Visitor guidance system

Abstract

To provide a visitor guidance system capable of efficiently guiding vehicles or people to an event site or a tourist site.SOLUTION: Provided is a visitor guidance system for guiding visitors to an event site or a tourist site, comprises: a plurality of imaging devices 2 and a plurality of electronic signboards 3 provided along a road 110 or in a public transportation facility; a guidance information generation part for generating visitor guidance information constituted by including one or both of traffic information as information about traffic to an event site or a tourist side 120, and a guide arrow indicating a movement route to the event site or the tourist side 120, on the basis of human-flow data or vehicle-flow data based on images imaged by the plurality of imaging devices 2; and an information transmission part for transmitting the visitor guidance information to the electronic signboards 3.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a visitor guidance system for guiding visitors to an event venue or a tourist destination.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, it has been widely practiced to analyze the traffic situation of vehicles and people by recognizing the running of vehicles or simulating the traffic conditions. For example, in Patent Document 1, from vehicle image data in which the license plate of a vehicle passing through a vehicle passing area is imaged, a region state characteristic value indicating the state of a specific region in the vehicle is calculated, and a characteristic value difference indicating the degree of change in the region state characteristic value is obtained and analyzed, whereby a configuration for specifying the traveling direction of the vehicle is described. Further, in Patent Document 2, based on road information indicating a road map and a road environment, signal information indicating the cycle of change of traffic lights, and information indicating the actual traffic state of vehicles, the departure place, departure time, and destination of each vehicle estimated based on the above, a vehicle model in which a vehicle is modeled is run to simulate the traffic state. Furthermore, in Patent Document 3, a configuration for enhancing the work efficiency of traffic analysis and performing traffic analysis simulation by linking a GIS (Geographic Information System) that integratively and visually handles regional information and traffic analysis software is described.

[0003] Here, for example, in an event venue or a tourist destination, it is expected that by increasing the number of visitors to the event venue or tourist destination, the revenue at the event venue or tourist destination will increase. In this regard, in an event venue or a tourist destination, using a traffic analysis system or the like as described in Patent Documents 1 to 3 to analyze the traffic situation around the event venue or tourist destination is considered to contribute to an increase in revenue. However, in the configurations described in Patent Documents 1 to 3, basically, since the purpose is to analyze the traffic situation, even if it is possible to analyze the traffic situation around the event venue or tourist destination, it is not possible to guide the vehicles and people located in the vicinity to the event venue or tourist destination. In addition, visitors coming to an event venue or a tourist destination may lack knowledge about the geography of the event venue or tourist destination. Therefore, it is desired to efficiently guide vehicles and people to the event venue or tourist destination.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Patent Document 3

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a visitor guidance system capable of efficiently guiding vehicles and people to an event venue or tourist destination.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] The inventors of the present invention focused on the fact that, as a visitor guidance system for visiting vehicles and visitors who visit an area including an event venue or a tourist destination, a plurality of imaging devices and a plurality of electronic display boards are installed along roads and in public transportation facilities, and based on the images captured by the imaging devices, traffic information and movement route information to the event venue or tourist destination are displayed on the electronic display boards, so that even if a person is unfamiliar with the geography of the area including the event venue or tourist destination, visitors can be efficiently guided to the event venue or tourist destination, and thus the present invention was achieved. To solve the above problems, the present invention employs the following means. That is, the visitor guidance system of the present invention is a visitor guidance system that guides visitors to an event venue or a tourist destination, and includes a plurality of imaging devices and a plurality of electronic display boards provided along roads or in public transportation facilities, and based on the flow of people data or the flow of vehicles data based on the images captured by the plurality of imaging devices, traffic information which is information regarding traffic to the event venue or the tourist destination, and a guiding arrow indicating a movement route to the event venue or the tourist destination, and a guiding information generation unit that generates visitor guidance information including either one or both of them, and an information transmission unit that transmits the visitor guidance information to the electronic display board. According to the configuration as described above, a plurality of imaging devices are provided along roads or in public transportation facilities. Based on the pedestrian flow data or vehicle flow data obtained from the images captured by the plurality of imaging devices, the guidance information generation unit generates visitor guidance information including either or both of traffic information regarding traffic to the event venue or tourist destination and guidance arrows indicating the movement route to the event venue or tourist destination, and the information transmission unit displays this visitor guidance information on electronic display boards provided along roads or in public transportation facilities. Visitors can understand the traffic situation and movement route to the event venue or tourist destination by referring to the visitor guidance information thus displayed on the electronic display boards. Therefore, even if visitors who aim to visit the event venue or tourist destination are not familiar with the geography related to the event venue or tourist destination, they can be efficiently guided to the event venue or tourist destination. As a result, visitors can be smoothly guided to the event venue or tourist destination. Also, even when visitors do not aim to visit the event venue or tourist destination, if they see the visitor guidance information displayed on the electronic display board as described above, their knowledge of the event venue or tourist destination increases, and the possibility of their visiting the event venue or tourist destination also increases. In this way, it becomes possible to provide a visitor guidance system capable of efficiently guiding vehicles and people to the event venue or tourist destination.

