Computer-readable recording medium storing display control program, display control method, and display control apparatus

A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a display control program for causing a computer to execute processing, the processing including: determining priorities of a plurality of facilities positioned within a specific area according to a value related to congestion determined on the basis of the upper limit number of people in each of the plurality of facilities and the number of visitors calculated on the basis of an image captured in each of the plurality of facilities; selecting a specific number of facilities from the plurality of facilities on the basis of the determined priorities; and displaying, for each of the specific number of selected facilities, a position on a map and alert information according to the value related to the congestion.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority of the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2021-33554, filed on Mar. 3, 2021, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The embodiments discussed herein are related to a display control technology.

BACKGROUND

Disaster evacuee support services are provided for crisis managers in local governments. In the disaster evacuee support service, from an aspect of implementing efficient shelter management by crisis managers such as local government staffs, a dashboard function is provided that aggregates and displays various types of information regarding shelters managed in an area under jurisdiction of a local government or the like. For example, in the dashboard function, shelters under the jurisdiction of the local government or the like are mapped and displayed on a map, and further, the number of people who evacuate to a shelter is counted and displayed for each shelter.

Examples of the related art include as follows: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 10-334146; Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2020-24530; and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2016-206995.

SUMMARY

According to an aspect of the embodiments, there is provided a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a display control program for causing a computer to execute processing. In an example, the processing includes: determining priorities of a plurality of facilities positioned within a specific area according to a value related to congestion determined on the basis of the upper limit number of people in each of the plurality of facilities and the number of visitors calculated on the basis of an image captured in each of the plurality of facilities; selecting a specific number of facilities from the plurality of facilities on the basis of the determined priorities; and displaying, for each of the specific number of selected facilities, a position on a map and alert information according to the value related to the congestion.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

However, in the dashboard function described above, information regarding all the shelters managed in the area under the jurisdiction of the local government or the like is aggregated and displayed on one screen. Thus, the greater the number of shelters managed by the local government or the like, the more pieces of information are displayed on a dashboard screen. As a result, in the dashboard function described above, information regarding a shelter for which countermeasures are needed may be buried in information regarding other shelters. Note that, although the dashboard function related to shelters is given as an example here, a similar problem may occur also in a dashboard function related to facilities in general.

In one aspect, an embodiment aims to provide a display control program, a display control method, and a display control apparatus that are capable of suppressing information overload.

Hereinafter, a display control program, a display control method, and a display control apparatus according to the present application will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the embodiments do not limit the technology disclosed. In addition, each of the embodiments may be suitably combined within a range without causing contradiction between processing contents.

First Embodiment

FIG.1is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of a server device10according to a first embodiment. The server device10illustrated inFIG.1is an example of a computer that provides a disaster evacuee support service for a crisis manager of a local government or the like.

For example, the server device10may be implemented by causing an optional computer to execute a disaster evacuee support program that implements a function corresponding to the disaster evacuee support service described above. As an example, the server device10may be implemented as a server that provides the function corresponding to the disaster evacuee support services described above on premise. As another example, the server device10may also be implemented as a software as a service (SaaS) type application to provide the disaster evacuee support service described above as a cloud service.

Furthermore, as illustrated inFIG.1, the server device10may be communicably connected to cameras20and a client terminal30via a network NW. For example, the network NW may be an optional type of communication network such as the Internet or a local area network (LAN) regardless of whether the network NW is wired or wireless.

The camera20is an example of an imaging device equipped with an imaging element such as a charge coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS). As an example only, the camera20may be installed in each shelter managed in an administrative division under jurisdiction of a local government or the like.

The client terminal30is an example of a computer provided with the disaster evacuee support service described above. As an example only, the client terminal30may be used at a disaster countermeasure headquarter, a shelter reception, and the like, with a crisis manager such as a local government staff or a related person as a user. For example, a desktop computer such as a personal computer, or the like may correspond to the client terminal30. This is merely an example, and the client terminal30may be an optional computer such as a laptop computer, a mobile terminal device, or a wearable terminal.

Note that, althoughFIG.1illustrates an example in which the disaster evacuee support service described above is provided by a client-server system, the present embodiment is not limited to this example, and the disaster evacuee support service described above may be provided in a standalone manner.

Here, from an aspect of implementing efficiency of shelter management by a crisis manager, the disaster evacuee support service described above may be packaged with a dashboard function that visualizes a situation of evacuees in a shelter managed in an area under jurisdiction of a local government or the like.

For example, the visualization of the situation of the evacuees contributes to the efficiency of the shelter management from the following viewpoints. As one aspect, when there is a natural disaster such as an earthquake or typhoon, the visualization of the situation of the evacuees may contribute from viewpoints of grasping a situation of a shelter, grasping concentration of evacuation, real-time summation, securing a staff mobilization system, and the like. As another aspect, under a COVID-19 pandemic, the visualization of the situation of the evacuees may contribute from viewpoints of avoiding three Cs, which are closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings, a social distance, a change in shelter capacity, and further, dispersion of evacuees, and the like. For example, under a disaster caused by an epidemic of an infectious disease under the COVID-19 pandemic or the like, or a complex disaster including an epidemic of an infectious disease, grasping the number of people in each shelter, grasping bias of the number of people among shelters, and the like are useful for countermeasures against an infection risk.

From such an aspect, the dashboard function described above displays, as a dashboard screen, a window in which various types of information regarding shelters managed in an area under jurisdiction of a local government or the like, for example, the number of people in a shelter, are aggregated.

