--- title: "Streets and mobility monitoring | Nexus Observatory" description: "A street carries people walking, cycling, riding buses, delivering and driving. Counters, cameras and radar processed at the edge count each mode…" url: https://observatory.global/industries/cities/street-mobility/ publisher: Nexus Observatory Inc. updated: 2026-11-02 --- [Nexus Observatory](https://observatory.global/) / [Cities](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/) / [Specialized fields](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/fields/) / **Streets and mobility** # Streets, measured for everyone who uses them. A street carries people walking, cycling, riding buses, delivering and driving. Counters, cameras and radar processed at the edge count each mode, measure speeds and near misses and report to one record the city's transport planners and traffic engineers use, without images of people leaving the street. [Plan a deployment](https://observatory.global/contact/deployment/) How it works [Station Builder](https://observatory.global/studio/builder/) **Industry**: Cities **Measurements**: 5 **Sources cited**: 3 1. Cities · Streets and mobility Streets judged on cars alone Most traffic counts were built for cars, so streets were judged by how fast cars moved. People walking and cycling, buses and deliveries were barely counted, and dangerous junctions showed only after collisions. Counting everyone, and spotting near misses, lets a city plan streets for all who use them. 2. What is measured Every mode, speeds and conflicts Counters, cameras and radar on poles count people walking, cycling and riding scooters, buses, vans and cars. They measure speeds on residential streets, follow trajectories through junctions to find near misses, and watch loading bays and bus stops. Every count names its street and time. InstrumentsCounters · Cameras processed at the edge · Radar 3. The base node Video stays on the pole Each street node classifies every road user, measures speeds and trajectories and detects near misses locally. Only counts and anonymous trajectories leave the street, signed; video is discarded on the node, so privacy is built into the hardware, not promised. 4. Radio and links Small cells and the city’s fibre A city small-cell network on street poles carries edge nodes where fibre does not reach. Signal controllers and the traffic centre are on the city’s fibre, and temporary counting points for scheme evaluations report over the public cellular network. Each path is supervised. LinksPrivate 5G · Fibre · Public cellular 5. How it works From a near miss to a safer junction A node at a junction sees turning vehicles pass close to people crossing, again and again. It records each near miss as an anonymous trajectory and sends it to the city. Engineers see the pattern, change the signal phasing, and the record shows near misses falling. 6. From order to operation · Order Scope the streets and the questions The scope reads the transport strategy, the schemes to evaluate, junctions of concern and the city's privacy rules. Nexus Observatory Inc. returns the point plan by street and junction, the edge processing and privacy design, the integration with traffic systems and a price per point and per service. [Plan a deployment](https://observatory.global/contact/deployment/) 7. From order to operation · Survey Watch the street first Crews observe each street and junction with the city's engineers: how people move, where conflicts happen, which poles see the whole space. They check power on street furniture, fibre and small-cell coverage, and note views that must be masked. Each view is sketched for the design. 8. From order to operation · Permits Poles, privacy and the public A privacy assessment sets what the edge may send: counts and anonymous trajectories, never images. Poles are used with the owner's consent under street works rules, and signs tell people what is measured. Every approval is kept. The assessment is published where the city chooses. 9. From order to operation · Build Build privacy into the node Counters, cameras, radars and edge nodes are built, tested together and enrolled with their identities. Detection zones and privacy masks are configured before installation, and video is set never to leave the node. A test confirms that only counts and trajectories can leave the node before it ships. [Open the Station Builder](https://observatory.global/studio/builder/) 10. From order to operation · Install Install at night Crews install from a platform at night: sensors on poles with views of the whole street, nodes in cabinets, power from street lights or signals and links to fibre or small cells. Every point is photographed and located. Traffic management keeps crews and road users safe. 11. From order to operation · Commission Count by hand to check Each node proves its identity. Automatic counts are compared with manual counts by mode, speeds with a reference, and the privacy settings are verified by inspecting what leaves the node. Only then does the point publish. Results are kept with each point’s record. 12. From order to operation · Operate Plan streets on evidence Planners see counts by mode before and after each scheme, engineers see speeds and near misses at junctions and fix the worst first, and kerb managers see loading. Signal timing uses live counts, and every scheme is judged on the record. 