[0007] In one aspect of the present invention, the vehicle flow data includes vehicle number information, the guidance information generation unit reads the vehicle number information from the image, selects resident vehicles living near the event venue or tourist destination and visiting vehicles aiming at the event venue or tourist destination based on the vehicle number information, generates the visitor guidance information only for the visiting vehicles, and the information transmission unit transmits the visitor guidance information to the electronic display board when the visiting vehicle approaches the electronic display board. According to such a configuration, based on the vehicle number information read from the images captured by a plurality of imaging devices, resident vehicles living near the event venue or tourist destination and visiting vehicles heading for the event venue or tourist destination are selected, and when a visiting vehicle approaches the electronic display board, visitor guidance information can be transmitted at an appropriate timing. Therefore, the visiting vehicle can be efficiently guided to the event venue or tourist destination. In addition, for resident vehicles that are likely to frequently pass near the event venue or tourist destination, since visitor guidance information is not transmitted, it is also not the case that visitor guidance information is transmitted every time a resident vehicle approaches the electronic display board. Therefore, visitor guidance information can be provided more effectively to appropriate target persons.

[0008] In another aspect of the present invention, the visitor guidance system of the present invention further includes a visitor database in which the residential area information of the visitor and the vehicle number information of the visiting vehicle owned by the visitor are registered in association with each other. The plurality of imaging devices include a plurality of boundary imaging devices provided at the boundary of the area including the event venue and the tourist destination, and a plurality of in-area imaging devices provided inside the boundary. The traffic flow data includes the stay time, which is the time from the entry time when the visiting vehicle was first captured by the boundary imaging device to the exit time when the visiting vehicle was next captured by the in-area imaging device. The guidance information generation unit calculates the stay time for each visiting vehicle and records the stay time in the visitor database in association with the visitor based on the vehicle number information of the visiting vehicle. According to such a configuration, the entry time of the visiting vehicle into the area including the event venue and the tourist destination can be specified from the time when the vehicle number information of the visiting vehicle is first captured by a plurality of boundary imaging devices provided at the boundary of the area including the event venue and the tourist destination. Also, the exit time of the visiting vehicle from the area including the event venue and the tourist destination can be specified from the time when the vehicle number information of the visiting vehicle is next captured by the boundary imaging device. Then, the stay time of the visitor in the area including the event venue and the tourist destination can be obtained from the time between the entry time and the exit time of the visiting vehicle. In this way, the staying time is calculated for each visiting vehicle, and based on the vehicle information of the visiting vehicle, the staying time of the visitor having the visiting vehicle is recorded in the visitor database. Thus, in the visitor database, for each visitor, the staying time of the visitor who has visited the area including the event venue or tourist destination can be accumulated in association with the residential area information of the visitor. Generally, it is considered that the more interesting the event venue or tourist destination is for the visitor, the longer the staying time of the visitor in the area including the event venue or tourist destination will be. Therefore, by analyzing the information accumulated in the visitor database, it becomes possible to quantitatively estimate the attractiveness of the event venue or tourist destination for the visitor. As a result, it becomes possible to subsequently carry out various attempts to improve the attractiveness of the event venue or tourist destination, or to evaluate the effects when actually carrying out such attempts. In this way, when carrying out activities to enhance the attractiveness of the event venue or tourist destination, effective information can be collected.

Advantages of the Invention

[0009] According to the present invention, it becomes possible to provide a visitor guidance system that can efficiently guide vehicles and people to event venues or tourist destinations.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0010]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Modes for Carrying Out the Invention

[0011] The present invention is a visitor guidance system for guiding visitors to an event venue or a tourist destination. Specifically, it is a visitor guidance system that provides traffic information and movement route information to event venues or tourist destinations for visiting vehicles and visitors in areas including event venues and tourist destinations, using photographing devices and electronic display boards installed along roads and in public transportation facilities. Hereinafter, embodiments for implementing the visitor guidance system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. (First Embodiment) FIG. 1 shows a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a visitor guidance system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a photographing device and an electronic display board provided in an area including an event venue or a tourist destination. As shown in FIG. 1, the visitor guidance system 1 mainly includes a plurality of photographing devices 2, a plurality of electronic display boards 3, and a system main body 5. This visitor guidance system 1 is for guiding visitors from outside the area to an event venue or a tourist destination in an area including the event venue or the tourist destination. The visitor guidance system 1 is provided in areas including various event venues and tourist destinations. In the present embodiment, the visitor guidance system 1 photographs a vehicle (hereinafter referred to as a visiting vehicle) used when a visitor visits the area, and provides various information to the visitor based on the vehicle number information described on the number plate attached to the visiting vehicle.

[0012] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an area where visitor guidance information is provided to visitors by the visitor guidance system. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the arrangement of a boundary photographing device and an electronic display board provided at the boundary of the area. The plurality of photographing devices 2 photograph vehicles (automobiles) including the visiting vehicle. The plurality of photographing devices 2 are provided along the road 110 in the area 100 including the event venue or tourist destination 120, or in public transportation facilities for vehicles such as service areas, parking areas, and road stations inside the area 100. Here, the area 100 including the event venue or tourist destination 120 is set widely so as to include not only the event venue or tourist destination 120 but also the surrounding roads 110 through which visitors to the event venue or tourist destination 120 are predicted to pass.

[0013] As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, as the plurality of photographing devices 2, a plurality of boundary photographing devices 21 and a plurality of in-area photographing devices 22 are provided. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the plurality of boundary photographing devices 21 are provided at the boundary 100k of the area 100. The plurality of boundary photographing devices 21 photograph vehicles passing on the road 110 when the vehicle enters or exits the area 100 across the boundary 100k. For this reason, the boundary photographing device 21 is provided on each of the plurality of roads 110 passing through the boundary 100k of the area 100. Along each road 110 passing through the boundary 100k, an entrance-side boundary photographing device 21A and an exit-side boundary photographing device 21B are provided as the boundary photographing device 21. The entrance-side boundary photographing device 21A is provided so as to photograph the front of a vehicle traveling in the lane in the direction of traveling toward the area 100 on the road 110. Thereby, the entrance-side boundary photographing device 21A photographs a vehicle entering the area 100 from outside the area 100. The exit-side boundary photographing device 21B is provided so as to photograph the front of a vehicle traveling in the lane in the direction of traveling toward the outside of the area 100 on the road 110. Thereby, the exit-side boundary photographing device 21B photographs a vehicle exiting the area 100 from inside the area 100.

