a&s explores the measures taken by China to ensure security at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian
Games, and discusses the challenges overcome through years of planning, building and testing.
a&s explores the measures taken by China to ensure security at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, and discusses the challenges overcome through years of planning, building and testing.
Designing a security protocol for the Guangzhou Asian Games was no easy feat, which hosted an unprecedented 42 sports. Spanning over 2.7 million square meters, the Games featured 12 new venues and 58 remodeled ones; the main venue covered 65,000 square meters of ground.
Since Guangzhou won the bid in 2004, the government had invested more than US$30 billion in upgrading the city's existing infrastructure, as well as in constructing new facilities; an additional $150 million was also allocated to strengthen electronic security measures at the venues, including surveillance, access control, intrusion alarms, patrol checkpoints and perimeter protection.
Various outdoor areas were cordoned off as restricted areas and security checkpoints. IC-embedded access cards were required of athletes, referees, officials and staff to enter the restricted areas. The security checkpoints also acted as buffer zones to prevent crowd crushes and to separate vehicles and pedestrians.
With proper security procedures and electronics, Guangzhou established a seamless security layer, eliminating possible blind spots and enabling security personnel to react efficiently to anomalies.
Hybrid Surveillance Prevails
The success of the 2008 Beijing Olympics sparked rapid development of sports and event venues across the country, creating a huge market for electronic security, especially for video surveillance. For the 2010 Asian Games, video surveillance products and systems were provided by a total of 38 local and international manufacturers, including Aebell Electrical Technology, Hikvision Digital Technology, Bosch Security Systems, Panasonic System Networks, Sony, TCL and XTE.
According to Aebell and Bosch, video surveillance for the Games was primarily analog (at or more than 520 TVLs), supplemented by network cameras at strategic locations. Many predict the same phenomenon for key events in the next few years, for the following reasons.
● Reliability: Infinova suggested that analog cameras have been around for a very long time, and the stability and color reproduction are much better when compared to network cameras. Image quality and latency issues of network cameras for large-scale installations still worry some end users.
● Cost: In general, a network camera must be within 150 meters of a switch. For expansive installations like the Asian Games, the cost of network infrastructure would be astronomical, and hybrid was proved to be more cost-effective than going purely IP, as some subsystems were integrated into the existing nationwide Safe City infrastructure (predominantly analog).