Video benefits go beyond safety in cities

While CCTV cameras have traditionally been focused on public safety and crime, there is growing interest in a wider range of use cases such as mobility and sustainability, says Peter Greener, Key Account Manager at Milestone Systems, an open platform video management software provider.

This reflects an increasing push to take a data-driven approach to local government challenges and to get the maximum value from existing assets.

There are an estimated 1 billion CCTV cameras deployed around the world.

“From a security point of view, I think it’s pretty well proven that camera technology has been useful,” says Greener.

“In recent years, we’re finding there’s also been a change in mindset. There’s this realisation that physical security systems give us lots and lots of data and if we can extract that data then we can use that to help us in putting together and implementing digital transformation strategies.”

According to McKinsey, smart city applications including cameras and analytics can reduce crime incidents by up to 40 percent, and cut emergency response times by as much as 35 percent. In a city of 5 million people, 30 to 300 lives could be saved each year.

With goals like these in mind, cities are looking to put camera data to work in new ways.

Market insights

In 2021, Milestone Systems commissioned IDC to survey EMEA organisations that already use video technology. Government respondents showed a strong desire to get more from these systems. For example, 41 percent said their camera systems are connected with additional technologies today but almost 70 percent expected this to be the case in two years.

The survey also revealed the stakeholders that are driving camera use case priorities. While security leads still have a strong voice, they are now joined by leaders in citizen services and technology.

“We increasingly hear from heads of innovation, smart city and digital transformation,” says Greener.

This is reflected in the key strategic priorities highlighted in the research: improving citizen experience (86 percent), physical security (68 percent), and social responsibility and sustainability (63 percent).

Solution use cases

Milestone Systems has identified several key use cases that can help cities meet their goals, particularly related to advanced safety, mobility, and sustainability.

Marco Auditore, Vertical Business Development Manager for EMEA Cities at Milestone Systems, highlighted safety examples such as using video analytics in event management to ensure adequate resources are deployed for the number of people present. Video tools can also alert staff to crowds unexpectedly gathering so they can assess the situation and act faster if necessary.

“It’s using the technology to help humans make decisions more quickly and easily,” Auditore says.

In another example, bringing together information from different systems can help to speed up emergency response times such as in the event of a road collision.

For mobility applications, cities can use video analytics to analyse traffic flow and optimise signal timing or understand how roads are being used by pedestrians, bikes and cars to inform infrastructure decisions.

Sustainability use cases help cities to tackle issues such as air quality and pollution, waste management, flooding, fire detection, and more.

Milestone is keen to collaborate with cities on how they can get more from their existing video systems, Greener says.

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