Expanded occupancy detection capabilities for Google Meet hardware devices

What’s changing 

We’re significantly expanding our occupancy detection capabilities on Google Meet hardware devices beyond Series One devices. When enabled:  

  • Occupancy counting will now be supported on all qualified cameras.
    • Note: We’re aware of an ongoing, unrelated issue with the Logitech PTZ Pro 2 camera. Admins may want to avoid enabling occupancy detection on devices with these cameras until this is resolved.
  • Occupancy counting will now also be available on unsupported cameras (though this is not officially supported).

Additionally, we have streamlined the Room insights dashboard in the Admin console. Admins can now access new data visualizations about: 

  • Room usage, based on actual occupancy data and room capacity
  • Device usage, based on whether the Google Meet hardware in the room was in a call

See below for more information.


Who’s impacted

Admins


Why it’s important

Previously, occupancy counting support was only available on the Series One Smart Camera and the Series One Smart Camera XL. This update expands this capability to a greater number of cameras in your fleet, giving you a more complete look at room usage when enabled.


The updated Room insights dashboard makes it easier for admins to access the data and insights needed for space-planning, especially to support social-distancing protocols, and device purchasing decisions. We’ve added separate graphs for booked and unbooked periods of time. These graphs can help admins gauge room and device usage during times when rooms are scheduled for use versus times when they haven’t actually been booked (i.e., impromptu meetings).


These insights can help admins answer questions about how users in their organization are using rooms and devices in their fleet, such as:

  • What percentage of the rooms in my office are consistently over capacity?
  • Which room and buildings are being booked and occupied most often?
  • Are users being detected in rooms when they’re not booked?
  • Do I need to break up some of my underutilized high-capacity rooms into smaller rooms?
  • What percentage of meetings make use of the Google Meet hardware device?  
  • Are rooms with Google Meet hardware devices booked / occupied more often than rooms without?
  • Do I need more Google Meet hardware devices?

Visit the Help Center article to learn more about the updated Room insights dashboard experience.


Additional details

When enabling occupancy counting on unsupported cameras, we encourage admins to consult the manufacturer’s documentation about the performance characteristics of the camera.  In general, we recommend that admins test this feature on unsupported cameras before enabling it widely across their fleet.

Note that occupancy detection still requires cameras to be connected to a supported device. Devices that have reached end-of-life will not support occupancy detection.


Getting started

Admins:
  • Occupancy detection is an opt-in feature at the individual device level.  To turn on occupancy detection, you can do so individually from the Device Detail page, or from the Device List page for up to 50 devices at a time by selecting them and using the bulk action. Visit the Help Center to learn more about enabling occupancy detection.
  • Room insights privileges are required to access the Room insights dashboard in the Admin console at Buildings and resources > Room insights dashboard. Visit the Help Center to learn more about assigning Room insights privileges and tracking room and device usage with Meet hardware.
  • End Users: There is no end user impact.

Rollout pace

Expanded occupancy detection support:

Updated Room insights dashboard

Availability

Occupancy detection
  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers

Room insights dashboard
  • Available to Google Workspace  Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials customers

Resources