[0014] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the arrangement of a plurality of photographing devices and a plurality of electronic display boards installed in an event venue or tourist destination. The plurality of in-region imaging devices 22 are provided at various locations within Region 100, such as along Road 110 and at public transportation facilities. Each in-region imaging device 22 captures vehicles passing on Road 110 within Region 100 and vehicles visiting public transportation facilities and the like. Each imaging device 2 (the boundary imaging device 21 and the in-region imaging device 22) outputs the data of the captured video to the system main body 5 via a communication network (not shown) such as a public wireless communication network or a wired cable.

[0015] The plurality of electronic display boards 3 display visitor guidance information output from the system main body 5 described later to the visitors riding in the visiting vehicles. This visitor guidance information includes, as will be described later, traffic information regarding the traffic to the event venue or tourist destination 120 and / or a guidance arrow indicating the moving route to the event venue or tourist destination 120. The plurality of electronic display boards 3 display visitor guidance information to the visiting vehicles based on the event that the visiting vehicles are captured by the plurality of imaging devices 2. For this reason, each electronic display board 3 is arranged in association with each of the plurality of imaging devices 2. Specifically, each electronic display board 3 is provided near each imaging device 2. That is, corresponding to each of the entry-side boundary imaging device 21A and the exit-side boundary imaging device 21B, the electronic display boards 3 are provided along the plurality of roads 110 passing through the boundary 100k of Region 100, and corresponding to each of the in-region imaging devices 22, the electronic display boards 3 are provided along Road 110 within Region 100 or at public transportation facilities and the like. Each electronic display board 3 is positioned and provided such that its display surface faces the front of the vehicle. After each imaging device 2 captures a visiting vehicle, each electronic display board 3 outputs the data of the video to the system main body 5. The system main body 5 generates visitor guidance information for the visiting vehicle based on the video, and the distance to the corresponding imaging device 2 is set according to the time required to output the generated visitor guidance information to the electronic display board 3.

[0016] The system main body 5 executes processing for guiding visitors to the event venue or tourist destination 120 based on the images captured by the plurality of imaging devices 2. The system main body 5 is a computer device equipped with a processor, a memory, etc., and has a functional configuration as shown below by cooperating with a preset computer program. The system main body 5 functionally includes a data acquisition unit 51, a visitor database (visitor DB) 52, a guidance information generation unit 53, an external data generation unit 55, and an information transmission unit 54. The data acquisition unit 51 acquires the data of the images captured by each of the plurality of imaging devices 2 via a communication network.

[0017] In the visitor database 52, the residential area information of the visitor and the vehicle number information of the visiting vehicle owned by the visitor are registered in association with each other. The vehicle number information of the visiting vehicle is the information described on the license plate attached to the visiting vehicle. When the vehicle is photographed by any one of the plurality of imaging devices 2, the guidance information generation unit 53 described below analyzes the image of the license plate attached to the vehicle by an appropriate image processing technique to recognize and acquire the characters described on the license plate. More specifically, for example, from the vehicle number information described on the license plate, the characters indicating the transportation branch where the vehicle is registered and the vehicle number for individually recognizing the vehicle can be obtained. When the vehicle photographed by the imaging device 2 is a visiting vehicle, in the visitor database 52, the characters indicating the transportation branch where the visiting vehicle is registered and the vehicle number for individually recognizing the visiting vehicle are registered as the vehicle number information of the visiting vehicle.

[0018] The residential area information of the visitor is the name of the area where the visitor who owns the visiting vehicle is considered to reside. For example, the characters indicating the transportation branch where the visiting vehicle is registered, obtained from the vehicle number information of the visiting vehicle, can be set as the residential area information of the visitor. In this case, for example, when any of the imaging devices 2 captures a vehicle for the first time and the characters indicating the transportation branch office where the vehicle is registered are different from the region 100, the vehicle can be registered in the visitor database 52 as a visiting vehicle. Thereafter, each time the visiting vehicle is captured, the visitor database 52 can register, for example, the history of the location where the visiting vehicle was captured.

[0019] The residential area information of the visitor may include the visitor's address, telephone number, and email address. The residential area information (and vehicle number information) of the visitor registered in the visitor database 52 may be obtained from the visitor side, for example, when the visitor purchases a ticket to enter the event venue, makes a reservation at a lodging facility, food and beverage facility, etc. in the event venue or tourist destination 120, or reserves a rental car used by the visitor to visit the event venue or tourist destination 120, by the visitor actively inputting the above-mentioned address, telephone number, email address, etc. Also, if the visitor has pre-registered the residential area information (and vehicle number information) in the membership system set up at the event venue or tourist destination 120, the registered information may be registered in the visitor database 52 after obtaining the prior approval of the visitor.

[0020] In this way, the residential area information of the visitor, the vehicle number information, and the history captured by the imaging device 2 are recorded in the visitor database 52 each time the imaging device 2 performs imaging. In addition to the information regarding the visitor, the visitor database 52 may also register the vehicle number information of the vehicles owned by the residents (hereinafter referred to as resident vehicles) living within the region 100 including the event venue or tourist destination 120 or in the vicinity of the region 100 as the regional resident information. This regional resident information may be pre-registered. Regarding this resident vehicle as well, the history captured by the imaging device 2 may be recorded each time imaging is performed.