13. From order to operation · Maintain Recount and re-aim Counts are checked by hand on schedule and after street changes, sensors cleaned and re-aimed, and detection zones updated when kerbs move. Every change is recorded, so before-and-after comparisons stay honest. Spares are kept at the depot, so a failed sensor is swapped quickly and gaps in counts stay short. [Book field services](https://observatory.global/contact/field-service/) 14. Data products For planners, engineers and managers Transport planners receive counts by mode; road safety engineers receive speed and near-miss reports; kerb and parking managers receive occupancy; traffic centres receive live counts for signals. Each product is anonymous by design and carries the checks behind it. Products are dated and versioned. [See the data products](https://observatory.global/data-products/) 15. Evidence Schemes judged on the record Every count, check and change is signed and kept. Traffic data is exchanged in DATEX II under the intelligent transport rules, indicators follow the city indicators standard, and privacy is verified by inspecting what leaves each node, so a scheme's results stand up to scrutiny. Drawn againstDirective 2010/40/EU · DATEX II · ISO 37120 16. What you get Municipal sensing and connectivity layers City-wide LPWAN or private 5G as a shared layer for public sensors and services. Delivered as managed service, for cities, regional governments. Scale: City-wide. Service levels are written as numbers you can measure on your own dashboard. Changes are versioned, tested and reversible. [Talk to sales](https://observatory.global/contact/sales-enquiry/) 17. Next step Plan streets and mobility with us Tell us the site, the measurements and the rules it answers to. We reply with a survey proposal, a design and a scope for streets and mobility. An engineer replies with a survey proposal and a scope, and the plan grows from one site to the network you need, at your pace. [Plan a deployment](https://observatory.global/contact/deployment/) [Open the Station Builder](https://observatory.global/studio/builder/) [Open the Studio](https://observatory.global/studio/) **01** The place and its hazards ## Where it runs, and what can go wrong. Operating contextCity transport departments plan streets for walking, cycling, public transport and deliveries, run traffic signals and judge schemes by how people move. Counting all modes, measuring speeds and finding dangerous junctions needs sensors on many streets, and privacy rules require that people are counted, not identified. Hazards - Collisions at junctions and crossings - Speeding in residential streets - Schemes judged on cars alone - Kerbs blocked by unmanaged loading - Cameras that identify people **02** What must be measured ## What, where, how often, and under which rules. Each measurement names where it is taken, how often, and the public standard or regulation behind it. Numbers in the sources column open the cited source below. | Measurement | Where | Cadence | Sources | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Counts by mode | Streets, crossings and cycle routes | Continuous, aggregated at short intervals | 12 | | Speeds | Residential streets and approaches to crossings | Continuous | 1 | | Near misses at junctions | Junctions of concern, from trajectories processed at the edge | Continuous | 1 | | Kerb occupancy | Loading bays and bus stops | Continuous | 3 | | Signal and traffic data | Signal controllers | Continuous | 2 | **03** The observation stack ## From one base unit to a network. The same blocks at every scale: instruments and a base node, a site with its radio, a fleet run as one, and a network federated on the open protocol. 1. **01** Base unit A street point: a counter, a camera or radar processed by an edge node that sends counts and trajectories, never images. [Build a station →](https://observatory.global/studio/builder/) 2. **02** Site A corridor: points along it on private 5G or fibre to the traffic centre. [Plan a site →](https://observatory.global/contact/deployment/) 3. **03** Fleet Every point of a city run as one fleet, with one record. [Managed offers →](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/solutions/) 4. **04** Network Cities, transport authorities and researchers exchange counts and travel data through open standards. [The open protocol →](https://observatory.global/protocol/) - **01** Traffic and people counter - **02** Fixed camera - **03** Surveillance radar (FMCW) - **04** Edge node (Wedge) - **05** Fibre terminal - **06** Cellular modem/router - **07** Pole Radio and links ### Private 5G A city small-cell network on street poles carries edge nodes where fibre does not reach. Radio and links ### Fibre Signal controllers and the traffic centre are on the city’s fibre. Radio and links ### Public cellular Temporary counting points for schemes report over the public network. Edge computeEach street node classifies people, bikes and vehicles, measures speeds and trajectories and detects near misses locally; only counts and anonymous trajectories leave the street, and video is discarded. PowerNodes draw from street-light or signal power; temporary points run on batteries. **04** How it works ## From the instrument to the product. One observation's path, tier by tier, with the interface on every link and a bill of materials below; then how the one node grows to a site, a fleet and federated networks. Streets and mobility: data path – of 06 01 Instruments Measurement with sensor identity andcalibration 02 Node – Wrap in an observation envelope with timequality– Measure quality and uncertainty, attachquality flags– Buffer locally (store-and-forward when thelink drops) 03 Backhaul Commit with transactional outbox andpublish, delivered at least once 04 Site Consumer inbox deduplicates and applieseach record once into governed data 05 Data store Governed product through API, map orexport, correction-aware 