Vadodara was selected among 100 cities to be developed as a smart city in India, to enhance economic growth, and improve the quality of life of people by enabling local area development, deploying smart solutions and harnessing technology. The technology selected to support this initiative in Vadodara was developed together with Videonetics using their Unified Video Computing Platform (UVCP).
The Smart Cities Mission is an innovative initiative by the Government of India to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life of people. It aims to achieve this by enabling local development and harnessing technology as a means to create smart outcomes for citizens.
With a population of approximately 2.39 million, Vadodara is the third largest city of Gujarat, and as such, is compact and crowded, with a vibrant cultural life that draws a lot of traffic. It is vulnerable to situations of overcrowding, road accidents, criminal activity, and natural disasters.
Vadodara Smart City Limited wanted to heighten safety for its citizens and visitors, along with optimising traffic management, without disrupting daily lives. To this end, they sought a state-of-the-art, open platform that could expand in phases, in sync with the city’s growth. In step with Vadodara’s expansion plans, discussions had been underway about growing the city-wide surveillance system. The appointed project team identified the three key elements of the solution.
Firstly, state-of-the-art AI & DL powered intelligent VMS and video analytics to provide continuous viewing and recording, enabling security operators and law enforcement to proactively identify, and effectively respond to, events to mitigate their impact. Specifically, now the law enforcement authorities can automatically detect overcrowding, unattended baggage, and perimeter intrusions, even under the cover of darkness.
Then, automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system across 15 traffic junctions in Vadodara, to identify suspected/ unwanted vehicles and non-standardised number plates, as well as to generate detailed reports on vehicle movements, and much more. And finally, a command control centre, to provide a bird’s eye view to operators, about what is happening across the city. From traffic control to citizen security, operators remain alert and ready. With greater situational awareness, municipality officials are proactively responding to incidents such as garbage overfill, incidents of water-logging, traffic congestions, hazardous debris on roadways, illegal parking, and more.
Under this project, video surveillance was deployed along public ways, in urban passenger transport stations, municipal buildings, traffic junctions, entry and exit connecting roads to the city, and more. To date, Videonetics’s solution not only manages over 550 IP cameras throughout the city, but also proactively identifies and effectively responds to events, to mitigate their impact. Eventually, helping in maintenance of peace in the city, in upholding law and order, and providing better policing services.
As a result the city now benefits from increased safety and security with 24×7 monitoring of city area; faster crime investigations; traffic police have in-depth knowledge on vehicle count and movement; and, swift action can be taken by on-site traffic police, as they get alerts on traffic congestion, unwanted/ hot-listed vehicles, etc. Moreover, Videonetics’s solution has also been able to help the police in monitoring celebration of festivals and VIP movement in the city, and building a security net for its citizens. Overall, it has been successful in ensuring the safety and security in the city of Vadodara, and has played an important role in becoming a smart and connected city.
