Footfall Data with IoT: Using Milesight VS132 and SensorVision for Real-Time Insights

Understanding how people move through spaces is becoming increasingly important in today’s connected world. Retailers want to know how many customers walk into their stores, event organizers need to measure attendance, and facility managers must track occupancy levels for safety and efficiency. The common thread in all these use cases is footfall data—but collecting and using that data effectively is not always straightforward.

The Challenge with Footfall Monitoring

Traditional approaches to people counting, such as manual logging or camera-based systems, come with several limitations. Manual methods are time-consuming and often inaccurate. Camera systems can be expensive, power-hungry, and raise privacy concerns. What’s needed is a solution that is accurate, low-power, scalable, and capable of integrating easily into larger IoT platforms.

The Role of Milesight People Counter VS132

One device that addresses this challenge is the Milesight People Counter VS132. It uses dual-lens stereoscopic imaging to detect people passing through an entry or exit point. The key advantage of this sensor is its ability to transmit data using the LoRaWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network) protocol. LoRaWAN is ideal for IoT deployments because it offers long-range connectivity and low energy consumption, allowing devices to send information reliably without requiring heavy infrastructure.

Getting Data from Sensor to Platform

Hardware on its own does not solve the problem—data has to be collected, transmitted, and made useful. This is where integration becomes essential.

• Step 1: Connecting to The Things Network (TTN)

  The Milesight VS132 can be registered on The Things Network (TTN), a public LoRaWAN server. By adding the device EUI and gateway ID, the sensor begins forwarding data packets to TTN.

• Step 2: Setting up Webhooks

  Once the data is in TTN, it needs to flow into a platform where it can be stored, processed, and visualized. A webhook URL is created to link TTN with SensorVision, ensuring that every footfall count is pushed in real time from the LoRaWAN server to the IoT platform.

SensorVision in Action

When the data arrives in SensorVision, it moves from raw packets into structured, meaningful information. The platform is built to handle real-time IoT streams, and its tools make the data immediately usable.

• Live Dashboards show footfall activity as it happens, giving facility managers or retailers a clear view of how many people are present.

• Historical Data allows longer-term analysis, making it possible to identify peak hours, seasonal patterns, or the impact of promotions.

• Custom Alerts can be set when occupancy crosses a certain threshold, useful for compliance and safety.

• Data Export enables integration with other business systems, such as staffing tools or marketing analytics.

Why This Matters

With this setup, footfall data is no longer just a number. It becomes part of a broader decision-making process:

• Retailers can align staffing with demand.

• Event organizers can measure the effectiveness of promotions.

• Facility managers can ensure compliance with safety regulations.

All of this is possible because the technical pipeline—from sensor to LoRaWAN, through TTN, and into SensorVision—removes the friction of data collection and transforms it into insights.

Conclusion

The combination of Milesight People Counter VS132, LoRaWAN connectivity, and SensorVision demonstrates how IoT systems can take a single data point and turn it into a powerful tool for decision-making. Accurate people counting, once a tedious task, can now be automated, visualized, and scaled across multiple locations.