FIG.2is a diagram schematically illustrating image analysis used for the dashboard function.FIG.2illustrates, as an example only, an example in which the number of people in a shelter2A is counted by an image analysis technology. In the example illustrated inFIG.2, a camera20A is installed near an entrance of the shelter2A. Under such camera arrangement, human heads, for example, portions of bounding boxes illustrated inFIG.2are detected from an image200A captured by the camera20A. By tracking the heads detected in this way, the number of people passing a line L1set on the image captured by the camera20A is counted. For example, in a case where a head passes the line L1from the outside to the inside of the shelter2A, the number of people in the shelter2A is incremented. On the other hand, in a case where a head passes the line L1from the inside to the outside of the shelter2A, the number of people in the shelter2A is decremented. In this way, events of visiting the shelter2A and of leaving the shelter2A are detected on the basis of the image captured by the camera20A, and the number of people visiting the shelter2A is updated according to the events of visiting or leaving. Hereinafter, a visitor who is visiting the shelter2A may be described as “evacuee” and the number of evacuees may be described as “the number of evacuees”.

Note that, althoughFIG.2illustrates an example in which the number of evacuees in the shelter2A is counted by detecting the head, the number of evacuees may be counted by detecting the face or the whole body. Furthermore, althoughFIG.2illustrates an example in which the number of people in the facility, for example, the shelter is counted by counting the number of people passing the line L1, the number of evacuees in the shelter itself may be counted.

Furthermore, althoughFIG.2illustrates, as an example only, an example in which the number of evacuees in the shelter2A is counted by the image analysis, the number of evacuees may be counted by another technology. For example, the number of people passing the entrance of the shelter2A may be counted by tracking position information of a mobile terminal device used by an evacuee or detecting a beacon of near field communication. Furthermore, the number of people entering and exiting may be collected from a counter input by a local government staff or the like at a shelter reception.

On the basis of the number of evacuees in the shelter obtained in this way, the dashboard function maps shelters under jurisdiction of a local government or the like on a map, and may display, on the dashboard screen, various types of information regarding the number of evacuees for each mapped shelter.

As an example only, three display patterns on the dashboard screen will be given.FIGS.3to5are diagrams illustrating examples of the dashboard screen.FIGS.3to5illustrate dashboard screens310to330as examples of the dashboard screen. As illustrated inFIGS.3to5, on each of the dashboard screens310to330, a map image is displayed in which a map of an area under jurisdiction of a local government that is a subscriber to the disaster evacuee support service described above, such as “city” and “ward”, is drawn, for example.

As illustrated inFIG.3, on the dashboard screen310, a map image is displayed in which symbols4A to4G respectively corresponding to shelters2A to2G managed in the area under the jurisdiction of the local government are mapped to positions corresponding to the shelters2A to2G. For such mapping, as an example, a function provided by geographical information system (GIS) software may be used. Moreover, on the dashboard screen310, an annotation such as the number of evacuees in each of the shelters2A to2G is displayed in association with each of the symbols4A to4G corresponding to the shelters2A to2G.

As illustrated inFIG.4, on the dashboard screen320, a map image is displayed in which charts representing the numbers of evacuees in the shelters2A to2G, for example, bar graphs G1to G7, are mapped to the positions corresponding to the position information of the shelters2A to2G. Moreover, on the dashboard screen320, an annotation such as the number of evacuees in each of the shelters2A to2G is displayed in association with each of the bar graphs G1to G7corresponding to the shelters2A to2G. When the bar graphs G1to G7are displayed in this way, a display form may be distinguished between a bar graph of a shelter where the number of evacuees is equal to or greater than a threshold and a bar graph of a shelter where the number of evacuees is not equal to or greater than the threshold. For example, in the example of the dashboard screen320, the bar graphs G1, G5, G6, and G7corresponding to the shelters2A,2E,2F, and2G where the number of evacuees is equal to or greater than 80 are displayed with a black background. On the other hand, the bar graphs G2, G3, and G4corresponding to the shelters2B,2C, and2D where the number of evacuees is less than 80 are displayed with a white background.

As illustrated inFIG.5, the dashboard screen330includes a map image331and an evacuation situation table332. Of these, the map image331is a map image similar to that on the dashboard screen320illustrated inFIG.4. On the other hand, the evacuation situation table332is a table in which, for each of sections included in the area under the jurisdiction of the local government or the like, for example, “wards” of (a) to (d), items such as the total number of shelters managed in each ward and the total number of evacuees evacuated to the shelters in each ward are associated.

Here, for convenience of description,FIGS.3to5illustrate examples in which the number of shelters managed by the local government is seven, namely, the shelters2A to2G, but a large number of shelters may be managed by one city, town, or village. As an example only, the number of shelters managed by one city, town, or village may exceed 100. In a case where a large number of shelters are managed by one local government in this way, too much information is displayed on the dashboard screen.

FIG.6is a diagram illustrating an example of the dashboard screen.FIG.6illustrates a dashboard screen340in which symbols of shelters are plotted at positions of 19 shelters managed by a local government on a map image of an area under jurisdiction of the local government. Here, inFIG.6, only the symbols are displayed on the dashboard screen340, but annotations such as the number of evacuees may also be displayed. As illustrated inFIG.6, in a case where a large number of shelters are managed by one local government, the number of symbols and the number of annotations displayed on the dashboard screen340also increase. In this way, too much information is displayed on the dashboard screen340, so that a situation may occur where the information regarding each shelter is not paid attention to by a crisis manager. As a result, density of information displays increases as the number of symbols and annotations displayed increases, so that a vicious cycle may occur in which information regarding one shelter obstructs visibility of information regarding another shelter.

As a result, there is an aspect that there arises a problem that information regarding a shelter for which countermeasures are needed is buried in information regarding other shelters. As an example only, an information display of a shelter where the number of evacuees is rapidly increasing or congestion is occurring is buried in information displays of shelters where the number of evacuees is not rapidly increasing or congestion is not occurring. This results in an increase in a time lag between the rapid increase in the number of evacuees or the occurrence of congestion at the shelter and recognition by a crisis manager. As such a time lag increases, a response to implementation of infection risk reduction measures such as dispersion of evacuees also decreases.

