How to Draw a Counting Line for an Accurate Foot Traffic Count

Once you have footage, the single most important decision you make is how to draw a counting line. The line is where the count is won or lost: place it well and you get a clean, honest number; place it carelessly and you inflate or deflate your own foot traffic study before a single person is counted. This guide shows entrepreneurs and brokers exactly where to put the line, which directions to count, and the small mistakes that quietly ruin a count.

It follows on from counting foot traffic with your phone and feeds into reading your Location Score — and it is part of the wider foot traffic study guide.

Key takeaways

• A counting line is a virtual tripwire: every pedestrian who crosses it is counted once per direction.
• Place it across the pavement people must cross, where they are large and separated in the frame.
• Count each direction separately so you can see which way the crowd flows.
• Use exclude zones to ignore loiterers, terraces and staff so your number stays honest.

What a counting line actually does

A counting line is a virtual tripwire drawn across your video. When a tracked person's path crosses it, that is one count, tagged with the direction they were travelling. The same person is not counted twice for the same crossing, and someone who lingers on the line without truly passing is not double-counted either. The result is a clean tally of distinct crossings, which is what "foot traffic" really means.

Because it is virtual, you can draw it anywhere in the frame and move it freely — no chalk on the pavement, no sensor to align. That freedom is the point, and getting it right takes only a little care.

Where to place the line

Ask yourself one question first: what am I trying to measure? For a pre-lease decision, that is almost always "how many people pass this door." So:

• Draw it across the full width of the footpath directly in front of the storefront. If half the pavement is outside your line, half your pass-by traffic never gets counted.
• Put it where people are big and separated. Lines work best across the near part of the frame where pedestrians are large and rarely overlap. A line far away, where bodies merge into a blur, will undercount.
• Avoid clutter. Do not run the line through a bus shelter, a parked van or a market stall where people appear and disappear. Clean sightline, clean count.
• Match it to the flow. Ideally people cross your line roughly perpendicular to it. A line laid along the direction of travel (rather than across it) barely gets crossed at all.

Count both directions

People move two ways past a shop, and the split matters. A door on the wrong side of a dominant one-way flow — think a commuter tide toward a metro station every morning — can quietly miss half its addressable traffic. Counting each direction separately reveals:

• Which way the crowd moves at each hour, and whether your entrance faces it.
• Which side of the street is the busy side — often a decisive lease-negotiation fact.
• Whether a two-way street is really two half-streets, each with its own rhythm.

You keep both directions or collapse them into a single total later. Capturing them separately costs nothing and can change your decision, so always do it.

Use more than one line when it earns its keep

You can draw up to three lines in a single scene. One across the pavement answers most questions on its own, but a second line opens up useful comparisons:

• Pass-by versus door line. One line across the pavement (everyone passing) and one right at the entrance (everyone reaching the door) shows how much of the passing crowd actually engages — the beginning of a capture-rate view.
• Two candidate frontages. If a corner unit has two possible entrances, a line on each tells you which street to face.

Keep it to what you will actually read. Three lines you interpret beat three lines you ignore.

Exclude zones: how to keep the count honest

Not everything that moves is passing trade. A bus stop fills and empties with people standing still. A café terrace has the same customers for an hour. Staff stand in the doorway on a break. Left alone, these can pad your number with figures that are not really "foot traffic."

An exclude zone is a polygon you draw over such an area; anyone inside it is ignored while they are inside it. Use one over:

• Loitering spots — bus shelters, benches, ATMs with queues.
• Seated areas — terraces and outdoor tables.
• Places staff or deliveries habitually stand.

The goal is not to shrink your number, but to make it true. A defensible count excludes what is not genuinely passing by — and being able to point at your exclude zones is part of what makes the report auditable.

How to draw a counting line: mistakes to avoid

• Line too far away. Distant pedestrians overlap and get missed. Bring the line into the near field.
• Line covering only part of the pavement. Everyone outside it is invisible. Span the full footpath.
• Ignoring direction. Collapsing to a single total throws away the "which side is busy" insight that often decides a lease.
• No exclude zone over a loitering spot. Stationary crowds pad the number and undermine trust.
• A line down the street instead of across it. Almost nobody crosses it; the count collapses.

From a good line to a decision

A well-placed line is the foundation of a number a landlord, bank or partner will believe. Once it is set, the software counts every crossing, splits it by direction and hour, and rolls it into your Location Score. Take the next step in reading your Location Score, or start a $49 Spot Check and practise drawing a line on your own street. Full pricing for a decision-ready study is on the pricing page.

Frequently asked questions

Where should I place the counting line? Across the stretch of pavement that answers your question — usually the full width of the footpath directly in front of the door. Place it where every pedestrian you care about must cross it, and where they are large and clearly separated in the frame.

How many counting lines can I use? Up to three per scene. One line across the pavement answers most pre-lease questions. Add a second at the doorway if you want to compare pass-by traffic with people who actually stop or enter.

What is an exclude zone and when do I need one? An exclude zone is an area the counter ignores — a bus stop where people loiter, a café terrace, or a spot where staff stand. Marking it stops stationary or repeating figures from inflating your count.

Why does direction matter in a foot traffic count? Because a door on the wrong side of a one-way pedestrian flow can miss half its potential. Counting each direction separately shows you which way the crowd moves and which side of the street carries it.