Vanguard Magazine

www.vanguardcanada.com DECEMBER 2021/JANUARY 2022 41 How can augmented reality and video surveillance THE LAST WORD BY STEFAN LUNDBERG WORK TOGETHER? T he benefits of daydreaming to creativity are well-document- ed, and every now and then we'll allow our minds to wan- der to some of the "what if?" questions that crop up. Recently, we were thinking about how augmented reality (AR) might be used more extensively alongside video surveil- lance, and the types of scenarios and use cases where such an integration might align to our vision of creating "a smarter, safer world". A brief background on augmented reality In broad terms, AR can be defined as the ability to overlay text, images, and other information onto a live scene or video to provide additional insight to the user. This information can be displayed on whatever device is used to view the live scene, such as monitors and mobile devices, and in some applications through smart glasses and headsets. It's worth contrasting this with virtual re- ality (VR) as they can sometimes be con- fused. VR – most commonly through a headset – provides a first-person perspec- tive of being in an environment or situa- tion the wearer is not actually physically in. VR is the illusion of being in a particular environment; AR is actually being some- where or viewing an actual scene, with ad- ditional information overlaid. A simple example of AR in the consumer environment would be an individual walk- ing down a street in an unfamiliar town, seeing the environment live, but with use- ful information overlaid on what they're seeing through AR-enabled glasses or on a mobile device. This information might be directions to a meeting location, or lo- cal places of interest. The individual might issue a voice command, "show me the top-rated restaurants on this street" with the AR immediately altering the overlaid information in response. Some Axis partners are already deliver- ing apps that allow for information to be overlaid on live video. CamStreamer de- velops apps that allow for live streaming of video from Axis cameras to popular video sites. Its CamOverlay app enables custom- ers to add graphics and information to live video. This example from Prague shows a live camera pivoting to view different views of the city, with the overlaid infor- mation changing to suit. AR can effectively be an "insight su- perpower", adding valuable information to what someone's actually seeing, hear- ing, touching…even smelling and tasting, without having to use their hands to ac- cess it. When thought about in this way, our imaginations can run wild. AR in video surveillance Modern network video surveillance cam- eras already provide extremely high-qual- ity images to operators which in them- selves deliver significant value. Live views of a scene in forensic levels of detail allow operators to monitor and assess situations, and respond in real-time to incidents and activity, alerting first responders when rel- evant.

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