I'm trying to work out how many people will fit in a certain space. Does anyone know how I can work this out?

Question

I'm trying to organise an aerial photo of a certain number of people, and have a certain amount space to work with. I'm trying to work out how many people will fit into that space, standing very close together but I'm not sure how much space one person takes up. Does anyone know of a way to work this out?

Answer 1

a so-called average male has a "width" measured from one end of shoulder to the other- of approx 2 feet , and the distance from the back of my head to the tip of my nose is about 8 inches, so i would require 192 square inches.
hope that helps

Answer 2

Perhaps the easiest thing to do is to try an experiment with a small group of people. I would have thought that about 9 people per square metre would be possible at a real squeeze. If you have a lift in a building you live or work in check how many people the lift is certified to carry and compare this with the floor area.

Answer 3

The police does something similar when they estimate crowd sizes. I think that it is somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 to 3 square feet per person.

Answer 4

Ask everyone who comes anywhere near you to stand directly under a high power light bulb rigged up high ( at least 5 metres ) draw round their shadow. When you have what you consider to be a set of representative shadows see how many you can fit in your area.

Best of Luck - Mike

Answer 5

When you can not get any one else in you have reached your limit.
Give each person two square feet as a starter.

Answer 6

Two square feet per person

Answer 7

Hmm could be a tough one... are you looking at area or volume?
Big Germans or small african pygmies?
Can we pile em up?
Some people are bigger than others.

Answer 8

Sounds as if you need a technical website of a lift manufacturer.