Global city population growth and the demand on existing infrastructure and resources has led authorities to seek new ways to enhance livability for its residents, and the experience of city visitors. The Axis and Genetec partnership enable authorities to embrace the advantages of the smart city by integrating actionable insights from network cameras.
The evolving city model
Cities are the engines of innovation and are key for cultural development. Yet these drivers continue to lead to fast-growing populations, putting a strain on existing infrastructure. A fast-growing population can make it more difficult to maintain public security. At the same time, the rise in vehicle traffic that population growth brings can increase congestion, as well as cause a detrimental impact on the environment and public health.
An efficient way forward for city authorities is to embrace the advantages of the smart city model. Connecting existing infrastructure gives the potential to gather real-time intelligence from across a city. This data can achieve rapid situational awareness and be used for immediate impact and can also be analyzed to achieve actionable insights in the longer term.
A key example is the role of the network camera. Although commonplace for security surveillance, by fully utilizing a camera’s real-time data analytics, this has the potential to increase policing capabilities without an equivalent increase in manpower. What’s more, as a network camera is also a sensor that can provide data across a range of metrics, existing devices can also provide insights to better manage roads and traffic flow, as well as air quality.
Achieving this not only requires the right capabilities in network camera technology, but also demands the right management system. Axis and Genetec form a partnership that enables authorities to make cities more livable today, as well as create data-driven insights to improve planning for the cities of the future.
Improving security in city spaces
Though cameras are established in providing surveillance for public safety, getting the most from them relies on real-time analytics. This can achieve automated monitoring and alerts for specific events, such as a gathering of people, or specific objects, like a particular vehicle. Gaining data from network cameras can support an immediate response from security officers, either as a preemptive measure or in reaction to an incident in process, without requiring additional police on patrol.
Axis cameras feature a real-time analytics capability that seamlessly integrates with the Genetec video management software (VMS) Security Center, handling large data loads from a high volume of cameras. As an open platform, Genetec Security Center is a single hub to manage various types of camera technology, which could also include body worn cameras, as well as audio devices such as intercoms and speakers. Via a single interface, the software can then provide situational awareness across all connected devices within a city. The capabilities of event-to-actions, scheduled tasks, and manual actions are combined into the Genetec Security Center automation feature which carries out repeatable processes in your system with as little manual effort as possible, making it flexible, efficient, and more functional. With fast data processing between cameras and Genetec solutions, this means the most appropriate incident response can be rapidly actioned.
The Polish city of Lodz introduced the Axis and Genetec unified system in 2017. Installing cameras in public spaces including junctions, parks, and squares, the system was able to act as both a deterrent and a rapid response enabler by alerting police officers to incident locations in real time. By 2018, city authorities were already able to report a decrease in crime levels.
Following an initial security situation, a surveillance system can also help to find and manage evidence. While the technology can save hours of investigation by quickly identifying specific events, it also ensures secure data handling, crucial to the judicial process. Designed to accelerate forensic investigations, AXIS Forensic Search for Genetec offers an efficient way to search for, recover, and share video evidence. Within Genetec Security Center, you can perform search investigations on object classifications, object attributes, and motion object tracking, duration in scene, relative speed, date, time, and place – all without the need for analytics servers.
Improving quality of life by tackling congestion
Traffic management is another area where the effective management of an existing camera network can help resolve the challenges of population and vehicle spread. In the U.S., drivers lose an average of an hour a week to congestion, but in big cities, this could reach an hour per day. Not only does this impact quality of life, but congestion also decreases a city’s productivity and creates air quality problems.
Combining Axis cameras with traffic management analytics and Genetec Traffic Sensor Management module , authorities can respond to congestion-causing traffic incidents, such as obstructions and break downs, in real time. But using traffic data from network cameras located across a city can also help to understand traffic dynamics to optimize the road network. Monitoring and analyzing traffic flow, this data can guide decisions ranging from road maintenance planning, through to optimized traffic light cycles.
Smart cities like Almere in the Netherlands are already benefitting from the Axis and Genetec partnership to improve traffic flow by monitoring incidents and traffic hold ups. The Genetec video solution handles data generated from 130 cameras to optimize automated processes such as traffic light management based on live data.
Combining data for effective planning
Data-based intelligence is also crucial for city planning to not only improve road safety and minimize congestion hotspots, but also to improve air quality. Combining Genetec Traffic Sensor Management with data from Axis cameras, city planners can track traffic volume, speed, and occupancy of moving vehicles and pedestrians. These insights can inform decisions on what infrastructure improvements are required, and where.
These decisions could span multiple aspects of city planning, including highways, public health & safety, public transport, and environment, so they’re likely to feature multiple city authority departments too. Working with data from across this wide span of areas requires inter-departmental collaboration, so it’s a clear advantage that the Genetec ecosystem can integrate data from multiple types of devices, providing insights for a diverse range of needs. Meanwhile, unified licensing makes using the system across an organization a much more efficient and cost-effective solution.
When network cameras are required, the tight hardware-software integration through the Axis-Genetec partnership enables straightforward planning and deployment. Axis network cameras also enable the advantages of edge analytics, essential in generating actionable insights, supported by reduced latency for rapid data communication, and the highest quality video.
For today’s expanding cities, with continued pressure on infrastructure, well managed network camera data can present immediate benefits, both to city authorities, and to citizens. Real-time responses to security situations or traffic incidents can not only improve standards in city living but can be achieved with relatively low costs. The insights this data can bring can also help plan for more livable cities of tomorrow.