Even if too much information is displayed on the dashboard screen in this way, a problem-solution approach of decomposing or dividing the information displayed on the dashboard screen is rejected. For example, when a part of the map corresponding to the area under the jurisdiction of the local government is enlarged and displayed, visibility of an information display of a shelter included in the enlarged display portion is improved. However, information regarding a shelter included in a portion other than the enlarged display portion is hidden. In a case where such an enlarged display is allowed, in order to monitor the entire area under the jurisdiction of the local government, it is needed to switch between an operation of enlarging a part of the area and an operation of returning to the display of the entire area. However, in a case where the operation of returning to the display of the entire area is not performed after the enlarged display is performed, monitoring of the shelters is performed in a state where the information regarding the shelter included in the portion other than the enlarged display portion remains hidden. In this case, it becomes difficult to prevent countermeasures for the shelter where the number of evacuees is rapidly increasing or congestion is occurring from being left unattended. From such an aspect, it is appropriate that the dashboard screen has a format in which information regarding all the shelters managed in the area under the jurisdiction of the local government is aggregated and displayed.

Thus, the dashboard function according to the present embodiment displays alert information regarding a shelter selected according to a value related to congestion that is evaluated from the upper limit number of people for each of a plurality of shelters included in a specific area and the number of evacuees calculated from each image of the plurality of shelters. Hereinafter, the value related to congestion evaluated from the upper limit number of people and the number of evacuees in the shelter may be described as “congestion evaluation value”.

With such a display control function, by narrowing down, according to the congestion evaluation value, the shelters to be alerted displayed separately from the information displays of the shelters displayed on the dashboard screen, the alert information regarding the shelter where the number of evacuees is rapidly increasing or congestion is occurring is displayed.

Hereinafter, display examples of the alert information will be given with reference toFIGS.7to11.FIGS.7to11are diagrams illustrating display examples of the alert information. Here, from an aspect of making description with emphasis on comprehensively listing display patterns of the alert information, details of algorithm for selecting a shelter to be alerted according to the congestion evaluation value will be described later together with description of a functional configuration of the server device10.

FIG.7illustrates a display example of the alert information in a case where one shelter with the highest congestion evaluation value among the shelters2A to2G illustrated inFIGS.3to5, which is the shelter2E, is selected by the display control function described above. As illustrated inFIG.7, a dashboard screen350includes a log display area351in addition to the map image331and the evacuation situation table332illustrated inFIG.5.

As one aspect, the log display area351is an area where logs of various events including movements such as visiting and leaving of new evacuees are displayed. For example, in the log display area351, alert information regarding the shelter2E having the highest congestion evaluation value is displayed by the display control function described above. The alert information regarding the shelter2E does not necessarily need to be displayed just because the shelter2E has a higher priority than other shelters in this way, and a specific condition may be set for the display of the alert information regarding the shelter2E. For example, in a case where the congestion evaluation value of the shelter2E is equal to or greater than a threshold, a message by texts such as “THE NUMBER OF EVACUEES IS RAPIDLY INCREASING AT SHELTER2E!” or “CONGESTION IS OCCURRING!” may be displayed as indicated in the log display area351. Furthermore, it is also possible to output a voice for the text corresponding to the message by using a text reading function or the like. In addition, by displaying the symbol4E of the shelter2E to be alerted by blinking or highlighting, it is possible to make a distinction from display forms of the symbols of other shelters.

FIGS.8to11illustrate display examples of the alert information in a case where a specific number of shelters with a higher congestion evaluation value, which are the shelters2E,2A,2F, and2G corresponding to the top four shelters, for example, are selected among the shelters2A to2G illustrated inFIGS.3to5by the display control function described above. Note thatFIGS.8to11illustrate examples of displaying the alert information regarding all the four shelters2E,2A,2F, and2G, but this is just an example. For example, the alert information regarding all the four shelters does not necessarily need to be displayed just because the four shelters have a higher priority than other shelters, and shelters to be alerted may be narrowed down by a specific condition using the congestion evaluation value or the like.

For example, a dashboard screen360illustrated inFIG.8includes a thumbnail361E, a thumbnail361A, a thumbnail361F, and a thumbnail361G in addition to the map image331, the evacuation situation table332, and the log display area351illustrated inFIG.7.

These thumbnails361E,361A,361F, and361G are images of the shelters2E,2A,2F, and2G captured by cameras20E,20A,20F and20G, respectively, or reduced images thereof. In a case where such thumbnail display is performed, as illustrated inFIG.8, the thumbnails361E,361A,361F, and361G may be displayed side by side in descending order of the congestion evaluation value, for example, in the order of the shelter2E, the shelter2A, the shelter2F, and the shelter2G. Moreover, each of the thumbnails361E,361A,361F, and361G may be associated with shelter identification information or information such as a warning of a rapid increase of evacuees or congestion and the number of evacuees as a label or annotation. For example, in the example of the thumbnail361E, in association with the image of the shelter2E captured by the camera20E, shelter identification information “shelter2E”, a message “THE NUMBER OF EVACUEES IS RAPIDLY INCREASING AT SHELTER2E!”, the number of evacuees “164”, and the like are displayed. Note that, by displaying the symbols4E,4A,4F, and4G corresponding to the shelters2E,2A,2F, and2G to be alerted by blinking or highlighting, it is possible to make a distinction from the display forms of the symbols of other shelters.

By displaying such thumbnails361E,361A,361F, and361G, it is possible to have a crisis manager confirm a state at a site of each of the shelters2E,2A,2F, and2G, for example, whether or not three Cs may be avoided, or the like when the number of evacuees is rapidly increasing or congestion is occurring.

Furthermore, a dashboard screen370illustrated inFIG.9includes a chart371E, a chart371A, a chart371F, and a chart371G in addition to the map image331, the evacuation situation table332, and the log display area351illustrated inFIG.7.

