Baidu develops AI algorithm to predict crowds, avoid stampedes

ChinesesearchenginegiantBaiduhasdevelopedamachine-learningalgorithmthatpredictswhethercrowdsarelikelytoformatcertainlocationsintwohours,whichcouldbeusedtopreventstampedes.

ThealgorithmusesdatafromBaidu'smapapp,saidaresearchreportpublishedbyBaidu'sBigDataLabTuesday,studyingthenumberofmapqueriesandthenumberofusersinanarea.

Itsmapappaccountsforover70percentofChina'smappingservicesmarket,thecompany'suserstatisticsshow.ManyChineseusersoftensearchforanidealtravelrouteusingBaiduMaps.

ThelabbegantoconcentrateonhowtopredictcrowdsincertainareasfollowingtheShanghaistampedeonNewYear'sEveinDec2014,where36peoplewerekilledduringcelebrationsontheBundriverfront,accordingtoWuHaishan,co-authorofthereport.

Usingthemapdata,theyfoundawaytodeterminethenumbersinrealtimeandtriggerwarnings30minutestotwohoursaheadoftimeifunusuallylargecrowdsareexpectedtogather.Thisoccurswhenthenumberofqueriesforaspecificlocationcrossesasetthreshold.

Machinelearningisappliedsothatthealgorithmcanlearnfromsearchqueriesandbetterpredictfuturecrowds.

Wusaidthatthealgorithmcouldbeusedbylocalgovernments,authoritiesandevenvenueoperatorstomonitorcrowds.

ItmayeventuallyprovidethefunctionasapublicservicefeatureonBaiduMaps,accordingtoWu.Ifimplemented,thefeaturewouldallowuserstoseewhatthecrowdsarelikeinvariouslocationsusingtheapp.

(CHINADAILY)