[0021] The guidance information generating unit 53 generates visitor guidance information based on vehicle flow data based on images captured by the multiple image capturing devices 2. The vehicle flow data based on images captured by the multiple image capturing devices 2 is data that represents the flow of vehicles across the area 100 or within the area 100. For example, the vehicle flow data may include information on how many vehicles have passed each road 110 in a certain time, in which direction. Alternatively, the vehicle flow data may include the number of vehicles that have entered the area 100 in a certain time, and the number of vehicles that have left the area 100 in a certain time. In particular, in this embodiment, the vehicle flow data is specifically obtained by analyzing images of visiting vehicles captured by the multiple image capturing devices 2, and includes vehicle number information written on the license plate attached to the visiting vehicle, which is registered in the visitor database 52.

[0022] The guidance information generating unit 53 reads the vehicle number information from the image, and based on the vehicle number information, selects between a resident vehicle residing near the event venue or tourist spot 120 and a visiting vehicle heading for the event venue or tourist spot 120. For example, the guidance information generating unit 53 may determine that a vehicle is not a resident vehicle but a visiting vehicle when the characters indicating the transport bureau where the vehicle is registered, such as "Shinagawa" or "Yokohama", included in the vehicle number information, are different from the characters indicating the transport bureau of a resident vehicle residing near the event venue or tourist spot 120. For example, the guidance information generating unit 53 may determine that a vehicle is not a resident vehicle but a visiting vehicle when the license plate attached to the vehicle includes characters indicating that the vehicle is a rental car, such as "wa" or "re". The guidance information generation unit 53 can also search the visitor database 52 and determine whether the vehicle is a resident vehicle or a visiting vehicle based on whether the read vehicle number information has already been registered as a visiting vehicle, and select between them.

[0023] In addition, the guidance information generation unit 53 refers to the visitor database 52 based on the vehicle number information of the license plate mounted on the vehicle. When the vehicle number information of a certain vehicle has been photographed by the photographing device 2 equal to or more than a preset number of times within a preset period, or when the vehicle number information of a certain vehicle has been photographed by the photographing device 2 throughout the year, it is determined that the vehicle is a resident vehicle residing near the event venue or the tourist destination 120. As a result, not only the vehicles of the residents residing near the event venue or the tourist destination 120, but also the vehicles of the people commuting or going to school in the vicinity and the people frequently visiting the vicinity can be determined as resident vehicles.

[0024] In this way, based on the read vehicle number information, the guidance information generation unit 53 determines whether the vehicle having the vehicle number information is a resident vehicle or a visiting vehicle, and selects between resident vehicles and visiting vehicles. When the vehicle photographed by the photographing device 2 is determined to be a visiting vehicle and the vehicle is not registered in the visitor database 52, the guidance information generation unit 53 registers the characters indicating the transport branch office in the vehicle number information in the visitor database 52 as the residential area information together with the vehicle number information. In addition, when the vehicle photographed by the photographing device 2 is determined to be a visiting vehicle and the vehicle is registered in the visitor database 52, the guidance information generation unit 53 records and updates the history of the visiting vehicle photographed by the photographing device 2. The guidance information generation unit 53 generates visitor guidance information as described later only for the selected visiting vehicles.

[0025] When the visiting vehicle approaches the electronic display board 3, the information transmission unit 54 transmits visitor guidance information to the electronic display board 3. As a result, the electronic display board 3 can display the visitor guidance information to the visitors at the timing when the visiting vehicle approaches. Specifically, the information transmission unit 54 transmits the visitor guidance information generated by the guidance information generation unit 53 to the electronic display board 3 installed near the imaging device 2 that has imaged the visiting vehicle. Alternatively, the information transmission unit 54 predicts the timing when the visiting vehicle approaches the electronic display board 3 located further ahead in the traveling direction of the visiting vehicle, which corresponds to an imaging device 2 different from the imaging device 2 that has imaged the visiting vehicle, and may cause the electronic display board 3 to display the visitor guidance information. The electronic display board 3 displays the visitor guidance information transmitted from the information transmission unit 54 toward the visiting vehicle using characters, symbols (marks), etc. Here, the visitor guidance information displayed on the electronic display board 3 may be an Xpand code, a QR code (registered trademark), or the like.

[0026] Next, the visitor guidance information generated by the guidance information generation unit 53 will be described. The visitor guidance information generated by the guidance information generation unit 53 includes either or both of traffic information regarding traffic to the event venue or tourist destination 120 and a guidance arrow indicating the movement route to the event venue or tourist destination 120. That is, the visitor guidance information may be composed only of traffic information regarding traffic to the event venue or tourist destination 120. Alternatively, the visitor guidance information may be composed only of a guidance arrow indicating the movement route to the event venue or tourist destination 120. Furthermore, the visitor guidance information may include both the above traffic information and the guidance arrow.

[0027] For example, the guidance information generation unit 53 may include, as traffic information, traffic jam information, predicted required time, information indicating the availability of parking spaces, etc. to the event venue or tourist destination 120 for the visiting vehicle imaged by any one of the plurality of imaging devices 2 in the visitor guidance information. In addition, the guidance information generation unit 53 may generate guidance arrow indicating a moving route from the location (current value) where the imaging device 2 is installed to the event venue or tourist destination 120 within the area 100 for a visiting vehicle photographed by any one of the plurality of imaging devices 2, and include it in the visitor guidance information. This guidance arrow indicates the traveling direction of the vehicle, such as straight ahead, right turn, or left turn. For example, character information such as "Turn right at the intersection 〇〇m ahead" may be included in the visitor guidance information.

