Transitioning from the city of lakes to a smart city

THE BACKGROUND
The Smart Cities Mission is an innovative initiative by the Government of India to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life of people. It aims to achieve this by enabling local development and harnessing technology as a means to create smart outcomes for citizens. A hundred cities across the country were shortlisted by the government, which were to be promoted as ‘Smart Cities’. Based on an all-India competition, Bhopal was selected in the first round of 20 smart cities, to transform the city into a leading destination for smart, connected and eco-friendly communities focused on education, research, entrepreneurship and tourism.

THE CHALLENGE
Known as the ‘City of Lakes’, Bhopal is a historic city with a population of over 2.5 million. With the expanded planning area of 463 square kilometres, Bhopal is among the 16 largest cities in India. In view of its growing population, the city leaders wanted to upgrade the security of its residents, migrants and visitors, by ensuring diligent monitoring across the city. Also, Bhopal faced chaotic traffic flows and repeated violations, causing traffic jams, accidents and fatalities. This not only made everyday life uncomfortable but also increased transport time with a negative effect on economic activity. The stakeholders wanted to implement an end-to-end video surveillance system to support law enforcement, to build a secure environment for citizens, and to also ensure road safety across the city.

THE SOLUTION
After rigorous evaluation, a panel of city leaders, stakeholders and industry leaders selected Videonetics for this project. Videonetics designed a solution based on its AI & DL powered Unified Video Computing Platform (UVCPTM) encompassing Intelligent VMS, Intelligent Video Analytics and Intelligent Traffic Management System.

• 24×7 city-wide surveillance: Today, over 350 IP cameras are deployed in Bhopal, covering major
  entry and exit points from the city, places of strategic importance, locations of public gatherings,
  traffic junctions and business districts etc. Operators are quickly responding to any incident from
  petty theft to more serious offenses. To monitor urban operations round-the-clock, Intelligent VMS
  provides continuous viewing and recordings of these cameras, in a user-friendly interface.
  Specifically, the authorities can also detect overcrowding, unattended baggage, break-in prediction,
  counting people and traffic violations in a single interface.
• Round-the-clock traffic monitoring: Today, the city has an Intelligent Traffic Management System
  (ITMS) suite covering 23 junctions across the city. The suite encompasses Automatic Number Plate
  Recognition (ANPR), Red Light Violation Detection (RLVD), Over-speeding Detection, No Helmet
  Detection and Triple Riding detection. In addition to intersections, the ANPR solution has been
  integrated with IP cameras at entry-exit points in tourist spots and other places, helping law
  enforcement to identify non-standardised/ duplicate licence plates, blacklisted and stolen vehicles,
  and much more.
• Automated violation prosecution management: The ITMS solution not only enables monitoring of the traffic situation 24×7, but also records traffic violations in real time. Videonetics Integrated e-Challan Management Software (ICMS) has been integrated with regional vehicle database to generate e-challan along with incident evidence and violator’s address – all in a transparent manner and with the audit trail of all transactions with evidence. With the help of ICMS, traffic personnel can easily maintain record of all payments, both received and pending.
• Centralised city view: Combining Intelligent VMS and ITMS into the unified interface empowers city
  management officials and traffic police to view real-time alerts, manage them, and respond to them
  swiftly, from the Integrated Command & Control Centre (ICCC).

THE IMPACT
The Bhopal Smart City project has proven to be a great success and has become an exemplary model for
other cities. Today, operators have become more efficient and make better decisions by having
consolidated monitoring and reporting in the single interface. From helping law enforcement authorities in apprehending vandals to addressing instances of theft, physical confrontations and street crimes, now authorities have critical video evidence available to aid in the investigation of crimes and other incidents.

Also, with citizens becoming more sensitised to traffic rules and beginning to follow them, violations have come down rapidly. The traffic data of each junction now provides insights to the administration, which is helping to manage chaotic traffic conditions and create situational awareness at the levels of local and central authorities.

“As challans were dispatched to the residence address, people had to pay, and it was quite strict,” says Nitin Dave, Media Manager, Bhopal Smart City. “Now people are more aware about traffic rules, leading to a reduction in the number of e-challans.”

“We are proud to be associated with Bhopal Smart City project. Videonetics unified solution is not only monitoring the entire city but also helped in reducing road fatalities. Now law enforcement is further equipped to make decisions faster and respond towards any incidents or threat. Thanks to Videonetics team for their constant support and untiring efforts for making this project successful. The implementation of this solution has made the city smarter as well as safer for the citizens”, expressed Mr. Neeraj Kushwaha, Founder and Director at Technosys.

Key Results Areas:

• Increased security with 24×7 monitoring of city area
• More alert and ready operators, from traffic control to citizen security
• Reduction in traffic rule violations by 80% and improved traffic discipline among people
• Drastic reduction in incidents involving stolen vehicles, duplicate license plates etc.
• Minimisation of human intervention and elimination of biases in decision making

The open and modular architecture of the solution not only allows the city to continue adding more
applications to make its traffic management more robust, but also integrate with the city surveillance
system in a single unified interface, to address overall security concerns with a holistic approach.

Awards & Recognitions:
The Bhopal Smart City has received various awards from the government and industry bodies:

• Project Awards:
  • The Innovative Idea Award for Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) by India Smart
    Cities Awards
  • The Urban Mobility Award for Security Integration & Intelligent Traffic Management System
    c. Best Smart City of the Year by Smart Cities Conclave
  • CSR Smart Cities Leadership Award for Security Integration in Traffic Management (No Helmet
    Detection)
• Technology Awards:
  • SECONA Innovation of the Year 2018 for ‘No Helmet Detection System’
  • Finest India Skills & Talent Award (FIST) Best Innovation in Security 2018 for ‘No Helmet
    Detection System’
  • NASSCOM Technology Excellence Award 2019 Rising Star in AI & DL for ‘No Helmet & Triple
    Riding Detection System’