These charts371E,371A,371F, and371G are graphs that graphically represent a relationship between the number of evacuees at each of the shelters2E,2A,2F, and2G and time. For example, each of the charts is generated by plotting time-series data of the number of evacuees calculated by using the number of evacuees counting function illustrated inFIG.2on a graph with a vertical axis representing the number of evacuees and a horizontal axis representing time. As illustrated inFIG.9, these charts371E,371A,371F, and371G may be displayed side by side in descending order of the congestion evaluation value, for example, in the order of the shelter2E, the shelter2A, the shelter2F, and the shelter2G. Note that, similarly to the example illustrated inFIG.8, the charts371E,371A,371F, and371G illustrated inFIG.9may also be associated with shelter identification information or information such as a warning of a rapid increase of evacuees or congestion and the number of evacuees as a label or annotation.

By displaying such charts371E,371A,371F, and371G, it is possible to have a crisis manager confirm congestion at the time when each chart is observed, and further, a transition of the number of evacuees increasing up to that time, or the like.

Furthermore, a dashboard screen380illustrated inFIG.10includes a chart381E, a chart381A, a chart381F, and a chart381G in addition to the map image331, the evacuation situation table332, and the log display area351illustrated inFIG.7.

These charts381E,381A,381F, and381G are common toFIG.9in that they are graphs that graphically represent a relationship between the number of evacuees at each of the shelters2E,2A,2F, and2G and time. On the other hand, these charts381E,381A,381F, and381G differ from those ofFIG.9in that, in addition to the time-series data of an actual measurement value of the number of evacuees calculated by using the number of evacuees counting function illustrated inFIG.2, time-series data of a prediction value of the number of evacuees predicted on the basis of an actual value by simulation or the like is plotted in each chart. For example, in each of the charts381E,381A,381F, and381G, a transition of the actual measurement value of the number of evacuees is drawn as a waveform illustrated by a solid line inFIG.10, and in addition, a transition of the prediction value of the number of evacuees is drawn as a waveform illustrated by a broken line inFIG.10. Similarly to the example illustrated inFIG.9, these charts381E,381A,381F, and381G may also be displayed side by side in descending order of the congestion evaluation value, for example, in the order of the shelter2E, the shelter2A, the shelter2F, and the shelter2G. Note that, similarly to the examples illustrated inFIGS.8and9, the charts381E,381A,381F, and381G illustrated inFIG.10may also be associated with shelter identification information or information such as a warning of a rapid increase of evacuees or congestion and the number of evacuees as a label or annotation.

By displaying such charts381E,381A,381F, and381G, it is possible to have a crisis manager confirm future prediction of congestion and rapid increase after the time when each chart is observed.

Moreover, a dashboard screen390illustrated inFIG.11includes an indicator391in addition to the map image331, the evacuation situation table332, the log display area351, the chart381E, the chart381A, the chart381F, and the chart381G illustrated inFIG.10.

The indicators391are signs generated on the basis of the time-series data of the prediction value of the number of evacuees predicted by simulation or the like. As an example only, the indicator391may be pop-up displayed only in a case where a prediction value of the number of evacuees at any time of the time-series data of the prediction value of the number of evacuees is equal to or greater than a threshold. In this case, not only a display output of the indicator391including a message such as a text “INFECTION RISK IS RAPIDLY INCREASING AT SHELTER2G!” illustrated inFIG.11, but also a synthetic sound which reads out the message or a beep sound or pop sound may be audio-output.

By displaying such an indicator391, it is possible to send, to a crisis manager, a push notification of the shelter2G, which has a high risk of congestion and rapid increase in the future prediction after the time when each chart is observed.

As illustrated inFIGS.7to11, the display control function according to the present embodiment may display alert information regarding a shelter where the number of evacuees is rapidly increasing or congestion is occurring. Therefore, according to the display control function according to the present embodiment, it is possible to suppress information overload. As a result, it is also possible to prevent information regarding a facility for which countermeasures are needed from being buried.

Next, the functional configuration of the server device10having the display control function according to the present embodiment will be described.FIG.1schematically illustrates blocks corresponding to functions of the server device10. As illustrated inFIG.1, the server device10includes a communication interface unit11, a storage unit13, and a control unit15. Note thatFIG.1only illustrates an excerpt of functional units related to the display control function described above. A functional unit other than the illustrated ones, for example, a functional unit that an existing computer is equipped with by default or as an option may be provided in the server device10.

The communication interface unit11corresponds to an example of a communication control unit that controls communication with another device, for example, the camera20or the client terminal30. As an example only, the communication interface unit11is implemented by a network interface card such as a LAN card. As one aspect, the communication interface unit11accepts upload of an image captured by the camera20from the camera20, and outputs, to the camera20, various settings, for example, an amount of controlling pan, tilt, and the like of the camera20and a target azimuth. As another aspect, the communication interface unit11accepts a display request of the dashboard screen from the client terminal30, and outputs display data of the dashboard screen to the client terminal30.

The storage unit13is a functional unit that stores various types of data. As an example only, the storage unit13is implemented by storage, for example, internal, external or auxiliary storage. For example, the storage unit13stores setting information13A and map information13B. In addition to these setting information13A and map information13B, the storage unit13may store various types of data such as a list of shelters in an area under jurisdiction of a local government, position information of the shelters, and account information of a user who subscribes to the disaster evacuee support service described above. Note that description of each data of the setting information13A and the map information13B will be described later together with description of processing in which reference or generation is performed.

The control unit15is a processing unit that performs overall control of the server device10. For example, the control unit15is implemented by a hardware processor. As illustrated inFIG.1, the control unit15includes an acquisition unit15A, a calculation unit15B, a determination unit15C, a selection unit15D, and a display control unit15E.