[0028] In addition, for example, for a visiting vehicle photographed by the entrance side boundary imaging device 21A, the guidance information generation unit 53 may generate information indicating a welcome intention, such as "Welcome to 〇〇", on the electronic display board 3 installed in the vicinity corresponding to the entrance side boundary imaging device 21A as visitor guidance information. In addition, for example, for a visiting vehicle photographed by the exit side boundary imaging device 21B, the guidance information generation unit 53 may generate information indicating gratitude to the visitor, such as "Thank you", on the electronic display board 3 installed in the vicinity corresponding to the exit side boundary imaging device 21B as visitor guidance information.

[0029] Here, the guidance information generation unit 53 may calculate the stay time, which is the time between the entrance time when the visiting vehicle is first photographed by the entrance side boundary imaging device 21A and the exit time when it is next photographed by the exit side boundary imaging device 21B, as traffic flow data. Based on the calculated stay time, for example, when the stay time is shorter than a preset time value, the guidance information generation unit 53 may display information on the electronic display board 3 installed in the vicinity corresponding to the exit side boundary imaging device 21B to encourage a return visit, such as "Come back to 〇〇 again", or information to guide the visitor to return to the event venue or tourist destination 120, such as "Currently at 〇〇, 〇〇 is being held", for a visiting vehicle attempting to leave the area 100, as visitor guidance information. The guidance information generation unit 53 may calculate the stay time for each visiting vehicle and record the stay time in the visitor database 52 in association with the visitor based on the vehicle number information of the visiting vehicle.

[0030] In addition, the guidance information generation unit 53 may calculate, as traffic flow data, the elapsed time from the entry time when the visiting vehicle was first photographed by the entry-side boundary photographing device 21A to the time (current time) photographed by the in-region photographing device 22 installed within the area 100, and generate visitor guidance information according to the calculated elapsed time. For example, for a visiting vehicle with a short calculated elapsed time, information for guiding restaurants, tourist spots, etc. within the area 100 may be generated as visitor guidance information. For example, as the elapsed time becomes longer, more privilege points that can be used in the area 100 may be granted to induce the visitor to stay in the area 100 for a longer time.

[0031] In addition, when a disaster occurs or the like, the guidance information generation unit 53 may generate, as visitor guidance information, information for guiding the visiting vehicle to a nearby evacuation shelter, a parking lot where it can wait temporarily, a hospital, etc. When a disaster occurs or the like, the guidance information generation unit 53 refers to the visitor database 52, acquires the residential area information of the visiting vehicle that is about to leave the area 100 and is photographed by the exit-side boundary photographing device 21B, estimates the destination of the visiting vehicle from the residential area information, and may generate, as visitor guidance information, a predicted value of the required time to the estimated destination, traffic jam information, recommended route information, etc. In addition, when a disaster occurs or the like, the guidance information generation unit 53 refers to the visitor database 52, and when the residential area information of the visiting vehicle is registered with the visitor's address or the like, may generate, as visitor guidance information, a predicted value of the required time to the registered address, traffic jam information, recommended route information, etc.

[0032] In addition, when it is determined that the vehicle photographed by the photographing device 2 is a resident vehicle living near the event venue or the tourist destination 120, the guidance information generation unit 53 may not generate visitor guidance information. When it is determined that the vehicle photographed by the photographing device 2 is a resident vehicle living near the event venue or tourist destination 120, the guidance information generation unit 53 may generate information for residents, which is different from the visitor guidance information, and cause it to be displayed on the electronic display board 3. For example, when traffic congestion occurs in the area 100 due to the concentration of a large number of visiting vehicles, the guidance information generation unit 53 may generate information regarding a detour route that prompts the resident vehicles living near the event venue or tourist destination 120 to detour around the traffic congestion, as information for residents. For example, when a traffic jam queue of visiting vehicles is occurring while waiting to enter the parking lot of the event venue or tourist destination 120, the guidance information generation unit 53 may generate information for guiding the resident vehicles not to join the traffic jam queue, as information for residents. For example, when traffic congestion of visiting vehicles occurs near (in front of) a road with a narrow road width or a so-called living road within the area 100, information restricting entry to the road with a narrow road width or living road may be displayed on the electronic display board 3 for the visiting vehicles, and information permitting entry to the road with a narrow road width or living road may be displayed on the electronic display board 3 for the resident vehicles.

[0033] As described above, when the e-mail address of the visitor is registered in the visitor database 52, the visitor guidance information generated by the guidance information generation unit 53 may be transmitted to the e-mail address of the visitor in addition to being displayed on the electronic display board 3, so that the visitor can confirm the content by means of a visitor terminal 8 such as a smartphone owned by the visitor.

[0034] As described above, the external data generation unit 55 generates external provision information to be provided to the outside other than visitors based on various information regarding the visiting vehicles photographed by the plurality of photographing devices 2 and various information registered in the visitor database 52. For example, the external data generation unit 55 may count the number of visiting vehicles photographed by the in-region photographing device 22 within the region 100, and generate it as external-provided information as information indicating the congestion status of the event venue or tourist destination 120. The generated information indicating the congestion status may be provided, for example, to various stores, accommodation facilities, parking lot operators, etc. within the region 100 via e-mail or the like. For example, based on the number of visiting vehicles photographed by the in-region photographing device 22, the availability status of the parking lot is estimated, and when the parking lot is approaching full capacity, etc., information for prompting the opening of a temporary parking lot and guiding the visiting vehicles to the temporary parking lot may be generated as external-provided information. In addition, the external data generation unit 55 may estimate the current position of the visiting vehicle from the position of the photographing device 2 that photographed the visiting vehicle, and generate information based on that position as external-provided information. For example, if it can be estimated from the estimated current position of the visiting vehicle that the visiting vehicle is heading towards a restaurant or accommodation facility reserved by the visitor registered in the visitor database 52, information indicating that the visitor will arrive soon may be generated as external-provided information and provided to that restaurant or accommodation facility.

