Video Content Analysis: Real-Time Video Monitoring Powered by Advanced Analytics
Video content analysis (VCA), also known as video analytics, is a video surveillance technology used to improve the response to crime and other emergencies. Video content analysis software can identify objects on security camera footage—including people and vehicles—and index the footage for further analysis by a monitoring agent.
This type of advanced video monitoring increases emergency response efficiency, allowing monitoring center agents to pinpoint exact moments of interest, identify issues, and quickly resolve false alarms.
Traditional video surveillance methods have become fairly demanding.
A security camera system is a great way to protect your business. Should an emergency occur, like a robbery, security cameras give you a verifiable record of what happened.
Perhaps the only downside of a security camera system is that security cameras alone cannot stop a crime in progress or contact authorities in an emergency. Companies looking to beef up security may employ onsite security agents whose job is to watch live security footage all day, taking action when they notice unusual activity.
The job of an onsite security is only becoming more challenging. Just one agent can be responsible for keeping an eye on dozens of cameras, making the job nearly impossible.
The good news is that this is not the only form of video monitoring. Some security providers offer 24/7 live remote video monitoring. When an alarm goes off, a team of trained agents working around the clock view the live security camera footage and verify the emergency. They then contact local authorities if needed.
Even with 24/7 live video monitoring, false alarms can occur and put a major strain on resources.
Live video monitoring is an ideal solution and has proven better at responding to emergencies than onsite video surveillance.
However, false alarms can still occur. Alarm center agents must verify all alarms, and this can prove challenging. Agents must review footage, often scrolling back in time manually to determine the nature of the incident. And they may be required to review footage on dozens of cameras.
There is no doubt that live video monitoring is critical in securing a business. That said, it does rely on actual humans to watch live or archived footage which can delay response times.
Video content analysis takes live video monitoring to the next level, making emergency response time faster and archived video retrieval easier.
Most security cameras can see but cannot act in an emergency. Humans can intervene but must discern the ongoing threat themselves or respond after the emergency has occurred.
Advanced video analytics make it possible for a camera to identify an emergency the moment it happens. This technology increases the speed at which monitoring agents work, improves situational awareness, and cuts down on the number of false alarms.
Video analytics work by combining machine learning and artificial intelligence. As the video analytic software processes live video, it simultaneously detects and classifies every object in view. The software creates a video database that is tagged and indexed based on preset parameters. Video can be indexed by date, time, object, and location. This granularity enables agents to quickly search through footage and provide comprehensive incident reports when required. Analytics makes complex, time-consuming tasks easier.
Video content analysis comes with many real-time security benefits. Agents can configure alerts to identify irregular activity and potential threats. Take, for example, a construction site equipped with security cameras. With advanced analytics, agents can configure alerts that trigger when an individual is spotted on the construction site after hours.
The same goes for security camera surveillance at schools, grocery stores, or warehouses. Cameras equipped with video content analysis can detect objects like people, cars, bikes, animals, etc., and relay the situation directly to a monitoring agent.
These features also reduce the incidence of false alarms by eliminating the human guesswork involved with identifying an emergency—the onboard analytics detect the activity and only require quick follow-up to confirm. Reducing the time an agent must spend determining the nature of an alarm can reduce how often false alarms occur, freeing up resources for agents and local authorities to respond to actual emergencies. Advanced analytics make a big difference.
Remember that not every security camera is equipped with advanced analytics. And not every business needs a camera with this type of technology. Talk with a security provider to determine the best system for your business.
Here are five real-time video analytic security features that improve live video monitoring services.
- Virtual Fencing: Your security provider can draw an invisible line around the area you want to protect. The camera analytics will then only activate once an object crosses the fence. This can be helpful for businesses with shared parking lots or locations next to highly-trafficked areas.
- Loitering Alerts. People who linger in hallways or corridors may be a safety hazard and crime threat. A video-based alert can notify security agents of the situation to enable a swift response.
- Audio Connection: These cameras can come equipped with a speaker that allows a pre-recorded message to play to warn intruders. Some also allow a remote security agent to make contact with anyone trespassing on site as an extra deterrent to theft and vandalism.
- Appearance Similarity Detection: Going a step further, video analytics can be used to automatically identify what type of object the camera is picking up. Think about an exterior facing a security camera overlooking a parking lot. You may not care about the cars driving on the street, but you do want to know if someone approaches the parking lot on a bike. Appearance similarity detections means the analytics can be configured to alert only when a bike is detected. When paired with a virtual fence, these analytics can be a powerful crime prevention tool.
- Count-Based Alerts: Alerts can be configured based on the number of people or objects in a specific area. This is particularly useful in maintaining safe crowd control and can help prevent overcrowding at such places as a sports arena or even help relieve long lines at a grocery store.
Video content analysis can streamline live video surveillance and empower monitoring agents to make swift, data-driven decisions. At Bay Alarm, we believe in proven technologies and innovative processes that save time in emergencies. Our Bay Guard Live security camera system comes equipped with advanced analytics that makes our job—protecting you and your business—that much more effective.
If you want to learn how we secure hundreds of businesses just like yours, contact us today!
Start a conversation with a Bay Alarm security expert.
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