Analytics in Action: Impacting Education Campuses

Intelligent Video Analysis. Creative Campus Applications.

Safety on campuses is a top priority for universities and colleges. While video surveillance is a security tool kit staple, many campuses also leverage intelligent video analytics to maximize cross-campus safety by enhancing existing investments in video surveillance. One major university in the southeast United States is using the BriefCam Video Analytics Platform to do just that. Take a look at these 3 cases of video analytics in action and see how both traditional and creative applications of the BriefCam platform are impacting education campuses.

Locating a Lost Child

Most major universities host large events ranging from concerts to sporting events. BriefCam can support many needs when managing large events – proactive traffic management, intelligent staff scheduling, and real-time security alerting. Another important application of the BriefCam platform is finding a missing person. When a child went missing at a sporting event at the aforementioned university, the security team — trained by our experts on how to specifically address this scenario — confidently and quickly processed the relevant video to find the child and quickly reunite the family.

Collaborating with Police Investigations

While campus security is not directly connected to municipal law enforcement, both entities collaborate to keep their communities safer. In one such instance, the police department called on university security for assistance in locating a suspect on motorcycle that they chased through university grounds before he evaded them. Having heard the call over the radio, the security manager was prepared when the police requested assistance. After confirming the time frame when they last had visual on the suspect, the security manager was able to grab approximately 15 minutes of footage from 4 different cameras and determine that the suspect’s last known area was near an on-campus lake. When law enforcement arrived, there was indeed a motorcyclist, but he did not match the suspect’s description as he wasn’t wearing a shirt. However, the head of security asked for this man’s description to see if they could glean any information from the video. Upon determining that he was wearing a hat, the security team was able to provide a snapshot from the video footage of a baseball hat matching the description, tucked under the seat of the motorcycle, enabling officers to immediately apprehend the suspect.

Understanding Micro Mobility Device Impact on Pedestrian Safety

One of the most creative applications of the BriefCam Video Analytics platform for campus safety came from this university and their study on the impact of micro mobility devices (MMDs) like electric scooters and hover boards on pedestrian safety. These devices are a very popular way to navigate expansive campuses, but their widespread adoption has presented many challenges in keeping sidewalks and merchant areas safe for those navigating on foot. To better understand problem areas and patterns of MMDs, video from specific areas were processed and filtered by people. They then adjusted the speed filter to show people moving at 8-9 mph, thus eliminating all pedestrians from the footage. While this innovative filtering occasionally captured a sprinting person, the university was able to easily visualize the traffic patterns of skateboards, scooters, and other MMDs and leverage the intelligence to make a data-driven strategy to address the needs of both pedestrians and MMD users on campus.

A Holistic Approach to Comprehensive Safety

Campuses are vast, cities in their own right. Therefore, campus security and law enforcement teams need holistic solutions that provide comprehensive safety to the diverse populations that dwell and navigate them daily. Simple video surveillance is no longer cutting it. Education campuses must be empowered to preventatively mitigate threats, proactively respond to incidents in real-time, and rapidly investigate when an event occurs. Traditional and creative applications of intelligent video surveillance solutions — like video analytics – are critical to meeting the safety needs of education campuses everywhere.

Are you ready to transform your campus with a comprehensive, intelligent solution? Discover how one university made it happen. Read the Case Study.