# The Visual Social Distancing Problem

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.04813 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.04813/

## Key facts

- Cited by 9 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 11 May 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 9 of 9)

- [Automatic Social Distance Estimation From Images: Performance Evaluation, Test Benchmark, and Algorithm](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.06759/) (2021)
- [MilliTRACE-IR: Contact Tracing and Temperature Screening via mm-Wave and Infrared Sensing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.03979/) (2021)
- [A Fast Horizon Detector and a New Annotated Dataset for Maritime Video Processing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.13694/) (2021)
- [Birds Eye View Social Distancing Analysis System](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.07159/) (2021)
- [Automatic Image Content Extraction: Operationalizing Machine Learning in Humanistic Photographic Studies of Large Visual Archives](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.02149/) (2022)
- [For a semiotic AI: Bridging computer vision and visual semiotics for computational observation of large scale facial image archives](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.03268/) (2024)
- [Monitoring Social-distance in Wide Areas during Pandemics: a Density Map and Segmentation Approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.03361/) (2021)
- [Computer Vision-based Social Distancing Surveillance Solution with Optional Automated Camera Calibration for Large Scale Deployment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.10891/) (2021)
- [Monitoring social distancing with single image depth estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.01693/) (2022)

## Abstract (arXiv)

One of the main and most effective measures to contain the recent viral outbreak is the maintenance of the so-called Social Distancing (SD). To comply with this constraint, workplaces, public institutions, transports and schools will likely adopt restrictions over the minimum inter-personal distance between people. Given this actual scenario, it is crucial to massively measure the compliance to such physical constraint in our life, in order to figure out the reasons of the possible breaks of such distance limitations, and understand if this implies a possible threat given the scene context. All of this, complying with privacy policies and making the measurement acceptable. To this end, we introduce the Visual Social Distancing (VSD) problem, defined as the automatic estimation of the inter-personal distance from an image, and the characterization of the related people aggregations. VSD is pivotal for a non-invasive analysis to whether people comply with the SD restriction, and to provide statistics about the level of safety of specific areas whenever this constraint is violated. We then discuss how VSD relates with previous literature in Social Signal Processing and indicate which existing Computer Vision methods can be used to manage such problem. We conclude with future challenges related to the effectiveness of VSD systems, ethical implications and future application scenarios.