SquintPRO · Queue management
Queue management system: measure real queues and waiting time on the cameras you already have
Most people looking for a queue management system mean a ticket dispenser, counter displays and a number being called. That system runs the flow, but it only sees the people who took a ticket. SquintPRO, the video analytics platform Interkey builds, does not print tickets. It measures what tickets miss: how many people are actually standing in a queue, how long they stay in it, and at which hours more counters are needed, from the CCTV that already covers the hall.
Published 8 min read
Orientation
At a glance
The whole page in one table, before the detail.
- What this page covers
- Measuring real queues with cameras, alone or beside a ticketing system
- What SquintPRO measures
- People in a queue zone, time spent in it, counts by hour, threshold alerts
- What it does not do
- Print tickets, call numbers, run counter displays or book appointments
- Cameras
- Existing CCTV over the queue areas, on the views a camera survey qualifies
- Where it runs
- On-premise, or in the cloud with 3, 6 or 12 months' retention
- How it is bought
- By quote, licensed per camera stream, unlimited use cases on a licensed stream
The problem in plain words
- The usual gap: a ticketing system counts tickets, not people. Someone who never takes a ticket, or leaves before being called, is invisible to it.
- Where it hurts: pharmacy windows, reception desks, entrance checks and retail checkouts often have no tickets at all.
- What cameras add: the real length of the queue, how long people stay in it, and an alert when it passes a limit you set.
- What they do not replace: the dispenser, the counter call and the display. Those stay with your ticketing system.
What a queue system usually means, and what it leaves out
A classic queue system issues a numbered ticket, sends the visitor to a waiting area and calls the number to a counter. It records when each ticket was issued and served, so its waiting time starts at the dispenser. That is useful, and it is also partial:
- it cannot see the line that forms at the dispenser itself, or at the entrance before it;
- it cannot see people who give up and leave before taking a ticket;
- it does not exist at all where service has no ticket, such as a checkout or a pharmacy window.
Waiting time analytics from cameras answers those three gaps.
Why waiting time matters for service centres in Saudi Arabia
Government service centres, hospitals and bank branches in the Kingdom serve large numbers of visitors at predictable peaks: the start of the working week, the hours after Dhuhr, the days around salary payments and the evenings of Ramadan. Visitors judge the service by the wait, and managers are asked to show how long people waited, not only how many tickets were served. A measured queue length by hour gives that answer, and it shows where an extra counter or a changed shift would shorten the wait.
Ticket-based, camera-based or combined: three ways to run a queue management system
Each approach answers a different question. Many sites need the first and benefit from adding the second.
| Question | Ticket-based | Camera-based (SquintPRO) | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it does | Issues tickets, calls numbers to counters, shows displays | Counts people in queue zones and measures time spent there | Tickets run the flow; cameras measure the queue around it |
| Waiting time it reports | From ticket issue to service | From entering the queue zone to leaving it | Both, side by side |
| Who it sees | Only visitors who took a ticket | Everyone standing in the camera view | Both, so walk-aways become visible |
| Where it works | Halls with a dispenser and called counters | Any queue a camera can see, including checkouts and windows | Halls with tickets plus the areas around them |
| What it needs | Dispensers, displays and counter terminals | Camera views over each queue zone; no new hardware where views qualify | The ticketing system, the cameras and an integration if counts are passed across |
| What it cannot do | See people without a ticket | Print tickets, call numbers or book appointments | Little; it costs two systems to run |
The combined row is the common case: a ticketing system already runs the hall, and the question is what it is not seeing.
Queue length detection and waiting time analytics: what the cameras measure
| Measurement | How it is produced | What it needs from the site |
|---|---|---|
| Queue length | People counted in a queue zone drawn on the camera view, continuously | A view that covers the whole queue, not only its front |
| Time in the queue | Dwell time in the zone, from entering it to leaving it | The zone's start and end agreed with the operations team |
| Counts by hour and day | The zone counts kept over time and shown on a dashboard by zone and shift | Agreement on which zones and hours are reported |
| Over-limit alert | An alert when the count or the time passes a threshold you set | A threshold per zone and a person who receives the alert |
| Crowding at entrances | Density in a defined area, as in crowd management | A camera over the entrance or dispenser area |
The same zone counting and dwell time underpin people counting with SquintPRO and crowd management on existing cameras. The staffing decision stays with you: the counts show when the queue grows, and the threshold alert tells a supervisor when to open a counter.
Where queue measurement is used: government centres, hospitals, banks and checkouts
| Setting | What to measure | What to settle first |
|---|---|---|
| Government service centres | Line at the entrance and dispenser, waiting-hall load by hour, walk-aways | Which halls are reported, and to whom |
| Hospitals and clinics | Queues at registration, pharmacy and laboratory windows | Where cameras may point in clinical areas, under the hospital's privacy policy |
| Bank branches | Teller and customer-service queues against the number of open counters | Branch-level thresholds that fit each branch's size |
| Retail checkouts | Line length per checkout and time to reach the till | Whether the alert goes to a supervisor's screen or the store system |
For the setting-specific detail, see video analytics for government service centres and video analytics for hospitals and clinics.
