Crowd size estimates are part science, part art. When numbers differ, it’s not necessarily because someone is being dishonest.
Articles on Crowd size
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People assume event organizers have their best interests at heart, but just like many businesses, organizers often operate on a tight budget and sometimes corners get cut creating disastrous results.
Image recognition algorithms, military satellites, and mobile data networks can all help estimate crowd sizes. But the underlying maths still comes down to a basic formula: density multiplied by area.
A professor of journalism explains why you should be skeptical of any numbers that you see over the next few days.
Lessons from the British 19th century protests over electoral reform about the significance of crowd sizes.
Top contributors
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Professor of Journalism, Arizona State University
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Research Fellow in Computing and Security, Edith Cowan University
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Security Risk Management Practitioner & Researcher, Royal Military College of Canada
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Honorary Research Fellow, Department of History, University of Warwick, University of Warwick
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Professor of Cyber Security Practice, Edith Cowan University
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Associate Professor and Principal Fellow in Urban Risk and Resilience, The University of Melbourne
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Professor in Digital Construction and Fire Engineering, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University