The acquisition unit15A is a processing unit that acquires an image. As an example only, the acquisition unit15A may acquire an image output from the camera20for each camera20in frame units. Here, an information source from which the acquisition unit15A acquires the image may be an optional information source, and is not limited to the camera20. For example, the acquisition unit15A may acquire the image from storage for accumulating images or a removable medium such as a memory card or a universal serial bus (USB) memory. In addition, the acquisition unit15A may also acquire the image from an external device other than the camera20via the network NW.

The calculation unit15B is a processing unit that calculates a value related to congestion, for example, the congestion evaluation value described above. As an example only, the calculation unit15B executes the following processing for each facility, for example, shelter2. Hereinafter, as an example only of a use scene, a case where the shelter2has one entrance will be given as an example. According to this example, an image is acquired from one camera20for each shelter. In this case, for each image acquired by the acquisition unit15A, the calculation unit15B applies the image analysis technology illustrated inFIG.2to the image. For example, the image analysis technology may be implemented by a machine learning model that outputs a counted number of people in a shelter by inputting a still image of the shelter or a moving image of the shelter of a specific number of frames retroactively from the latest frame. To generate such a machine learning model, as an example, a deep learning (DL) framework corresponding to a convolutional neural network (CNN) may be used. Note that, in a case where there is a plurality of entrances in one shelter2, it is sufficient that the number of people in one shelter is counted by using each of images acquired from the number of cameras20corresponding to the number of entrances as an input.

After counting the number of people in the shelter, the calculation unit15B calculates the congestion evaluation value of the shelter on the basis of the number of evacuees in the shelter and the upper limit number of people set in the shelter. Examples of such a congestion evaluation value include a degree of congestion and the number of vacancies. For example, the “degree of congestion” may be calculated by dividing the number of evacuees by the upper limit number of people, which is “the number of evacuees÷ the upper limit number of people”. Here, as an example only, an example is given in which the greater a value of the degree of congestion, the higher the calculated degree of congestion of the shelter. However, the smaller the value of the degree of congestion, the higher the calculated degree of congestion of the shelter may become. Furthermore, “the number of vacancies” may be calculated by subtracting the number of evacuees from the upper limit number of people, which is “the upper limit number of people−the number of evacuees”.

The determination unit15C determines a priority among a plurality of shelters according to the congestion evaluation value of each of the plurality of shelters. As an example only, the determination unit15C sorts the shelters2in descending order of the degree of congestion. As a result, the shelters2are rearranged in the order of high degree of congestion, which is so-called descending order. Then, the determination unit15C determines whether or not there are shelters2having equivalent degrees of congestion. The term “equivalent” as used herein refers to both a state where the values are the same and a state where a difference in the degree of congestion between the shelters is within a threshold. At this time, in a case where there are the shelters2having the equivalent degrees of congestion, the determination unit15C narrows down the shelters sorted in the descending order of the degree of congestion to the shelters having the equivalent degrees of congestion, and further sorts in the order of the small number of vacancies, which is so-called ascending order. An arrangement order, for example, the order of the shelters2obtained as a result of such sorting is determined as the priority.

The selection unit15D selects a specific number of shelters among a plurality of shelters on the basis of the priority among the shelters. As an example only, the selection unit15D selects, among the shelters2, a specific number of shelters with a higher priority, for example, the top one shelter or the top four shelters. For example, for the number of shelters selected by the selection unit15D, the number of selected shelters set in the setting information13A stored in the storage unit13is referred to, as an example only. Here, the number of shelters selected by the selection unit15D may not be limited only to the selected number set in the setting information13A. For example, the selection unit15D may reselect a shelter that satisfies a condition1in which the degree of congestion is equal to or greater than a threshold among the shelters selected on the basis of the priority. Furthermore, the selection unit15D may reselect a shelter that satisfies a condition2in which the number of vacancies is less than a threshold among the shelters selected on the basis of the priority. Moreover, the selection unit15D may reselect a shelter that satisfies the conditions1and2among the shelters selected on the basis of the priority. Note that the number of selected shelters set in the setting information13A may be system-defined or user-defined.

FIG.12is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of selection algorithm. As an example,FIG.12schematically illustrates an example of a calculation result by the calculation unit15B as a table1561. As illustrated inFIG.12, in the table1561, the number of evacuees, a seating capacity, the number of vacancies, and a degree of congestion are associated with each of the shelters2A to2G. Among these, the “seating capacity” may be defined in advance before the shelter is selected. The term “seating capacity” as used herein corresponds to an example of the upper limit number of people in a shelter, and may be set, for example, in terms of a capacity of the shelter by a design company or the like of a structure of the shelter. This is just one aspect, and it is also possible to set the upper limit number of people from another aspect. For example, from an aspect that temperature or humidity correlates with an infection risk, a corrected seating capacity in which the seating capacity is corrected on the basis of the temperature or humidity measured at the shelter may be set as the upper limit number of people.

For example, taking the shelter2A as an example, the number of evacuees is calculated to be 800 by counting the number of evacuees in an image captured by the camera20A. Then, the degree of congestion “0.8” is calculated by dividing the number of evacuees “800” by the seating capacity “1000”. Moreover, the number of vacancies “200” is calculated by subtracting the number of evacuees “800” from the seating capacity “1000”. Also for the shelters2B to2G other than the shelter2A, although values of the seating capacity and the number of evacuees are different, similar calculation may be executed to calculate the congestion evaluation values such as the degree of congestion and the number of vacancies. As a result, the table15B1illustrated inFIG.12is generated.

