Hsing Tian Kong Temple in Taipei, Taiwan, is devoted to Kuan Yu, the patron god of businessmen. The popular Taoist temple is relatively new in origin – it was constructed in 1967 – and is located on a street corner near the center of the country's capital city, occupying more than 7,000 square meters (75,000 square feet). Sculptures of dragons adorn the Hsing Tian Kong Temple's ornate design, which has become a popular attraction in the city.
Hsing Tian Kong Temple in Taipei, Taiwan, is devoted to Kuan Yu, the patron god of businessmen. The popular Taoist temple is relatively new in origin – it was constructed in 1967 – and is located on a street corner near the center of the country's capital city, occupying more than 7,000 square meters (75,000 square feet). Sculptures of dragons adorn the Hsing Tian Kong Temple's ornate design, which has become a popular attraction in the city.
The temple's huge number of visitors suggested the need to enhance an existing analog video surveillance system installed at the large facility. Specifically, visitors to the temple tended to leave their handbags under the table as they prayed, and the bags were often stolen. The previous analog system provided insufficient image detail to identify the thieves. Given that the temple is a preserved cultural site, installation of the system had to be simple and as non-invasive as possible to preserve the building's beautiful architectural design elements. Any enhancement of the existing video surveillance system also had to preserve the previous investment made in the analog video surveillance system.
These parameters established two primary design objectives for the new system enhancement project: 1) increase the video coverage capabilities of the system while minimizing alterations to the existing architecture/construction, and 2) complement the existing analog system to capitalize on previous investments in video surveillance.
To update video surveillance, the Hsing Tian Kong Temple turned to Alpha Pricing, a leading network surveillance solutions provider in Taipei that serves the government sector, institutions and businesses nationwide.
An early adopter of IP-based video surveillance, Alpha Pricing developed a partnership with Milestone Systems in the year 2000 and became Milestone's primary distributor in the Greater China region. Today, Alpha Pricing is a leading IP surveillance solution provider and has forged partnerships with some of the industry's top companies, including Arecont Vision, manufacturer of a wide range of megapixel network video cameras. Along with a local reseller, Alpha Pricing designed the video system for Hsing Tian Kong Temple and performed the installation.
Alpha Pricing created a centrally monitored system using Milestone's Professional video management software. Other system components include a Longstor Storage Server, the EverFocus (H.264-based) digital video recorder, and Edge-corE network switches. Power-over-Ethernet provides electricity to Arecont Vision's megapixel video cameras along the network without requiring a separate power connection, which simplified installation. The use of digital video encoders enabled the system to preserve the temple's previous investment in analog cameras, which are now tied into the networked system.