With the South African government highlighting the importance of building smart cities by integrating advanced technologies to make them more resilient and liveable, the role of next-generation network video and surveillance technologies cannot be ignored.
Slade Vandrau, surveillance business unit manager at Duxbury Networking
As a distributor of advanced surveillance products, Duxbury Networking understands how these solutions can enhance urban security while also improving all facets of city life, including traffic management and optimising emergency responses.
Creating a safer smart city environment is reliant on integrating effective surveillance solutions that can leverage the likes of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Added to that, high-definition capabilities at range are essential to monitor the expansive environments of cities.
Of course, being able to use high-definition, AI-enabled cameras go beyond traditional surveillance approaches. Instead, it is about leveraging features like facial recognition, automatic number plate recognition, and suspect behaviour detection. These advanced capabilities will play a critical role in both preventing and quickly responding to criminal activities.
Advancing city management
Traffic management is another example. Advanced network surveillance solutions are changing the way cities handle vehicle flow. By providing city managers with access to real-time data collection and analysis, these cameras play a crucial role in easing traffic congestion, monitoring violations, and improving road safety.
Intelligent traffic systems can use these surveillance tools to help cities improve response times to accidents while also optimising traffic flow in real-time. With commuters benefitting from a more efficient transit system, not only will productivity increase but citizens will also be happier moving around in the city.
In emergencies, where every second is crucial, Duxbury’s surveillance solutions become a critical enabling tool. By empowering city departments to rapidly assess and respond to incidents, emergency services can efficiently allocate scarce resources and better identify and plan for potential on-site challenges. This optimises the use of teams while also saving lives in the process.
Moreover, next-generation surveillance tools can also aid in environmental monitoring, detecting and alerting authorities about issues such as pollution or waste management. At a time when there is so much focus on sustainability and reducing a city’s carbon footprint, this will contribute to cleaner, healthier urban environments.
Surveillance data can be used to improve a variety of public services. For instance, analysing crowd patterns can assist in planning public transport schedules, while monitoring public spaces can aid in urban planning and maintenance.
Benefitting society at large
Of course, there are significant societal benefits to using advanced surveillance technologies in cities across the country. At a basic level, enhanced safety measures will lead to reduced crime that will improve the quality of life of inner-city residents.
But beyond that, cities will become attractive for businesses and tourism resulting in a significant boost to local economies. Municipalities can also use the data collected by surveillance systems for broader social analysis, for example improving urban planning and monitoring traffic flow to identify ways to reduce congestion.
Throughout this, surveillance technologies must adhere to compliance and regulatory requirements. As such, care must be taken to address any privacy and ethical concerns. The deployment of these technologies must therefore be governed by stringent protocols, ensuring that surveillance is conducted responsibly, with respect for individual privacy and adherence to legal standards.
As more cities across South Africa strive to become ‘smart’, the integration of advanced surveillance technologies becomes a crucial step. These solutions can form the basis for developing smarter, safer, and more sustainable cities. Being able to access next-generation surveillance solutions will deliver enhanced security and a significantly improved quality of urban life. These technologies become pivotal in preparing cities for the challenges of the future, ensuring they are safer, more efficient, and ready to embrace the opportunities that lie ahead.