Thereafter, by rearranging the shelters2A to2G in the table15B1in the order of high degree of congestion, which is so-called descending order, a table15C11in which the shelters2A to2G are sorted in descending order of congestion may be obtained. Then, it is determined whether or not there are shelters2having equivalent degrees of congestion among the shelters2A to2G. In the example of the table15C11, the degrees of congestion of the shelter2A and the shelter2E are the same value “0.8”, and further, the degrees of congestion of the shelter2C and the shelter2G are the same value “0.5”. Thus, it is difficult to determine superiority or inferiority by one index of the degree of congestion because evaluations of the shelter2A and the shelter2E are the same, and evaluations of the shelter2C and the shelter2G are the same. Therefore, among the shelters2A to2G in the table15C11, the shelter2A and the shelter2E, which have the same value of the degree of congestion, are further rearranged in ascending order of the number of vacancies, and the shelter2C and the shelter2G, which have the same value of the degree of congestion, are further rearranged in ascending order of the number of vacancies. As a result, a table15C12is obtained. An arrangement order, for example, the order of the shelters2in the table15C12obtained in this way is determined as the priority. Here, a case where the number of selected shelters set in the setting information13A is “4” is given as an example. In this case, shelters2corresponding to shelters with the top four priorities are selected among the shelters2A to2G. For example, according to the example of the table15C12illustrated inFIG.12, the shelter2E, the shelter2A, the shelter2F, and the shelter2G are selected.

In this way, by selecting a shelter on the basis of a priority corresponding to a result of sorting by a degree of congestion and the number of vacancies, it is possible to display alert information regarding the shelter where congestion is more severe. In the example of the table15C12illustrated inFIG.12, the shelter2C and the shelter2G both have the degree of congestion “0.5” and are equivalently congested. However, in the case of selecting the top four shelters, one of the shelter2C and the shelter2G is excluded from the shelters to be alerted. Even in such a case, the shelter2G with the number of vacancies smaller than that of the shelter2C is selected on the basis of the table15C12further sorted by the number of vacancies. Therefore, while the shelter2G in which congestion is more severe than the shelter2C is included in the shelters to be alerted, the shelter2C in which congestion is less severe than the shelter2G may be excluded from the shelters to be alerted.

The display control unit15E is a processing unit that executes various types of display control for the client terminal30. As one aspect, in a case where the display control unit15E accepts a display request of the dashboard screen from the client terminal30, the display control unit15E executes the following processing. For example, the display control unit15E reads out map information corresponding to an account of a local government that is a subscriber to the disaster evacuee support service described above in the map information13B stored in the storage unit13. Subsequently, the display control unit15E maps symbols corresponding to shelters managed in an area under jurisdiction of the local government to a map image included in the map information. For such mapping, functions provided by GIS software may be used, as an example. Then, the display control unit15E generates display data of the dashboard screen including the map image in which the shelters are mapped according to a display pattern set in the setting information13A, for example, one of the three display patterns illustrated inFIGS.3to5. The dashboard screen generated in this way is displayed on the client terminal30. Thereafter, in a case where the number of evacuees is calculated by the calculation unit15B, the display control unit15E updates display of annotation of the number of evacuees associated with the symbol of each shelter.

As another aspect, the display control unit15E displays the alert information on the dashboard screen. As an example only, the display control unit15E displays, on the dashboard screen, the alert information regarding the shelter selected by the selection unit15D among the shelters managed by the local government. At this time, the display control unit15E displays the alert information on the dashboard screen according to a display pattern set in the setting information13A, for example, one of the display patterns illustrated inFIGS.7to11. For example, the alert information may include a message and the like illustrated inFIGS.7to11, the number of evacuees, and the congestion evaluation value.

Next, a flow of processing of the server device10according to the present embodiment will be described.FIG.13is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of display control processing according to the first embodiment. For example, the display control processing is started in a case where the dashboard screen is displayed on the client terminal30. Thereafter, the display control processing is repeated at a cycle in which an image is acquired by the camera20, or at a specific interval, for example, every second. Then, the display control processing ends in a case where the dashboard screen is closed.

As illustrated inFIG.13, the acquisition unit15A acquires an image from the camera20installed in the shelter2for each of the shelters2associated with an account of a local government (Step S101).

Thereafter, loop processing1that repeats processing of the following Step S102and the following Step S103is started for the number of times corresponding to the total number N of the shelters2. Note that, although an example in which the loop processing is performed is given here, the processing of the following Step S102and the following Step S103may be executed in parallel for each shelter2.

For example, the calculation unit15B counts the number of evacuees in the shelter by applying the image analysis technology illustrated inFIG.2to the image acquired in Step S101(Step S102). Then, the calculation unit15B calculates a degree of congestion and the number of vacancies in the shelter as congestion evaluation values on the basis of the number of evacuees in the shelter counted in Step S102and the upper limit number of people set in the shelter (Step S103).

By repeating such loop processing1, it is possible to obtain, for each shelter2, the congestion evaluation values including the number of evacuees, the degree of congestion, and the number of vacancies. Then, when the loop processing1ends, the display control unit15E updates display of an annotation of the number of evacuees associated with a symbol of each shelter on the basis of the number of evacuees calculated for each shelter in Step S102(Step S104).

Then, the determination unit15C sorts the shelters2in descending order of the degree of congestion (Step S105). Subsequently, the determination unit15C determines whether or not there are shelters2having equivalent degrees of congestion (Step S106).

At this time, in a case where there are the shelters2having the equivalent degrees of congestion (Yes in Step S106), the determination unit15C further sorts the shelters2having equivalent degrees of congestion in ascending order of the number of vacancies among the shelters2sorted in the descending order of the degree of congestion in Step S105(Step S107). Note that, in a case where there are no shelters2having the equivalent degrees of congestion (No in Step S106), processing of Step S107is skipped and the processing proceeds to processing of Step S108.

Thereafter, the determination unit15C determines an arrangement order, for example, the order of the shelters2obtained as a result of sorting in Step S105or S107as a priority of each shelter (Step S108).

Then, the selection unit15D refers to the number of selected shelters set in the setting information13A, and selects, among the shelters2, a specific number of shelters with the higher priority determined in Step S108, for example, the top one shelter2or the top four shelters2(Step S109).