06 Products DATEX IIOGC SensorThings APIGTFS Realtime 07 Power and structure 01 Traffic and people counter SDI-12 · RS-485 · Ethernet 02 Fixed camera Ethernet 03 Surveillance radar (FMCW) Ethernet 04 Edge node (Wedge) Ethernet · Fibre · USB · RS-485 ·BMC 05 Fibre terminal Fibre · Ethernet 06 Cellular modem/router Ethernet · USB · RS-232 Site MQTT 5 with Sparkplug B Governed data store Versioned, correction-aware Counts by mode Speed and near-miss reports Kerb occupancy Live counts for signals 07 Pole Ethernet Ethernet · RTSP/ONVIF Ethernet Fibre Ethernet Fibre LTE/NR From the instrument to the published product: each band is a tier, each connector names its interface, and the numbers match the bill of materials. Hover or focus a block to trace its path; scroll or step to follow one observation. | Item | Equipment | Data ports | Protocols | Power in | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 01 | **Traffic and people counter** Counter for vehicles, bicycles or pedestrians using radar, vision or loops, reporting counts without identities. | SDI-12RS-485Ethernet | SDI-12, Modbus, MQTT 5, OGC SensorThings API | 12 V DC | | 02 | **Fixed camera** Fixed visible-light camera for site security, scene monitoring and machine vision. | Ethernet | RTSP with ONVIF profiles, MQTT 5 | PoE | | 03 | **Surveillance radar (FMCW)** Short-range FMCW radar for perimeter, traffic, drone and water-surface detection. | Ethernet | MQTT 5, OGC SensorThings API | 12 V DC | | 04 | **Edge node (Wedge)** Rugged edge node that boots from signed media, attests itself and establishes a site cell from little or no infrastructure. | EthernetFibreUSBRS-485BMC | MQTT 5, DMTF Redfish, IEEE 1588 PTP, NTP with NTS, OPC UA | 12 V DC, 24 V DC, 48 V DC, AC mains | | 05 | **Fibre terminal** Optical network terminal or media converter that lands fibre backhaul at a site. | FibreEthernet | IEEE 1588 PTP | 12 V DC, 48 V DC, AC mains | | 06 | **Cellular modem/router** LTE or NR modem or router that uses a public carrier or private network as backhaul. | EthernetUSBRS-232 | 3GPP E-UTRA air interface, 3GPP NR air interface, OMA LwM2M | 12 V DC, PoE | | 07 | **Pole** Utility, street or dedicated pole with clamp positions. | — | — | — | How it scales 01 Instruments Arbitrary qualified sensors and instruments whosemeasurements are ingested with calibration, units,geometry, time, custody and uncertainty. ×n 02 Node The minimum useful deployable unit: server, ruggedappliance, radio node, sensor gateway, satelliteterminal, AI, scientific, vehicle or virtual node. Node Node agent 03 Site The minimum independently operable localgovernance and failure domain: one or more nodesplus local network, identity, policy, evidence,storage, products and operator surfaces. SITE Node Node Node ×n 04 Cluster An optional scale or specialisation domain forscheduling, shared storage, accelerators or datalocality. CLUSTER ×n 05 Fleet Coordinates plans, acknowledgements,convergence evidence, update campaigns andcorrection propagation across nodes and sites. FLEET Fleet controller ×n 06 Federation An exchange of products, capabilities, events orwork across approved, independently administeredtrust domains, using explicit trust, policy,data-locality, version and correction contracts. TRUST DOMAIN TRUST DOMAIN TRUST DOMAIN ×n Verifier Applications Data in the field Telemetry Control Data upstream Control Data upstream Control Exchange Evidence Events Exchange The smallest deployable unit is one node; the same unit is replicated to meet the demand. Nodes form a site, sites may form a cluster, sites and clusters are coordinated as a fleet, and fleets exchange across independently administered trust domains. Each plane is a separate channel with its own open binding. **Data in the field**: MQTT 5 with Sparkplug B; connectors for LoRaWAN, OPC UA and instrument buses. **Telemetry**: OpenTelemetry OTLP. **Control**: TLS 1.3 with mutual authentication; protobuf messages over gRPC or HTTP/2. **Data upstream**: At-least-once publication with repeat-safe keys over the control channel or NATS JetStream; QUIC MAY be used on lossy links. **Evidence**: DSSE-signed in-toto statements; SLSA provenance; SCITT transparency receipts. **Events**: Event envelopes mapped to CloudEvents 1.0; channels described in AsyncAPI 3. **Exchange**: OpenAPI 3.1; the OGC API family; SensorThings; STAC; WIS 2.0. **05** From order to operation ## Every step, from the first call to a running site. The same crew and the same record carry the work from scope to maintenance. 1. 01 Order Scope the streets and the questions The scope reads the transport strategy, the schemes to evaluate, junctions of concern and the city's privacy rules. Nexus Observatory Inc. returns the point plan by street and junction, the edge processing and privacy design, the integration with traffic systems and a price per point and per service. 1 2. 02 Survey Watch the street first Crews observe each street and junction with the city's engineers: how people move, where conflicts happen, which poles see the whole space. They check power on street furniture, fibre and small-cell coverage, and note views that must be masked. Each view is sketched for the design. 3. 03 Permits Poles, privacy and the public A privacy assessment sets what the edge may send: counts and anonymous trajectories, never images. Poles are used with the owner's consent under street works rules, and signs tell people what is measured. Every approval is kept. The assessment is published where the city chooses. 4. 