[0035] The external data generation unit 55 counts the number of visiting vehicles photographed by the in-region photographing device 22 within the region 100, and based on this, estimates the number of visitors staying within the region 100 at that time, and may generate the estimated number as external-provided information. The generated external-provided information can be used, for example, for calculating the quantity of evacuation supplies for visitors in the event of a disaster. Alternatively, for example, after photographing devices 2 are provided at the entrance and exit of a tunnel, when an accident, fire, etc. occurs inside the tunnel, the external data generation unit 55 identifies a vehicle that has entered from the entrance but has not exited from the exit as a vehicle trapped inside the tunnel, and may provide the information of the vehicle to the police, fire department, hospital, etc.

[0036] In addition, the external data generation unit 55 can also generate external-provided information based on the information registered (stored) in the visitor database 52. For example, in the visitor database 52, for each visitor (visiting vehicle), after accumulating the residential area information of the visitor and the stay time of the visitor who visited the area 100 including the event venue or tourist destination 120, the external data generation unit 55 may generate, as external provided information, by associating the residential area information and the stay time for all visitors who visited the area 100 within a certain period of time. Generally, the more interesting the event venue or tourist destination 120 is to the visitors, the longer the stay time of the visitors in the area 100 including the event venue or tourist destination 120 is considered to be. Therefore, by analyzing the external provided information generated based on the information stored in the visitor database 52, it becomes possible to quantitatively estimate the attractiveness etc. of the event venue or tourist destination 120 for a plurality of visitors. As a result, it can be used to subsequently carry out various attempts to improve the attractiveness of the event venue or tourist destination 120, or to evaluate the effects when actually carrying out such attempts.

[0037] The visitor guidance system 1 as described above is a visitor guidance system 1 that guides visitors to the event venue or tourist destination 120, and includes a plurality of photographing devices 2 and a plurality of electronic display boards 3 provided along the road 110 or in public transportation facilities, and based on traffic flow data based on the images photographed by the plurality of photographing devices 2, it includes either or both of traffic information which is information regarding the traffic to the event venue or tourist destination 120 and a guidance arrow indicating the movement route to the event venue or tourist destination 120, and a guidance information generation unit 53 that generates visitor guidance information, and an information transmission unit 54 that transmits the visitor guidance information to the electronic display board 3. According to the above configuration, a plurality of imaging devices 2 are provided along the road 110 or in public transportation facilities. Based on the traffic flow data obtained from the images captured by the plurality of imaging devices 2, the guidance information generation unit 53 generates visitor guidance information including either or both of traffic information regarding traffic to the event venue or tourist destination 120 and a guidance arrow indicating the route to the event venue or tourist destination 120. The information transmission unit 54 displays this visitor guidance information on the electronic display board 3 provided along the road 110 or in public transportation facilities. By referring to the visitor guidance information thus displayed on the electronic display board 3, visitors can understand the traffic conditions and the route to the event venue or tourist destination 120. Therefore, even if visitors are not familiar with the geography related to the event venue or tourist destination 120 for the purpose of visiting the event venue or tourist destination 120, they can be efficiently guided to the event venue or tourist destination 120. As a result, visitors can be smoothly guided to the event venue or tourist destination 120. Also, even when visitors do not aim to visit the event venue or tourist destination 120, if they see the visitor guidance information displayed on the electronic display board 3 as described above, the possibility that the visitors will visit the event venue or tourist destination 120 increases because they learn about the event venue or tourist destination 120. In this way, it becomes possible to provide the visitor guidance system 1 that can efficiently guide vehicles to the event venue or tourist destination 120.

[0038] Further, the traffic flow data includes vehicle number information. The guidance information generation unit 53 reads the vehicle number information from the image, selects resident vehicles living near the event venue or tourist destination 120 and visiting vehicles aiming at the event venue or tourist destination 120 based on the vehicle number information, generates visitor guidance information only for the visiting vehicles, and the information transmission unit 54 transmits the visitor guidance information to the electronic display board 3 when the visiting vehicle approaches the electronic display board 3. According to such a configuration, based on the vehicle number information read from the images captured by the plurality of imaging devices 2, resident vehicles residing near the event venue or tourist destination 120 and visiting vehicles heading for the event venue or tourist destination 120 are selected. When the visiting vehicle approaches the electronic display board 3, the visitor guidance information can be transmitted at an appropriate timing. Therefore, resident vehicles and visiting vehicles can be objectively selected from the vehicle images, and only the visiting vehicles can be efficiently guided to the event venue or tourist destination 120. Also, for resident vehicles that are likely to frequently pass near the event venue or tourist destination 120, since the visitor guidance information is not transmitted, the visitor guidance information is not transmitted every time a resident vehicle approaches the electronic display board 3. Therefore, the visitor guidance information can be provided more effectively to the appropriate target persons.

