Vix Vizion’s video analytics are enhancing the fan experience, excluding banned fans, finding missing kids, alerting if sex offenders are at kid’s venues or foiling terror attacks…

 

Australians are mad about sport. That’s nothing new.

 

However, Australian based company Vix Vizion has developed cutting edge technology to enhance security measure in sports stadia.

 

Independently evaluated by the National Institute for Science and Technology in the USA, Vix’ Imagus system has been regularly benchmarked as number three or better for detecting people in “Wild Scenarios” in the world. The technology is complex. However, the benefits are very easy to understand.

 

The Imagus Video Analytics and Facial Recognition solution provides real time alerts to security staff if people, previously banned from the venue, attempt to re-enter. When you think of how many people venue staff have to manage at a typical sporting event, it is not realistic to expect them to be able to even remember, let alone apprehend people who it has been decided are too disruptive or dangerous to attend, for whatever reason. Fans and their families need protecting. And it is easy to imagine how someone banned from an event can try to deceive staff on the gates by changing their appearance.

 

Unfortunately for the excluded person, not only can Vix’s software continually scan thousands of faces searching for any person of interest, but also it will not be fooled by changes in appearance. Key characteristics of every human face do not change over time, despite the ageing process… or attempts to disguise them. 

 

The Imagus system looks at hundreds of points on a face and compares the measurements to the meta data on the system. It is not going to be fooled by a disguise, so security staff can quickly be alerted to the presence of anyone that should not be in the stadium and take appropriate action.

 

You might imagine that a person of interest would typically be someone who has been excluded from an arena because of bad behaviour or violence. And this is certainly true of some people who have been excluded. However, there can be other reason s too. On racecourses for example, some bookies are excluded because of their unfair or dishonest practices in the context of betting and have lost their racing licence. More obviously the Imagus system is helping to keep fans safe.

 

Manchester Arena was of course the scene of the deplorable terrorist attack carried out in May 2017 in which many innocent people died or suffered life changing injuries. Face recognition can spot known terrorists or terrorist sympathisers/people of interest and prevent them entering the arena. Such technology can make it very difficult for terror groups to operate covertly and gives the authorities the ability to continually scan for either known criminals entering public spaces or indeed unknown people, without the requisite security clearance to allow them to access secure areas – such as power plants or high security areas – even if they bypass physical security. 

It is easy to imagine how, say, terror suspects excluded from the stadium could be a big point of safety.

 

In other countries, the system can also be used to foil paedophiles attempting to gain access to pop concerts aimed at young people, with the sex offender trying to masquerade as a parent with a group of children. 

 

UK Police research into historical data has revealed that as many as 40 to 50 convicted paedophiles have simultaneously attend concerts aimed at young people, like those held in stadia and arena. By using face recognition software, this intolerable situation can be addressed. In addition to their usual surveillance roles, the stadium CCTV cameras can be used to spot known criminals and apprehend them. 

 

However, Imagus can also help families in another way too when parents become separated from their child. If a child goes missing, parents simply email, text or WhatsApp a picture of the child to stadium Security to have the entire venue scanned to find the child. Once the child’s image is placed on Vix Vizion’s Imagus facial recognition system, all live cameras at the venue go to work to find them in a matter of seconds. Imagus can also be used to review CCTV footage across many cameras, allowing the scanning of huge areas in the blink of an eye. 

 

Such use of “good face recognition” technology can help avoid prolonged stress for parents and potentially a more serious situation if the child goes missing from the stadium or shopping centre. 

 

Vix Vizion