© Linetop Ltd 2026
OUTDOORS PEOPLE, BIKE AND EQUESTRIAN COUNTERS
Linetop works with its clients from the outset to ensure success. First, we help find the best place to put the counters, and second in choosing the most appropriate sensor for these good locations. Our staff bring decades of experience. Good counter locations are places where the visitors you want to count are behaving predictably, do not linger and ideally where one instance of their expected behaviour pattern implies one visitor. The banner photo above shows a discreet body-heat sensor in a dark-painted box containing a data logger on a footbridge into a mountain bike skills practice area. Bikers leave the same way thus the raw counts will be halved (calibrated) so they represent facility footfall rather crossings of the footbridge. Simple, secure and highly efective.
Countryside paths
An ideal visitor-counting situation is where people are in the middle of an inescapable section of track between two access points. Coast paths, as in the photo above, tend to be like this. A narrow eroded strip often develops between grass verges which suits a pressure slab sensor buried about 10 cm deep. All the better if the path is edged by shrubs so people walk on a predictable ‘desire line’ and there is a way for us to conceal the electronics. Path furniture like boxed steps and kissing gates force people to walk in single file - even if only for a short distance which suits a slab sensor. Narrow swing gates can be a bad choice for a counter since the first and last person have to deal with any tricky catch. This introduces delays and loitering which disrupt fluid traffic flow.Metal fencing
This comes in all shapes, sizes and colours so a metal box is prepared accordingly and likely fixed with U- bolts which also come in many sizes. These boxes position a pyro (body- heat) sensor to look accross the path. In the photo above the sensor is on the box rear face. The boxes are very strong, waterproof and have security screws holding their lid in place. Counters fixed to metal bridges are best thought of in fencing terms. Here a long-range pyro sensor box spans the deck discreetly from just one side.Equestrians
Exploit the elevated position of the rider rather than the bulk of the horse. Here a purposeful tall street sign on a disused railway provides the perfect position for a pyro sensor in a box. The height is a nuisance in terms of maintenance but it enhances security. Tall wooden posts can be erected at gateways with a pyro sensor near the top. The logger or telemetry is at ground level and connected by cable. Tall posts alongside gates will work but avoid situations that spook horses or impede riders, such as difficult catches which force them to dismount.
Mountain bike trails
Forestry sport mountain bike trails with natural surface tracks 1-2m wide suit buried slab pressure sensors. Slabs in shared-use trails can detect the ‘bump-bump’ signature from the two bike wheels passing and ignore the different sounds made by walkers. The bike must exert a force into the ground below it and not fly over it!‘Active Travel’ and civic
footfall research
Above, a 4G telemetry system in the pillar monitors a bike sensor between the yellow hoops on a school route. A pyro sensor in the same pillar counts everyone that walks by. Below, an inconspicuous grey box bolted to a street sign counts shoppers and seasonal tourists at a seaside town.Parks and gardens
Municipal park refurbishment has become more frequent thanks to Lottery funding. Typical projects track visitor numbers before, during and after the enhancement works, hoping to evidence increased park use. The main method is using body-heat sensors in pillars or boxes fixed to park furniture such as fences and bins.
VISITOR COUNTERS
