It’s the inherent conflict of cities: we choose dense urban environments for the proximity to other people and places, yet being too close to too many people creates stress and anxiety. You don’t have to be a social scientist to know this is true – just ask anyone riding the 6 train or walking through Times Square.

A new startup, Placemeter, is working to address this conflict.

Placemeter uses live streams from video cameras to “read” a street. These streams run into a computer that’s trained to recognize what it is “seeing.” Footage of pedestrians and vehicles is then coupled with other data, such as weather information, maps and event calendars, providing the “world’s first real-time dynamic data layer.” Or, as COO and Co-Founder Florent Peyre puts it, Placemeter ultimately intends to cut down on the “super anxiety” of urban life, specifically by being able to let its users know how a destination will be before they arrive.

So what are Placemeter’s broader implications for transportation and urban policy?

Placemeter has helped retailers decide where to locate by providing analytics showing the pedestrian activity of specific locations. In addition, Placemeter provided a Pedestrian Activity map layer in the New York City Business Atlas, “an interactive map aimed at providing local businesses with an easy-to-use, one-stop data resource.” Placemeter has also worked in parks to determine which areas are most heavily-used and when, and they’ve done similar analyses for business improvement districts. In time, Placemeter also hopes their data will be incorporated into Yelp reviews – for example, with Placemeter’s data, people will know the wait time for brunch at a popular restaurant before they arrive.

Placemeter can also be a useful in creating livable streets. The company is currently mulling over an idea to help with Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero initiative through crowd-sourced video streams. Users would download the Placemeter app onto an old cell phone, thereby turning it into a recording device, and place the cell phone in a window facing the street. Placemeter would be able to gather vehicle speeds, but unlike a radar gun, the data would be consistent, day-in and day-out, and with little financial outlay. Having this data would be especially useful for the New York City Department of Transportation, as well as neighborhoods advocating for traffic calming or Neighborhood Slow Zones.

Placemeter could also be used to provide before-and-after metrics for bike lanes and pedestrian plazas, or the data could be incorporated into existing applications like Hopstop or Google Maps to provide information about crowded sidewalks and bus stops.

What are your ideas for Placemeter? Leave them in the Comments section below.