[0039] In addition, the visitor guidance system 1 further includes a visitor database 52 in which the resident area information of the visitor and the vehicle number information of the visiting vehicle owned by the visitor are registered in association with each other. The plurality of imaging devices 2 include a plurality of boundary imaging devices 21 provided at the boundary 100k of the area 100 including the event venue and tourist destination 120, and a plurality of in-area imaging devices 22 provided inside the boundary 100k. The traffic flow data includes the stay time, which is the time from the entry time when the visiting vehicle is first captured by the boundary imaging device 21 to the exit time when it is next captured by the in-area imaging device 22. The guidance information generation unit 53 calculates the stay time for each visiting vehicle and records the stay time in the visitor database 52 in association with the visitor based on the vehicle number information of the visiting vehicle. According to such a configuration, the vehicle number information of the visiting vehicle can be used to specify the entry time of the visiting vehicle into the area 100 including the event venue or tourist destination 120 from the time when it is first photographed by a plurality of boundary photographing devices 21 (entry-side boundary photographing devices 21A) provided at the boundary 100k of the area 100 including the event venue or tourist destination 120. Also, the vehicle number information of the visiting vehicle can be used to specify the departure time of the visiting vehicle from the area 100 including the event venue or tourist destination 120 from the time when it is next photographed by the boundary photographing device 21 (departure-side boundary photographing device 21B). And the stay time of the visitor in the area 100 including the event venue or tourist destination 120 can be obtained from the time between the entry time and the departure time of the visiting vehicle. In this way, by calculating the stay time for each visiting vehicle and recording the stay time of the visitor having the visiting vehicle in the visitor database 52 based on the vehicle information of the visiting vehicle, the visitor database 52 can accumulate, for each visitor, the residential area information of the visitor and the stay time of the visitor who visited the area 100 including the event venue or tourist destination 120 in association with each other. Generally, it is considered that the more interesting the event venue or tourist destination 120 is for the visitor, the longer the stay time of the visitor in the area 100 including the event venue or tourist destination 120 becomes. Therefore, by analyzing the information accumulated in the visitor database 52, it becomes possible to quantitatively estimate the attractiveness etc. of the event venue or tourist destination 120 for the visitor. As a result, it becomes possible to subsequently carry out various attempts to improve the attractiveness of the event venue or tourist destination 120, or to evaluate the effects when actually carrying out such attempts. In this way, when carrying out activities to enhance the attractiveness of the event venue or tourist destination 120, effective information can be collected. Also, based on the stay time for each visiting vehicle, the traffic state in the area 100 including the event venue or tourist destination 120 can be accurately grasped.

[0040] (Modification of the First Embodiment) In the above-described embodiment, the traffic flow data used by the guidance information generation unit 53 as a basis for generating visitor guidance information included vehicle number information described on license plates, but is not limited thereto. The traffic flow data may be only the data itself representing the flow of vehicles that straddle the area 100 or are within the area 100. In this case, the traffic flow data is, for example, information on how many vehicles have passed in a certain direction on each road 110 within a certain time. Alternatively, the traffic flow data includes, for example, the number of vehicles that have entered the area 100 within a certain time and the number of vehicles that have exited the area 100 within a certain time. That is, in these cases, the visitor guidance system 1 does not have to analyze the license plates of the photographed vehicles to extract vehicle number information. In such a case, the guidance information generation unit 53 calculates, for example, the number and density of vehicles within the area 100 based on the traffic flow data, and when this is more than usual, determines that there are many visiting vehicles, and generates visitor guidance information for guiding the entire flow of vehicles to the event venue or tourist destination 120 on each of the electronic display boards 3.

[0041] (Second Embodiment) Next, a visitor guidance system according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The visitor guidance system in the present embodiment differs from the first embodiment only in that the object photographed by the photographing device 2 is a visitor (person) instead of a vehicle. Therefore, in the following description, components common to the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals as in the first embodiment, and the description thereof is omitted. In the visitor guidance system 1 according to the second embodiment of the present invention, visitors who visit the area 100 by means of transportation other than vehicles, such as trains, buses, airplanes, ships, etc., are guided to the event venue or tourist destination 120. In the present embodiment, a plurality of photographing devices 2 and a plurality of electronic display boards 3 as shown in the first embodiment are installed at various locations within the area 100 where visitors walk. For example, the photographing device 2 and the electronic display board 3 are installed in pairs along the sidewalks of the roads 110 within the area 100, at public transportation facilities such as stations, bus stops, airports, ports, etc., and at the entrances and exits of stores and facilities.

[0042] In the guidance information generation unit 53 of the visitor guidance system 1, crowd flow data is generated based on the images captured by the plurality of imaging devices 2. The crowd flow data includes the determination result of whether a visitor (person) is included in the images captured by the plurality of imaging devices 2. In the guidance information generation unit 53, when it can be determined by appropriate image processing technology that a visitor (person) is included in the images captured by the plurality of imaging devices 2, based on the position of the imaging device 2 that captured the visitor, it generates visitor guidance information including either or both of traffic information, which is information regarding the traffic to the event venue or tourist destination 120, and a guidance arrow indicating the movement route to the event venue or tourist destination 120. The generated visitor guidance information is transmitted by the information transmission unit 54 to the electronic display board 3 installed in the vicinity in association with the imaging device 2. Thereby, the generated visitor guidance information is displayed on the electronic display board 3 installed in the vicinity of the visitor. Here, as the traffic information, which is information regarding the traffic to the event venue or tourist destination 120, for example, there is information regarding appropriate means of transportation to the event venue or tourist destination 120, the predicted time required to reach the event venue or tourist destination 120 when using the means of transportation, traffic jam information, and the like.

[0043] As the crowd flow data, the number of visitors (persons) shown in the images captured by the plurality of imaging devices 2 can be exemplified. For example, when the number of visitors is more than a preset threshold value, the guidance information generation unit 53 determines that the number of visitors heading to the event venue or tourist destination 120 is large, and may generate visitor guidance information including either or both of traffic information and a guidance arrow, and cause it to be displayed on the electronic display board 3. In addition, as the flow of people data, by using the number of visitors (people) shown in the images captured by the plurality of imaging devices 2, the congestion situation not only within the area 100 but also the distribution situation of congestion within the area 100, etc. can be obtained from the number of visitors (people) captured by each imaging device 2 in the induction information generation unit 53. The induction information generation unit 53 may display the congestion situation within the area 100, the distribution situation of congestion, etc. obtained in this way on the electronic display board 3.

