Role of video analytics in smart city traffic control

Rising traffic congestions and accidents due to lack of proper traffic management need to be addressed with smart solutions like Video Mangement Software with integrated video analytics that can effectively aid traffic management.

As more vehicles hit the roads every day, traffic congestion becomes a major issue in many cities around the world. So, it becomes important to have fast and intelligent traffic management solutions that can help to curb traffic congestion.

Video Analytics can play an important role in getting in-depth insights into the daily traffic, and these insights can help in curbing congestions by routing the information to the traffic management console. As per ‘intelligent video analytics market survey’ by Markets and Markets, the video analytics market size is projected to grow from USD 2.61 Billion in 2017 to USD 11.17 Billion by 2022, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 33.7% during the forecast period.

Video analytics can run
• On the central server- (on server at the central monitoring station)
• At the edge (Built into cameras)
• Or the combination of both

Below are some traffic problems that can be resolved using video analytics. Lets take a look
• Collision / Accidents
• Traffic congestions
• Issues related to parking in public places
• Quick and efficient toll booth operations

With smart cities taking shape, intelligent security & surveillance and smart traffic management has become extremely important.

How video analytics help in traffic management?

Video surveillance system, enabled with video analytics, work on two key concepts: Movement based analytics / Moving object base analysis and Pattern generation & recognition.

• Movement based analytics / Moving object base analysis: The analytics software helps to pick up the exact movement of the vehicle, while it is in transit. This helps to detect any traffic rule violations, such as lane departure, over speeding & signal jumping.
• Pattern generation & recognition: Video analytics help to recognize the object within a video frame. Specific pattern or objects can be programmed to be recognized within the frame. This helps in vehicle classification, pedestrian detection, etc.

The collected data from the traffic camera input source, gets into video processing engine for generation of alerts based on video analytics, and later into the data analytics server for further processing.

Key functionalities of video analytics in traffic management

The proper use of video analytics will help in saving time and provides an effective control on traffic management. Some of the functionalities of video analytics that can be integrated into the traffic management system include:

• Vehicle / Pedestrian detection: It helps in differentiating between pedestrians & vehicles. This may prove helpful in pedestrian safety. It can give an approximate count of total number of vehicles & pedestrians on the road. This can also be used as an input for other smart city initiatives.
• Vehicle classification: It helps in detecting the type of vehicle – Truck, Bus, Taxis etc.
• Evidence in case of Accidents: Video surveillance with analytics enables us to gather evidence in case of accidents, which proves to be helpful in protection against litigation and provides evidence for insurance processing.
• Congestion detection: Video analytics helps to detect the velocity of traffic, whether the traffic is moving at slow rate or fast or halted.
• Stopped vehicle detection: The video based automatic vehicle detection helps to detect the vehicles, those are parked in a non-designated parking areas like freeways.
• Wrong way vehicle detection- Detects & warns drivers and alerts authorities, therby preventing accidents and improving roadway safety. This helps to detect, if the driver took a wrong direction/turn. When the driver tries to take a wrong turn, the system triggers a red LED message to the driver, warning him/her to stop & turn around. Also can send a text or email alert to designated responders to deploy & attempt to stop the vehicle if they continue to pass the sign.
• Licence plate recognition:  This is another feature used to identify & read  licence plate numbers for logging in all the data related to the vehicle, which can then be used for toll, traffic control, suspicious activities detection, etc.

As our streets get more crowded with more traffic, the need of the hour is smart solutions that can help us control and curb traffic related problems. Video Management Software with integrated video analytics can help us to effectively manage traffic in our cities at the same time help city authorities to control traffic related congestions and accidents.