How cameras will fuel the smart cities of tomorrow

October 7, 2024

Daniel Zheng, Director, Sales Strategy & Operations, Verkada provides their insights into smart cities, in the first installment of an exclusive Security Buyer series.

According to data from the World Bank Group, 56% of the world’s population—around 4.4 billion people—live in cities. By 2050, that number is expected to nearly double. As populations grow and cities continue to expand, leaders are turning toward innovative technology to help manage infrastructure, enhance public services, and improve overall quality of life

Technologies like 5G, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things (IoT) are allowing architects and city planners to rethink urban life around the concept of “Smart Cities.” Smart cities connect the various—previously disparate—parts of a city, introducing incredible new features and services that cover everything from traffic management to security, public safety, disaster response and crowd control. At the centre of this transformation is video security cameras, which will play an important role in providing data that informs and connects this new urban environment.

Video security cameras are more than security devices

Video security cameras are, of course, most often installed for safety. But with a vast range of new features and integrations, they can serve a much wider variety of functions: from capturing heatmaps to providing insight into the utilisation of certain public facilities and tracking environmental conditions. Their versatility and ability to capture vast amounts of data to inform decision-making position cameras as a key element in the development of Smart Cities.

For instance, in urban planning, cameras can play a crucial role by helping city leaders better understand where to invest their resources. By placing cameras in high-traffic areas such as parks, shopping areas, and town centres, city leaders can monitor visitor patterns and traffic flow, enabling them to design these spaces more efficiently as well as determine the best times to schedule maintenance. One major city is already implementing this technology in its public spaces. The City of Las Vegas (Nevada, USA) deployed Verkada cameras throughout its public parks. Using data collected by the cameras—such as foot traffic patterns and occupancy trends—city planners have been able to make more informed decisions about new investments and areas for expansion.

Core applications of video security cameras in smart cities

Public safety will continue to be a key use case for video security cameras, particularly to help first responders quickly gain insights into developing emergencies. For instance, city leaders can strategically position multisensor cameras at busy intersections to provide a complete view of both traffic and pedestrians. If a car accident occurs, AI-powered alerting features on video security cameras can alert first responders before a bystander dials 999. Further, those cameras—when connected to the cloud—can enable emergency services to stream live footage of the situation as they head to the scene, ensuring they are prepared to effectively respond to the situation.

One example of how this can come to life is in the city of Winston-Salem (North Carolina, USA), where the city’s police department leverages the latest technology—including AI-powered search features, licence plate recognition software, and other critical software integrations that bring data from cameras, police cars, and other communications devices—to better protect its community of more than 250,000 people. By integrating community-owned video security cameras into its Real Time Crime Centre, the police department has not only gotten its community more engaged in safety, but also dramatically reduced the amount of time it takes to solve cases. When a 13-year-old autistic boy went missing in Winston-Salem, their integrated cameras proved to be the most effective tool in locating him within a few hours and ensuring his safe return.

Looking to the future

Video security cameras will play a central role in “Smart City” technology deployments because of the advances in computer vision technology to capture valuable data across urban environments. As AI, and computer vision in particular, continues to evolve, video security cameras will be able to support even more enhancements in public safety and city management.