Then, the display control unit15E displays, on the dashboard screen, alert information regarding the shelters selected in Step S109among the shelters managed by the local government according to a display pattern set in the setting information13A (Step S110), and the processing ends.

As described above, the server device10according to the present embodiment displays alert information regarding a shelter selected according to a value related to congestion that is evaluated from the upper limit number of people for each of a plurality of shelters included in a specific area and the number of evacuees calculated from each image of the plurality of shelters. Therefore, according to the server device10according to the present embodiment, it is possible to prevent information regarding a facility for which countermeasures are needed from being buried.

Second Embodiment

While the embodiment related to the disclosed apparatus have been described above, the disclosed technology may be carried out in a variety of different modes in addition to the embodiment described above. Thus, hereinafter, another embodiment included in the disclosed technology will be described.

In the first embodiment described above, the degree of congestion and the number of vacancies are given as examples of the congestion evaluation value. However, a congestion evaluation value other than the degree of congestion and the number of vacancies may be used for the display control of the alert information. For example, the calculation unit15B may calculate an amount of change in the degree of congestion and an amount of change in the number of evacuees as the congestion evaluation values. For example, the “amount of change in the degree of congestion” may be calculated according to the following Expression (1), and the “amount of change in the number of evacuees” may be calculated according to the following Expression (2). As an example only of a “time t” in the following Expressions (1) and (2), a time when the latest frame image is acquired from the camera20may be mentioned. Furthermore, as an example only of “Δt”, 10 minutes, 30 minutes, or the like may be mentioned.
Amount of change in the degree of congestion at the timet={Degree of congestion(t)−Degree of congestion(t−Δt)}/Δt(1)
Amount of change in the number of evacuees at the timet={The number of evacuees(t)−The number of evacuees(t−Δt)}/Δt(2)

FIG.14is a schematic diagram illustrating an application example of the selection algorithm. As an example,FIG.14schematically illustrates an example of a calculation result by the calculation unit15B as a table15B2. As illustrated inFIG.14, in the table15B2, the number of evacuees, a seating capacity, the number of vacancies, a degree of congestion, an amount of change in the number of evacuees, and an amount of change in the degree of congestion are associated with each of the shelters2A to2G.

For example, taking the shelter2A as an example, the number of evacuees is calculated to be 800 by counting the number of evacuees in an image captured by the camera20A. Then, the degree of congestion “0.8” is calculated by dividing the number of evacuees “800” by the seating capacity “1000”. Moreover, the number of vacancies “200” is calculated by subtracting the number of evacuees “800” from the seating capacity “1000”. Up to this point is similar to the example illustrated inFIG.12. Here, when Δt is set to “0.5 h” and the degree of congestion at time t−Δt is set to “0.75”, the amount of change in the degree of congestion at the time t is obtained as “0.1” by calculation of {(0.8−0.75)/0.5}. Furthermore, when the number of evacuees at the time t−Δt is set to “750”, the amount of change in the number of evacuees at the time t is obtained as “100” by calculation of {(800−750)/0.5}. Also for the shelters2B to2G other than the shelter2A, although values of the seating capacity, the number of evacuees, and the degree of congestion are different, similar calculation may be executed to calculate the congestion evaluation values such as the amount of change in the degree of congestion and the amount of change in the number of evacuees. As a result, the table15B2illustrated inFIG.14is generated.

Thereafter, by rearranging the shelters2A to2G in the table15B2in the order of large amount of change in the degree of congestion, which is so-called descending order, a table15C21in which the shelters2A to2G are sorted in descending order of the amount of change in the degree of congestion may be obtained. Then, it is determined whether or not there are shelters2having equivalent amounts of change in the degree of congestion among the shelters2A to2G. In the example of the table15C21, the amounts of change in the degree of congestion of the shelter2A and the shelter2B is the same value “0.1”, and further, the amounts of change in the degree of congestion of the shelter2F and the shelter2G are the same value “0.06”. Thus, it is difficult to determine superiority or inferiority by one index of the amount of change in the degree of congestion because evaluations of the shelter2A and the shelter2B are the same, and evaluations of the shelter2F and the shelter2G are the same. Therefore, among the shelters2A to2G in the table15C21, the shelter2A and the shelter2B, which have the same value of the amount of change in the degree of congestion, are further rearranged in descending order of the amount of change in the number of evacuees, and the shelter2F and the shelter2G, which have the same value of the amount of change in the degree of congestion, are further rearranged in descending order of the amount of change in the number of evacuees. As a result, a table15C22is obtained. An arrangement order of the shelters2in the table15C22obtained in this way, for example, the order is determined as the priority. Here, a case where the number of selected shelters set in the setting information13A is “4” is given as an example. In this case, shelters2corresponding to shelters with the top four priorities are selected among the shelters2A to2G. For example, according to the example of the table15C22illustrated inFIG.14, the shelter2E, the shelter2A, the shelter2B, and the shelter2G are selected.

In this way, by selecting a shelter on the basis of a priority corresponding to a result of sorting by the amount of change in the degree of congestion and the amount of change in the number of evacuees, it is possible to display alert information regarding the shelter where a rapid increase is more severe. In the example of the table15C22illustrated inFIG.14, the shelter2F and the shelter2G both have the amount of change in the degree of congestion “0.06” and are equivalently congested. However, in the case of selecting the top four shelters, one of the shelter2F and the shelter2G is excluded from the shelters to be alerted. Even in such a case, the shelter2G with the amount of change in the number of evacuees greater than that of the shelter2F is selected on the basis of the table15C22further sorted by the amount of change in the number of evacuees. Therefore, while the shelter2G in which the rapid increase is more severe than the shelter2F is included in the shelters to be alerted, the shelter2F in which the rapid increase is less severe than the shelter2G may be excluded from the shelters to be alerted.

