September 30, 2006
Virtual Shield in Chicago
Virtual Shield is Chicago's project to create an extensive fiber optic network. It will serve as a "virtual shield" for homeland security, public safety, and traffic management.
According to the consulting group Catalyst, the ($25 million) contract was awarded to IBM and is being run by Chicago's Public Building Commission. It will consist of 1000 miles of fiber and be able to integrate cameras into the 911 center.
The current work appears to be focusing on assessing the fiber network and deploying an initial set of IP cameras.
I haven't seen much about this in the press, so if you know anything, please drop me a line.
Posted by rshah at 03:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Google Earth for Geospatial Data
From Public Eye:
Peter kindly posted an answer to some questions that I asked him about Google Earth. I noticed his product, TrueLook, as well as other products such as Guardian's Solution's Gview are using Google Earth. I was curious if this was an emerging standard, if Google has placed any restrictions on commercial usage, and if there was any availability issues since Google Earth is an online service. (You will have to visit Public Eye to see Peter's answers)
Posted by rshah at 02:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
CCTV in the UK
In the New Statesman via Spy Blog:
A good article on the state of video surveillance in the UK. One of the nice parts of the article is about how camera operators work. Here are some snippets:
Brown and his team control 160 cameras, covering locations across the borough: the West End, Belgravia, the Golden Jubilee Bridges, Trafalgar Square, Knightsbridge and the full length of Oxford Street. The cameras are monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year - "Yep, even Christmas Day," says Brown.
The control centre is, bizarrely, registered as a charitable trust, and is funded by Westminster City Council, the Metropolitan Police and private businesses. Since becoming operational in 2002, the control room has recorded 24,000 "incidents", ranging from (in Brown's categories) "low-level" graffiti, fly-tipping and public urinating to "high-level" robbery, drug dealing and prostitution. It has also had 5,000 visitors from more than 30 countries whose governments or police forces are looking to adopt similar systems. Britain used to export textiles, iron, steel and pop music; now it exports Orwellian methods for monitoring the masses.
. . .
"We look for signals, body language, anything out of the ordinary," says Brown. He pulls out a vast file marked Internal Tasking System, a manual for camera operators. It contains five or six photographs of each of the streets monitored by the 160 cameras. In every photo, there is a square red box. These are "areas of suspicion". So, in a snapshot of the entrance to the Chinawhite nightclub on Air Street (or "Air Street Camera Four", as Brown refers to it), there is a red box to indicate where vagrants sometimes sleep and another showing where ticket touts operate. There are hundreds of these photos, all laminated and neatly filed in folders.
Posted by rshah at 05:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 26, 2006
Boeing Wins Border Contract
From Red Herring:
Boeing has won a contract estimated to be worth $2.5 billion on securing America's borders. Boeing is planning to install a network of cameras and sensors for the Secure Border Initiative. For background, see 1, 2, and 3.
This is going to support and create a whole range of advance surveillance technologies, including smart cameras. The Red Herring article points out that there are lots of companies moving into the video analytics market.
It also mentions several companies developing smart camera technology that venture capitalists have been supporting:
Agentvi (formerly Aspectus), IntelliVid, Covi, VideoNext, Vigilos, Aspectus, 3VR Security, and EnVysion
Posted by rshah at 01:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Siemens Signs Agreement to Acquire VistaScape
From SecurityInfoWatch.com:
The title says it all:
Video analytics company VistaScape will be joining the folds of building systems integrator Siemens Building Technologies, the companies announced today.
Posted by rshah at 12:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 11, 2006
Smart Cameras in Stores
From BusinessWeek:
An article on loss prevention in stores notes two different smart camera technologies. The first is called Video Investigator from Intellivid and has been discussed here. The article notes:
Some Macy's (FD ), CVS (CVS ), and Babies 'R' Us stores have installed a system called the Video Investigator, whose advanced surveillance software can compare a shopper's movements between video images and recognize unusual activity. Remove 10 items from a shelf at once, for instance, or open a case that's normally kept closed and locked, and the system alerts guards sitting in a back room -- or pacing the sales floor -- with a chime or flashing screen. The system can predict where a shoplifter is likely to hide (at the ends of aisles, behind floor displays). A search function spots sudden movement that might indicate a large spill, prompting workers to clean up before it leads to a slip-and-fall accident and a costly lawsuit. And if someone opens a back door at 2 a.m., the system will record who sneaked in and link it with snapshots of the previous and next persons to use the door.
The second category of smart software focused on syncing video with cash registers also discussed here:
With the press of a button, managers can highlight irregular register transactions on their computers and pull up corresponding video. This could enable them to catch cashiers who cut deals for their friends or pocket cash refunds themselves. It could also curtail fraudulent returns by tracking the route customers take to the customer service desk -- do they head straight there or meander through the store, picking up their "return" merchandise along the way?
Posted by rshah at 05:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack