, marked blue)
Day time interval: choose the target audit interval to be analysed for each of the selected days
Report visualisation settings:
Select the diagram type by toggling the icons: from left to right, these are bar, line and pie type; the currently selected mode is marked blue
Aggregation: specify the scale factor for the target diagram - results can be presented by months, weeks, days, hours or minutes (also, the data can be aggregated by counters if the selected chart type is pie diagram)
The counter value* setting lets you choose, what value is taken for each report time interval on the X axis (day etc.):
Absolute: actual counter value at the end of the interval
Relative: difference compared to the end of the previous interval
Average: average value on the given interval
Minimum: minimal value during the given interval
Maximum: maximal value during the given interval
Choose whether you want each counter to be represented separately or all counters are to be added up
*Please see below for more details on how different counter values are calculated.
Choose the diagram type by toggling the icons in the bottom of the right-hand panel: from left to right, these are bar, line and pie type. The currently selected mode is marked blue.
When ready, hit the Make report button in the bottom of the right-hand panel to display the report diagram based on your selected criteria. Note the total time required for the chart construction may demand several minutes. You will see the Loading... status in the right-hand panel indicating that reporting is in progress. You can modify the report criteria and restart the reporting process without having to wait until the current diagram is finished.
On each diagram, the horizontal axis (X) represents time in the specified scale, and the vertical axis (Y) reflects counter values. The counter values for each time interval are calculated based on the selected setting and can reflect absolute, relative, average, minimum or maximum counter value for the given interval. In the pie diagram type, each sector can represent either a time interval or a counter, depending on the aggregation setting parameter.
Each chart also contains a legend that provides information about colours used in the diagram:
if you have selected to analyse every counter separately, each counter will be represented with its own colour and the legend will reflect counter titles
if you have chosen to sum the counter values:
bar diagram will have just one column for each interval, every column consisting of specified counters and its total height reflecting the total
line diagram will contain graphs for each individual counter and the total
pie chart will reflect the counter sum for each time interval if aggregation by time intervals is chosen, so the legend will contain timestamps; if aggregation by counters is selected, the pie will reflect the proportion of the counter values for the whole selected audit interval
Any report can be also saved in PDF format. To do so, click the Export report button above the diagram and specify the file name and path for the report to be exported to in the dialog box that appears; then, click the Export report button in the dialog box to create the file.
Math Behind Counters
Different counter value settings will produce different results, so you need to understand which value to select in order to get the appropriate result. Below, you will find some details on how these values are calculated inside.
For each and every selected interval, five counter values are calculated: absolute, relative, min/max, and average. The minimal internal interval is equal to 1 (one) minute; no matter how the counter value changes during that minute, these five values are recorded into the database. For longer periods (hours, days, etc), these values are calculated using the intermediate results.
In the snapshot below, there is an example of how the counter value might change during one minute, and what values are calculated based on these changes.
For correct report results, it is also essential to keep in mind whether the counter in question is increment-only, or if it is both incremented and decremented based on some events.
Counter value options:
1. Absolute
Absolute counter value is its exact value at the end of the measurement period. E.g., If the interval is 1h, the absolute counter value is equal to the absolute counter value for the last minute of that hour.
Usage examples:
increment-only: estimate the total people flow, e.g., incoming customers
increment/decrement: current number of people in the zone/building
2. Minimum and maximum
Here, simply takes the min and max value from the aggregation interval. For longer intervals, min/max are selected from the list of min/max of smaller periods (regular min/max function).
Note that min/max has nothing to do with absolute value: the counter value may peak inside the aggregation period with the total change (absolute value) being zero. The latter, of course, is only possible for the counters that are both incremented and decremented over time. For increment-only counters, max value will be equal to absolute value.
3/4. Relative
Relative counter value is the sum of all relative changes for the given period, or, even simpler, the difference between the current absolute value and the previous one. Relative value shows how much the counter value has changed for the given period compared to the previous one.
5. Average
Average counter value is counted as weighted arithmetic mean, with the duration serving as weight.
Simple arithmetic mean would not be as useful as it does not take into account the value duration.
Consider the two examples in the snapshot below: two counters have the same absolute and relative values for the given period. Their arithmetic mean would be very similar (25 vs 26.6), while it is obvious that the first (green) counter value stayed higher for a longer period, and this should be taken into account.
Usage example: average number of customers in the store per hour, average check total for estimating effectiveness.
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