Before you choose queue management software: questions to settle
- Which question are you answering? Running the flow needs tickets; knowing the real wait needs measurement. Name both if you need both.
- Which queues have no ticket? List them: they are where cameras add most.
- Do the existing cameras see the whole queue? A camera aimed at the counter sees the front of the line, not its end.
- What limit triggers action? A number of people or a number of minutes per zone, and who acts on it.
- Where do the numbers go? A dashboard, a supervisor alert or your ticketing system, and who owns that integration.
- How will results be checked? Agree in writing how counts will be compared with a manual sample during the pilot.
Where SquintPRO fits in queue management, and where it does not
SquintPRO is Interkey's own AI video analytics platform. For queues it does three things on existing CCTV: counts people in the queue zones you draw, measures how long they stay there, and raises an alert with video evidence when a count or a time passes your threshold. The counts build up into dashboards by zone, hour and shift, the record managers use to plan rosters. Alerts go into the systems you already run rather than a new screen. Where your ticketing system accepts outside input, the counts can be passed to it; that integration is scoped per project and tested in the pilot.
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Where it does not fit: SquintPRO does not print tickets, call numbers, drive counter displays, send visitor messages or book appointments, and it does not identify anyone, because it does not use face recognition. If a hall has no ticketing at all and needs one, that is a different purchase; we will say so in the first conversation.
How a queue measurement pilot runs
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Camera survey.
Each camera over a queue area is sorted into usable as is, usable after adjustment, or needing new hardware.
-
Zones and limits.
Queue zones are drawn with your operations team, with a threshold per zone and a named person for each alert.
-
Pilot scope.
One hall or branch, a defined set of cameras, and written success criteria, including how counts are compared with a manual sample.
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Measurement.
Counts, times and false alerts are measured on your own cameras, at peak and quiet hours.
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Rollout and operation.
More halls or branches are added once the pilot passes. Interkey carries out the survey, setup and support from Riyadh.
Privacy, data residency and cost
Queue measurement counts people; it does not need to know who they are. Footage still shows visitors, so decide before go-live the purpose, who can view footage and dashboards, how long recordings are kept and how visitors are informed. In Saudi Arabia personal data falls under the Personal Data Protection Law, overseen by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA); your compliance owner confirms how it applies. SquintPRO runs on-premise, so footage stays on your site, or in the cloud with 3, 6 or 12 months' retention. It is licensed per camera stream, with unlimited use cases on a licensed stream, so a camera already licensed for another use can measure a queue too. Each quote is built from the number of streams and the deployment model; see what determines SquintPRO pricing.
RelatedSaudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA)what determines SquintPRO pricing
Questions buyers ask about queue management
Does SquintPRO print queue tickets or replace our ticketing system?
No. SquintPRO does not print tickets, call numbers or run counter displays. It measures the queue with cameras: how many people are in it, how long they stay and when it passes your limit. It works beside a ticketing system, or on its own where service has no tickets, such as checkouts and pharmacy windows.
How is waiting time measured from cameras, and how do we know the figures are right?
A queue zone is drawn on the camera view, and SquintPRO measures how long people stay in it, from entering the zone to leaving it at the counter. Do not rely on a published accuracy figure for your hall: during the pilot, counts and times are compared with a manual sample at peak and quiet hours, against criteria written before it starts.
Can a hospital measure queues on camera without identifying patients?
Yes. SquintPRO counts people and measures time in a zone; it does not use face recognition and does not identify anyone. The hospital still decides where cameras may point in clinical areas, who may view the footage and how long it is kept, under its own privacy policy.
Can queue footage stay inside Saudi Arabia, on our own premises?
Yes. On-premise, SquintPRO runs on servers at your site and footage stays there, which suits organisations whose data rules fix where video may be held. In the cloud, recordings are kept for 3, 6 or 12 months, chosen at the start. Your compliance owner confirms which option your data rules allow.
How is camera-based queue measurement licensed and priced in KSA?
By quote. SquintPRO is licensed per camera stream, with unlimited use cases on a licensed stream, so cameras already licensed for safety or security can measure queues as well. The quote is built from the number of streams, the sites and the deployment model. There is no published price list.
How long does a queue measurement pilot take before we see results?
It is estimated per project. What drives it is how many cameras the survey qualifies, whether any need adjusting, how many zones and thresholds are agreed, and how many peak periods the pilot must cover to be meaningful. The survey and the written success criteria come first, so the estimate is given with its reasons.
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Measure your queues on your own cameras
Tell us which halls, branches or checkouts matter, whether a ticketing system already runs there, and roughly how many cameras cover them. We will tell you which queues your cameras can measure and what a pilot could show.
Or directly
+966-11-2180999 [email protected]Tawuniya Towers, North Tower, 7th Floor, King Fahad Highway, Olaya, P.O. Box 56835, Riyadh 11564, Saudi Arabia