[0044] The visitor guidance system 1 as described above is a visitor guidance system 1 for guiding visitors to an event venue or a tourist destination 120, including a plurality of imaging devices 2 and a plurality of electronic display boards 3 provided along the road 110 or in public transportation facilities, and based on the flow of people data based on the images captured by the plurality of imaging devices 2, the induction information generation unit 53 generates visitor guidance information including either or both of traffic information which is information regarding the traffic to the event venue or the tourist destination 120 and an induction arrow indicating the movement route to the event venue or the tourist destination 120, and an information transmission unit 54 that transmits the visitor guidance information to the electronic display board 3. According to the configuration as described above, the plurality of imaging devices 2 are provided along the road 110 or in public transportation facilities. Based on the flow of people data based on the images captured by the plurality of imaging devices 2, the induction information generation unit 53 generates visitor guidance information including either or both of traffic information which is information regarding the traffic to the event venue or the tourist destination 120 and an induction arrow indicating the movement route to the event venue or the tourist destination 120, and the information transmission unit 54 displays this visitor guidance information on the electronic display board 3 provided along the road 110 or in public transportation facilities. By referring to the visitor guidance information displayed on the electronic display board 3 in this way, visitors can understand the traffic situation regarding the event venue or the tourist destination 120 and the movement route. Therefore, even when visitors who aim to visit the event venue or the tourist destination 120 are not familiar with the geography regarding the event venue or the tourist destination 120, they can be efficiently guided to the event venue or the tourist destination 120. As a result, visitors can be smoothly guided to the event venue or the tourist destination 120. Even when a visitor does not intend to visit the event venue or tourist destination 120, if the visitor sees the visitor guidance information displayed on the electronic display board 3 as described above, the visitor may learn about the event venue or tourist destination 120, increasing the likelihood that the visitor will visit the event venue or tourist destination 120. In this way, it becomes possible to provide the visitor guidance system 1 that can efficiently guide people to the event venue or tourist destination 120.

[0045] (Other Modification Examples) In the above first embodiment, the visitor guidance system 1 targets visiting vehicles, and in the second embodiment, it targets visitors, but these may be combined. That is, the visitor guidance system 1 may photograph both visiting vehicles and visitors within the area 100 with a plurality of photographing devices 2 and display visitor guidance information on the electronic display board 3. Thereby, appropriate visitor guidance information can be provided even for visitors who park their visiting vehicles and get out of them. Also, for example, vehicle number information of buses or taxis passing through the area 100 may be registered in advance, and based on the vehicle number information of buses or taxis photographed by the photographing device 2, the current position, estimated arrival time, etc. of buses or taxis may be provided as visitor guidance information on the electronic display boards 3 provided at various locations within the area 100. Also, the event venue or tourist destination in the above embodiment may include various sports facilities, entertainment facilities, temples, tourist facilities, shopping centers, outlet malls, etc., or may indicate a wider range such as a hot spring town or, for example, Mount Fuji. In addition to this, as long as the gist of the present invention is not deviated from, it is possible to select and choose the configurations listed in the above embodiments or to appropriately change them to other configurations.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0046] 1 Visitor Guidance System 53 Guidance Information Generation Unit 2 Photographing Device 54 Information Transmission Unit 3 Electronic display board 100 Region 5 System main body 100k Boundary 21 Boundary photographing device 110 Road 22 In-region photographing device 120 Event venue or tourist destination 52 Visitor database

Claims

**Claim 1** A visitor guidance system for guiding visitors to an event venue or a tourist destination, comprising: a plurality of photographing devices and a plurality of electronic display boards provided along a road or in a public transportation facility; a guidance information generation unit that generates visitor guidance information including either or both of traffic information, which is information regarding traffic to the event venue or the tourist destination, and a guidance arrow indicating a moving route to the event venue or the tourist destination, based on pedestrian flow data or vehicle flow data based on images photographed by the plurality of photographing devices; an information transmission unit that transmits the visitor guidance information to the electronic display boards; A visitor guidance system, characterized by comprising the above. **Claim 2** The vehicle flow data includes vehicle number information; the guidance information generation unit reads the vehicle number information from the image, selects resident vehicles living near the event venue or the tourist destination and visiting vehicles heading for the event venue or the tourist destination based on the vehicle number information, and generates the visitor guidance information only for the visiting vehicles; the information transmission unit transmits the visitor guidance information to the electronic display board when the visiting vehicle approaches the electronic display board. The visitor guidance system according to claim 1, characterized by the above. **Claim 3** further comprising a visitor database in which the residential area information of the visitor and the vehicle number information of the visiting vehicle owned by the visitor are registered in association with each other; the plurality of photographing devices include a plurality of boundary photographing devices provided at the boundary of an area including the event venue and the tourist destination, and a plurality of in-area photographing devices provided inside the boundary; the vehicle flow data includes a stay time, which is the time from the entry time when the visiting vehicle is first photographed by the boundary photographing device to the exit time when the visiting vehicle is next photographed by the boundary photographing device; the guidance information generation unit calculates the stay time for each visiting vehicle and records the stay time in the visitor database in association with the visitor based on the vehicle number information of the visiting vehicle. The visitor guidance system according to claim 2, characterized by the above.

Images