EDINBURGH has beefed up its street video surveillance systems and channelled them into a hi-tech new City Operations Centre, pledging to better support the safety of the public and deter anti-social behaviour.
City of Edinburgh Council Leader Cammy Day officially opened the new COC last week, declaring that it positioned the city as a leader in the UK for smart security and surveillance tools.
The upgrades have been delivered in partnership with IT provider North as part of a £2.6m contract, funded by the Council and the European Regional Development Fund, which is contributing £712k towards the project.
The new smart Operations Centre will be manned and receiving real-time data from the CCTV network 24/7, integrating with other technologies to help improve traffic flow, transport infrastructure and city planning.
It is claimed that the COC’s advanced analytic ability will ‘drastically’ help the Council and partners respond to emergencies and manage large-scale events like Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and August Festivals.
Mr Day said: “This new operations centre has been years in the making and it’s fantastic to see it live in action. With cutting-edge low-carbon technology designed to keep the city moving and our communities safe, it drastically steps up our capabilities as a Council.
“We’ve completely overhauled the technology we use within the control centre and across the city – replacing outdated analogue cameras with intelligent internet-enabled devices. This means we can analyse events and traffic in real time. Particularly as our city grows, our investment will support the safety of the public and wider community, deterring and preventing anti-social behaviour and crime like we sadly experienced recently on Bonfire Night and Remembrance Sunday.”
Scott McEwan, acting CEO at North, added: “Working together, the city now has access to real-time data that will influence the future of city planning, improve large-scale events and create a greener environment for generations to come.
“The City of Edinburgh Council is making transformational steps to becoming a Smart City and its forward-thinking approach to the adoption of IoT solutions will help to accelerate their ambition to reaching such status. We are really excited for the local authority to see the seismic impact introducing smart technologies has on the quality of the environment, and importantly, on the health and wellbeing of people who live in and visit Edinburgh.”
