Spanish municipality optimises public safety with Hikvision smart city solution

To speed up journey times and maximise road safety and security for residents, commuters and local businesses, the municipality of Tres Cantos in Spain has deployed an innovative smart city solution from security and AI provider Hikvision.

The challenge: Optimising traffic flow, road safety and security

Wikipedia describes smart cities as “urban areas that use data insights to manage assets, resources and services efficiently”. Other key benefits of smart cities include better traffic management and planning, real-time responses to road-traffic incidents, enhanced engagement between citizens and local government organisations and improved security for local people and businesses.

To achieve all of this and more, Tres Cantos, a municipality of Madrid in Spain which was founded in 1991, decided to adopt a smart city strategy. The area, which enjoys tree-lined streets, parks and natural spaces, is home to more than 50,000 residents and 3,000 businesses, which attract 36,000 commuters from other areas of Madrid each day.

With constant movement of people and vehicles in and out of Tres Cantos, the municipality specifically needed smart city solutions that could monitor traffic conditions in real time – enabling ‘re-routing’ and rapid incident responses to minimise congestion. It also needed new security monitoring technologies to keep local residents and businesses safe, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The Hikvision solution: Smart city infrastructure for a real-time view of vehicles and traffic

Tres Cantos has deployed a smart city solution from security and AI company, Hikvision. This incorporates a total of 23 cameras located at the entrances to the municipality – including Pan Tilt and Zoom (PTZ), PanoVu cameras and license plate recognition (LPR) cameras that provide situational awareness of traffic conditions in real time.

To help the municipality create a visual traffic command and control system, real-time traffic and vehicle information, such as the flow of traffic and car accidents, can be aggregated and dynamically displayed on a wall of screens (videowall) at Tres Cantos Police HQ. Local council officials can view real-time traffic information via Hikvision’s HikCentral video management solution and use the gathered insights to respond to changing traffic conditions effectively, in real time.

Hikvision’s open, scalable, cloud-based solution is compatible with a range of equipment and able to support up to 5,000 connected devices – ensuring that Tres Cantos can easily expand the solution to meet future needs.

The solution also offers both wired and wireless connectivity options to support municipality wide situational awareness, with simple management tools that minimise training requirements and costs.

Benefits: Improved road safety and security

With its innovative smart city solution, Tres Cantos has optimised traffic management, accelerated incident responses and improved safety and security for citizens, commuters and local businesses. Jesus Moreno, Mayor of Tres Cantos, says: “We are improving road safety and mobility for both residents of Tres Cantos and for the nearly 35,000 commuters from Madrid who visit our municipality to work each day.”

Maximising road safety and security for the citizens of Tres Cantos

The local Tres Cantos police department can respond to security incidents faster with the Hikvision solution.

Pedro Álvarez, Chief Intendent of Tres Cantos Police Department, says: “Real-time video feeds from the camera network allow us to respond to security incidents much faster and more effectively, while also saving resources compared to physical, routine patrolling.”

Enhancing traffic management and reducing congestion

With the Hikvision smart city solution, members of the Tres Cantos local council are gaining vital insights into traffic flow across the municipality, supporting better, more timely planning and traffic management decisions and helping to reduce congestion on key roadways.

María Del Mar Sánchez Chico De Guzmán, Councilor for Mobility, HR and Security, says: “This system allows us to assess the flow of cars entering and leaving the area. This means we can make decisions that help to ease traffic flow and improve the quality of life of the citizens of Tres Cantos.”

The system has been particularly useful in terms of reacting to planned and unplanned road and lane closures. In such cases, traffic can be rerouted quickly and effectively to minimise delays and other negative impacts for residents and commuters.

Find out more

For more information about this deployment, or to discover how Hikvision smart city solutions can help you improve public safety and traffic management in your own city or municipality, please contact Hikvision today.