To better plan and utilise their budgets, local governments need insights into the needs of their communities.
Councils are constantly planning the expansion or enhancement of their suburbs and infrastructure, such as building new roads and connections, reducing traffic congestion, connecting more services and utilities, providing better transport corridors, or enhancing safety for both motorists and pedestrians.
Planning in communities is most efficient when based on accurate information on community behaviour, leading to infrastructure and services that align best with ratepayer needs and experience. Secure Agility Product Manager, Ahmed Abdeldayem, explained that councils need to understand exactly what is happening in their communities, where, when and how frequently.
“Let’s say for example that a council wants to make some improvements for a school which suffers from massive bottlenecks at pickup and drop-off times. How would they know exactly what’s happening, traffic numbers, congestion times, and even things that could jeopardise people’s safety, like near-misses or accidents?
“They need to collect insights,” Mr Abdeldayem said. “This is where smart systems can watch over specific areas that are planned for development or an area where the council is sceptical about planning development because they don’t have enough knowledge.”
By utilising AI-powered systems, councils can monitor targeted areas 24/7 and gain valuable insights. A human worker does not have to trawl through hours of footage to find useful information. AI software can visually analyse the surveyed area and deliver a range of useful data points.
The cost-benefit analysis made easy
Council budgets are limited. It can be a significant investment for local governments to decide to improve safety by adding a new crossing, cycle path or traffic light.
“Councils need to be able to justify their investments,” Mr Abdeldayem said. “By utilising AI data tools, they can say ‘Okay, I know that by investing in this project, I am making life safer or easier for at least 300 people every day because I have surveyed the area and I have those numbers’.”
Councils can even use data-driven insights to build a case and submit an application to the state or federal government for more funding.
“For example, they can say ‘I have a problem; I have seen an increase in near misses in this area of 20 per cent. People’s lives are at risk, and I need more money to fix it.’
“Without the specific data created by the AI monitoring system, the council would have a much harder time presenting a compelling case to the government.”
Ease of adoption
When considering utilising smart data systems, councils can be under the false impression that setting up the necessary hardware will be costly and time-consuming.
Secure Agility offers cost-effective and timely installation options that can take advantage of existing infrastructure to ensure councils are gaining insights into their areas as soon as possible and at a minimal cost.
“Councils, especially city councils, own and operate their own CCTV networks for a variety of reasons,” Mr Abdeldayem explained.
“But, for the most part, these are just cameras. All they do is record footage that a staff member can log into and view, and that’s really it.
“We can attach our systems to the existing cameras and camera feeds, and we can start delivering those insights by utilising AI to analyse the camera feeds visually and detecting all the things I mentioned, like vehicle counts, near misses, pedestrian traffic and so on.
“We can hook into any system that a council might have, and that really optimises the cost.
“Councils don’t have to pay out for a new camera or any networking, we can just tap into and augment their existing system. This way, councils get the best out of what they have. They don’t have to reinstall everything; we just add a layer of intelligence, and we start harvesting those data insights.”
Mr Abdeldayem explained that Secure Agility also offers off-grid deployment options that are just as quick and easy to set up.
“For areas with minimal existing infrastructure, we have the option to go solar with our highly optimised and low-cost CCTV poles that are easy to erect and offer integrated wireless connectivity, so our customers can gain data insights from even their hard-to-reach areas.”
Secure, comprehensive and effective
“The reality is, there are a lot of moving parts when it comes to smart IoT systems.
“The devices are constantly running – in the hundreds – around us in the streets; how; how do you manage this through the system’s lifetime of updates, upgrades, optimisations, data security and networking, connectivity, powering and device maintenance?
“There are hundreds of moving gears in there. It looks easy from the outside, but it’s not.”
Mr Abdeldayem explained that Secure Agility delivers its services as a one-stop-shop for councils eager to avoid the headaches of AI IoT systems.
“With us, you get the solution from A to Z and the outcome you’re looking for.”
Secure Agility offers ‘off the shelf’ packages covering every aspect of system deployment, integration and data acquisition, so councils don’t have to worry about any part of the process.
“Because in reality, councils aren’t looking for a camera or software; they want insights. They want to detect something about their area so they can use that data to plan for the future.
“That’s what we provide. We know how to build on the field, we know how to deploy, we know how to work with GPUs, we know how to work with power, we know how to work with AI, we know how to work with the cloud, we know how to secure data, we know how to deliver data for you, and we know how to do the analytics for you too.
“We’re very outcome-based. You tell us what you need, and we will get it done.”
To learn more, visit secureagility.com
