Surveillance

Video analytics debate rages at FutureCCTV

By Kelly Ng | 21 May 2009

According to an Asian Security Review survey, one third of the region’s security professionals said they were not willing to embrace CCTV video analytics systems today. Video analytics was at the centre of a heated debate at the FutureCCTV conference in Singapore yesterday (Wednesday 21 May 2009).

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High cost was identified as the major obstacle to adoption of the technology by end users.

Joel Jesus M. Supan, Vice President for Security, Safety & Compliance, Aboitiz Transport Systems Corp in The Philippines, said: “The private sector should be the main users [of video analytics]. But the public sector is more able to afford it,” he said.

Cost issue aside, many feel video analytics technology is not sufficiently developed for certain functions.

The Venetian Macau-Resort-Hotel’s Executive Director, Technology Systems (Asia), Greg Morrison, noted: “We use video analytics for people counting, license plate recognition, pattern recognition, and so on. It has been a useful tool. In the area of facial recognition, however, the technology has proven to be very unreliable.”

Morrison’s experience echoes that of Roger Gomm, Superintendent, Central Operations, of London’s Metropolitan Police Force. He said that the technology is “just not good enough yet”.

However, Dvir Doron, SVP Marketing and Strategy, Artivision Technologies, claimed that his company’s intelligent video platform can accurately recognise people’s faces as they walk pass a CCTV camera.

In an interview with Asian Security Review, he said the “unrealistic expectations” of end-users and a failure to correctly position CCTV cameras are the two main reasons why end-users do not fully appreciate video analytics technology.