Axis IP network cameras make Almere ready for the future

Mission

Almere is a fast-growing city in the Amsterdam metropolitan region. With a population of 200,000, it is the eighth-largest city in the Netherlands. The city’s rapid growth rate is accompanied by a considerable increase in the number of incidents and the traffic volume. The municipality of Almere wanted an integrated solution to monitor incidents and irregularities in the city center and in traffic, with the added option of using this video for law enforcement purposes.

Solution

Some of the cameras have already been installed at fixed strategic positions for city and traffic monitoring. The other cameras will be used at temporary locations.

The Almere urban region has now been equipped with 130 Axis network cameras which have been installed at strategic locations in the city. Approximately one hundred cameras have been installed in the city centre of Almere. Twenty cameras have been installed in the centre of Almere Buiten, while the rest will be used at temporarily assigned areas.

Almere has opted to use AXIS Q6035-E and AXIS Q6044-E PTZ Network Cameras, connected via a fiberoptic network to the central server in the camera surveillance room set up specifically for City Surveillance. All cameras are controlled from this room, and the images are analyzed on a big video wall which can display a large number of streams at the same time. This instantly creates a complete overview of the situation and makes it easier to make connections. In addition, a special emergency response room has been set up which also has video display capabilities, and provides room for a discreet discussion when the situation requires it.

With one flick of the switch, an operator can look back in time to get an overview of what transpired earlier. The VisiOn DIS event report system can simply bookmark several incidents and events in the system, making them easy to find at a later stage. These bookmarks can be supplemented with a short, written explanation of the situation, relevant video material, and tags to categorize incidents and events. This will eventually make fragmented observations usable for trends and analysis, and it will make camera surveillance and its effect more measurable.

Result

This modern network of IP cameras have enabled municipal authorities and police to have a faster incident response time; both now also have high-quality images for law enforcement purposes.