04 Build Build privacy into the node Counters, cameras, radars and edge nodes are built, tested together and enrolled with their identities. Detection zones and privacy masks are configured before installation, and video is set never to leave the node. A test confirms that only counts and trajectories can leave the node before it ships. 5. 05 Install Install at night Crews install from a platform at night: sensors on poles with views of the whole street, nodes in cabinets, power from street lights or signals and links to fibre or small cells. Every point is photographed and located. Traffic management keeps crews and road users safe. 6. 06 Commission Count by hand to check Each node proves its identity. Automatic counts are compared with manual counts by mode, speeds with a reference, and the privacy settings are verified by inspecting what leaves the node. Only then does the point publish. Results are kept with each point’s record. 7. 07 Operate Plan streets on evidence Planners see counts by mode before and after each scheme, engineers see speeds and near misses at junctions and fix the worst first, and kerb managers see loading. Signal timing uses live counts, and every scheme is judged on the record. 2 8. 08 Maintain Recount and re-aim Counts are checked by hand on schedule and after street changes, sensors cleaned and re-aimed, and detection zones updated when kerbs move. Every change is recorded, so before-and-after comparisons stay honest. Spares are kept at the depot, so a failed sensor is swapped quickly and gaps in counts stay short. **06** Data products and integration ## What it delivers, to whom, and into which systems. Data products - **Counts by mode** Transport planners - **Speed and near-miss reports** Road safety engineers - **Kerb occupancy** Kerb and parking managers - **Live counts for signals** Traffic centres Integration - **Traffic centre** Counts and events are delivered in DATEX II and the signal system's own formats. - **City data platform** Counts are published through OGC SensorThings and open data. - **Scheme evaluation** Before-and-after counts are exported for each scheme's report. Exchanged through DATEX II, OGC SensorThings API, GTFS Realtime. **07** Questions buyers ask ## Before you scope it. Do cameras record people? No. Video is processed on the node and discarded; only counts and anonymous trajectories leave. Can it count bikes and pedestrians? Yes, by mode, checked against manual counts. Can it find dangerous junctions? Near misses are detected from trajectories, so the worst junctions show before collisions do. Can counts feed signals? Yes, through the signal system's own interfaces. **08** Resources ## The sources behind this page. Public standards, regulations and guidance, cited where they apply. Each applies only where its jurisdiction or scope does. 1. **1** [Directive 2010/40/EU on intelligent transport systems](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/) European Union · 2010 2. **2** [DATEX II (CEN/TS 16157): exchange of traffic and travel information](https://www.datex2.eu/) European Committee for Standardization 3. **3** [ISO 37120: Sustainable cities and communities, indicators for city services and quality of life](https://www.iso.org/) International Organization for Standardization **09** Related ## Use cases and solutions. [Solution Municipal sensing and connectivity layersCity-wide LPWAN or private 5G as a shared layer for public sensors and services.Solutions for cities →](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/solutions/#municipal-connectivity) [Solution Edge inference for infrastructureModels running beside the instrument on video, radar and sensor streams for assets and hazards; only results move upstream.Solutions for cities →](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/solutions/#edge-inference) [Solution Private Wireless as a ServiceStandalone private 5G or LTE for a site, campus, port or mine: radios, core, SIMs, spectrum route and operations.Solutions for cities →](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/solutions/#private-wireless) **10** Cities: specialized fields ## Other fields of this industry. [Specialized field Urban air qualityReference stations and dense sensor networks for particles and gases, with weather to trace sources, calibrated against each other, on cellular and LoRaWAN, for street-level maps people can trust.The full field →](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/air-quality/) [Specialized field Urban heat and treesStreet-level temperature and humidity across neighbourhoods, tree soil moisture and heat-health alerts, on LoRaWAN across the city, so cooling and watering go where people suffer most.The full field →](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/urban-heat/) [Specialized field Public buildings and energyEnergy, heat and water meters, indoor air and comfort in schools, offices and pools, with weather for normalisation, on the buildings' own networks behind a security gateway.The full field →](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/public-buildings/) [Specialized field Waste and street servicesBin fill levels, collection routes, transfer station gas and weather, on LoRaWAN across the city, so crews empty what is full and the waste record follows from the work.The full field →](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/waste-services/) [Specialized field Noise and the night-time cityClass 1 noise monitoring at hot spots, event classification at the edge for nightlife, construction and traffic, with weather, on cellular, so complaints are answered with evidence and noise plans work.The full field →](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/noise/) ### Bring us the site. 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