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Beyond security

Imagine the future in which a VMS collects information from video cameras and other sources, stores and organises it, and makes it easy for operators to monitor, manage and respond to the information it provides. Analysis of this information allows users to identify everything in a scene, learn about new items as they appear in the same scene, and even predict the behaviour of individuals captured on video. Indeed, the possibilities presented by VMS are almost endless.

Malou Toft, Milestone vice president of EMEA.

In the store

Retailers, for example, face a number of challenges, including reducing loss, keeping employees safe and establishing a positive shopping experience for mall visitors. Indeed, the latter is especially important given a climate in which online shopping is growing in popularity.

Yet, not only does VMS have an important role to play with core functions such as preventing theft and protecting staff and shoppers, but it also helps retailers capture and understand valuable business data such as footfall, shopper movement, performance benchmarks, as well as product attraction and conversion.

Every element of a store’s design and layout can be captured on video and then analysed, scrutinised and reconfigured in a VMS to help offer customers the best possible shopping experience, and help to increase sales.

VMS can help retailers understand certain customer behaviours by analysing video and multimedia data, searching content, tagging objects and extracting information. It can even use facial recognition technology to track a customer in-store. Analysing everything from their particular facial expressions to the clothing brands they are wearing, an in-store advertisement can be displayed that will appeal directly to the individual in question.

On the move

But it’s not just in retail and hospitality that VMS is having an impact: the transport and logistics sectors are benefitting too. Cargo thefts from trucks and warehouses are on the rise and VMS can provide live and recorded video, realtime data, analytic alerts, and capture direct video footage from the scene of an incident as it happens. It also allows the tracking of assets across all elements of the supply chain.

In transport hubs, unattended luggage that might provoke a security alert can be detected by a VMS which can automatically notify an operator for further action. A VMS can also detect vulnerable people and, in order to combat all types of antisocial behaviour, facial recognition software can be used to automatically identify individuals.

There is also a huge buzz around visual augmentation and integrating it with VMS is helping to optimise the use of body worn cameras used by law enforcement professionals. If the VMS system identifies the person confronting the officer as a known criminal, it can provide an alert.

City slickers

On a macro level, the world’s growing urban population is bringing new challenges to the fore in terms of how we make cities smarter yet safer, and the Middle East is at the cutting edge of these efforts. Cities need innovative ways to assist with incident prevention, emergency response, and the collection of evidence and information that can make law enforcement bodies more effective.

With millions of cars on the road every day, there is always an underlying threat of a potential accident or other safety hazards. Traffic monitoring has become vital to ensure quick detection of an incident’s location and to better determine the level of response needed. Milestone software and third-party integrations, such as licence plate recognition, provide the framework for road officials to proactively respond to events and analyse traffic patterns to plan road infrastructure.

In Abu Dhabi and Dubai, regarded as two of the safest cities on the planet, Milestone VMS is used to manage devices in public and private facilities in order to respond quickly and proactively to threats. VMS keeps people safe by ensuring that critical infrastructure is secure, pollution is kept under control, transport systems work effectively, and disasters and emergencies have minimal impact on the public.

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