Trust Is Key to Realizing the Value of Smart City Video Analytics

As software-led and flexible systems, smart video analytics for municipalities hold great promise for streamlining both the collection and use of data. This type of visual AI can easily track the number of objects it sees over a timeframe, alert first responders to potential threats, and help locate missing persons. The capabilities of these systems are also relatively simple to alter because most computations are performed in the cloud. Although there is considerable promise in the application of visual analytics, there are also cost and privacy challenges that the industry still needs to find ways of overcoming.

As a result of the privacy and public perception issues surrounding video analytics, the technology has no commonly agreed upon name. In this report, Guidehouse Insights uses the term video analytics and defines it as the integration of networked cameras with AI, whether in the cloud or on-board the unit, to analyze captured video, extract data, and act on the results of that analysis. Although these types of systems can be found in many capacities across many industries, this report focuses on the use of these systems for public, municipal use including in transportation, public safety, and policy making.

This Guidehouse Insights report discusses the key developments in municipal smart video analytics, including use cases in developing cities, regional trends, and the drivers and barriers for the video analytics market. This report provides key technology development company overviews as well as recommendations for stakeholders in the smart city video analytics market.