Portlander creates AI-powered device to monitor street health

Summary

The Traffic Monitor and LED display perched above Matt Zajack’s garage on NE 26th Avenue. (Photos and video: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland) If you ride on NE 26th Avenue and Wasco, you might have noticed a small square box with a camera lens peering out onto the street. The box is attached to a garage and accompanied by a small LED display that shows the number of bikes, pedestrians, and cars that have gone by. This isn’t just a trivial weekend project by a garage tinkerer, it’s the result of years of development by a data expert who thinks his creation can revolutionize urban planning and kickstart a new era of people-powered advocacy for healthier cities. The device is the work of Matt Zajack, a Sullivan’s Gulch resident and data analytics consultant who’s about to launch his new product into the world. Zajack’s Traffic Monitor is an, “open source roadway object detection and radar speed monitoring,” device made from simple and widely available components. It uses a wide-angle camera, a very small (Raspberry Pi) computer, and machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) code to watch for objects in the street and then tallies what it sees in a database and presents the information in an easy-to-read display. Add a few sensors — for things like air quality, temperature, and doppler radar to measure speed — and you’ve got a trove of useful data in a small package that can be deployed almost anywhere. “I am talking about capturing the picture of the roadway biome. Trying to get people to think about: How healthy is your street environment? Does it encourage, promote, support human movement? How can it adapt to changing conditions and environments?”– Matt Zajack, Traffic Monitor I first met Zajack and learned about this project in January 2024 when he signed up for a 15-minute slot in my weekly office hours. I was so intrigued, I encouraged him to bring the device to Bike Happy Hour. The night he showed up, I recall many people being amazed by it and a curious crowd...