Centralized Event Management: What Can Safe City Programs Do?

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Safe City initiatives have been popping up all over the globe, with some of the most urgent and innovative pilot programs being undertaken in developing countries with skyrocketing populations and budgets that grow (or shrink) just as quickly. The required buy-in from municipal institutions plus the cooperation of private industry to connect a series of technologies and networks into its own living, breathing system is an uphill battle that costs taxpayer dollars. This movement toward cooperation is a monumental step in securing globalized populations effectively, but our cities face certain growing challenges as our interconnectedness increases.

In today’s world, regardless of industry, the typical end user’s appetite for intelligence is growing at a fast pace. This new wealth of raw data stresses the bandwidth, storage capacity and personnel of many businesses and security teams across the globe, who feel the pressure to capture and monitor every moment in case the information within is potentially valuable to their organization. As it is unlikely we will see the demand for more data taper off in a shifting, globalized world, security officials need to re-examine the value that is placed on data that is, 90 percent of the time, irrelevant to an event that users care about.

Now that the explosion of megapixel camera sales has out-performed the analog camera for the first time in history, where does all this data go, and how do users even begin to organize it? This is where the hardware battle ends and the software battle begins. To best tackle the influx, cities need help. Software platforms are valuable tools that centralize incoming data or notification streams can effectively cull what’s most important before moving onto the final stage of analysis.

Arguably an even more important challenge than efficient data collection or organization is the challenge of finding the signal in the noise. Honing intelligence gathering and operations is critical to mounting any large-scale city surveillance campaign, but becoming a proactive, safer city requires taking software automation a step further.  Safe City projects that aim for long-term solutions must have the tools to compare and contrast critical event data in new ways to keep abreast of the imminent prospect of further population growth, infrastructure expansion, community outreach programs and other investments in resources.

Video Event Management Software (VEMS) is not just changing the way we collect data­ – it is changing the way we interact with data altogether, turning it into a more dynamic, holistic experience that shifts the responsibility away from 24/7 monitoring and toward actionable intelligence for Safe City applications.

Learn more about the basics of streamlined video data capture and event management here.