Techniques for automatic real-time calculation of user wait times

A system, comprising:

• a camera attached to a surface in an area where a group of users congregate and configured to capture images of the group of users at a frame rate and/or a resolution based on a distance from the camera to the group of users, wherein higher frame rates and higher resolutions correspond to greater distances and lower frame rates and lower resolutions correspond to smaller distances;
• and
• one or more processors configured to:
• obtain the captured images;
• apply a set of filters to the images to obtain filtered images, wherein each filter of the set of filters further distinguishes users from noise;
• monitor movement of the group of users relative to the area using vector representations in a defined coordinate system;
• determine a user density metric for the area based on the monitoring of the group of users relative to the area over a period;
• and
• output an indicator of the determined user density metric for the area for storage, analysis, and/or display.