Furthermore, in the first embodiment described above, an example is given in which the degree of congestion is calculated on the basis of the number of evacuees and the seating capacity, but the degree of congestion may be calculated on the basis of the upper limit number of people based on the number of evacuees and a social distance, for example, 2 m. In this case, when the distance between people is set to 2 m, it is sufficient that an upper limit value of the number of people that may be accommodated may be set as the upper limit number of people.

Furthermore, in the first embodiment described above, an example is given in which the number of evacuees, the congestion evaluation value, and the like are displayed as the alert information, but another information may also be displayed as the alert information. As an example only, the nearest shelter positioned closest to the shelter to be alerted may be included in the alert information. As a result, it is possible to provide information that contributes to countermeasures to reduce an infection risk, such as dispersion of evacuees.

FIG.15is a diagram illustrating an application example of the alert information.FIG.15illustrates an example in which the nearest shelters to the top two shelters2E and shelter2A are specified on the basis of the priorities of the shelters2A to2G as determined by the table15C12, which is the result of sorting by the degree of congestion and the number of vacancies illustrated inFIG.12. For such specification of the nearest shelters, position information of each of the shelters2A to2G is used, as an example only. For example, in the example of specifying the nearest shelter to the shelter2E, distances are calculated between the shelter2E and the shelters2A to2D,2F, and2G. Then, among the shelters2A to2D,2F, and2G, the shelter whose distance from the shelter2E is within a threshold, which is the shelter2B in the example ofFIG.15, is specified as the nearest shelter to the shelter2E. Here, the nearest shelter does not necessarily need to be one. For example, in the example of specifying the nearest shelter to the shelter2A, distances are calculated between the shelter2A and the shelters2B to2G. Then, among the shelters2B to2G, the shelters whose distances from the shelter2A are within a threshold, which are the shelter2G and the shelter2C in the example ofFIG.15, are specified as the nearest shelters to the shelter2A. As a result, a table15C31is generated. The alert information is displayed on the dashboard screen on the basis of such a table15C31. For example, the shelter2B is displayed as the nearest shelter to the shelter2E, and the shelter2G and the shelter2C are displayed as the nearest shelters to the shelter2A.

In the first embodiment described above, a shelter is given as an example of a facility. However, since the dashboard function for facilities similar to shelters in general is also needed to take countermeasures against COVID-19, for example, countermeasures for avoiding three Cs, the display control function according to the first embodiment described above may be applied. For example, the display control function described above may be implemented by calculating a congestion evaluation value such as a degree of congestion or the number of vacancies from the number of visitors and the upper limit number of people in a facility such as a supermarket or a sports stadium.

Furthermore, components of the illustrated devices are not necessarily physically configured as illustrated in the drawings. For example, the specific aspects of distribution and integration of the respective devices are not limited to the illustrated aspects, and all or some of the devices may be functionally or physically distributed and integrated in an optional unit according to various loads, use situation, and the like. For example, the acquisition unit15A, the calculation unit15B, the determination unit15C, the selection unit15D, or the display control unit15E may be connected as an external device of the server device10via a network. Furthermore, the acquisition unit15A, the calculation unit15B, the determination unit15C, the selection unit15D, and the display control unit15E are included in different devices, and by connecting the devices to a network and making the devices to cooperate with each other, the functions of the server device10described above may be implemented.

Furthermore, various types of processing described in the embodiments described above may be implemented by a computer such as a personal computer or a workstation executing a program prepared in advance. Thus, in the following, an example of a computer that executes a display control program having a function similar to the functions in the first and second embodiments will be described with reference toFIG.16.

FIG.16is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example. As illustrated inFIG.16, a computer100includes an operation unit110a, a speaker110b, a camera110c, a display120, and a communication unit130. Moreover, the computer100includes a central processing unit (CPU)150, a read-only memory (ROM)160, a hard disk drive (HDD)170, and a random-access memory (RAM)180. These components110to180are each connected via a bus140.

As illustrated inFIG.16, the HDD170stores a display control program170athat exhibits functions similar to functions of the acquisition unit15A, the calculation unit15B, the determination unit15C, the selection unit15D, and the display control unit15E indicated in the first embodiment described above. The display control program170amay be integrated or separated in a similar manner to each of the components of the acquisition unit15A, the calculation unit15B, the determination unit15C, the selection unit15D, and the display control unit15E illustrated inFIG.1. For example, all pieces of data indicated in the first embodiment described above does not necessarily need to be stored in the HDD170, and only data for use in processing needs to be stored in the HDD170.

Under such an environment, the CPU150reads out the display control program170afrom the HDD170and develops the display control program170aon the RAM180. As a result, the display control program170afunctions as a display control process180aas illustrated inFIG.16. The display control process180adevelops various types of data read out from the HDD170in an area allocated to the display control process180ain a storage area of the RAM180, and executes various types of processing by using the developed various types of data. For example, as an example of the processing executed by the display control process180a, the processing illustrated inFIG.13is included. Note that, in the CPU150, all the processing units indicated in the first embodiment described above do not necessarily need to operate, and only a processing unit corresponding to processing to be executed needs to be virtually implemented.

Note that the display control program170adescribed above does not necessarily need to be stored in the HDD170or the ROM160from the beginning. For example, the display control program170ais stored in a “portable physical medium” such as a flexible disk, which is a so-called FD, a compact disc (CD)-ROM, a digital versatile disk (DVD), a magneto-optical disk, or an integrated circuit (IC) card to be inserted in the computer100. Then, the computer100may acquire and execute the display control program170afrom these portable physical media. Furthermore, the display control program170amay be stored in another computer, a server device, or the like connected to the computer100via a public line, the Internet, a LAN, a wide area network (WAN), or the like, and the computer100may acquire the display control program170afrom these and execute the display control program170a.