Canadian city Calgary is working with Swedish networking firm Axis Communications to improve safety and operations via intelligent security technology upgrades. An infrastructure installed to improve public security and safety is being extended to improve flood defences and mitigation, manage festivals improve protection of city parking and storage facilities.

In 2018, the City of Calgary decided to modernise and swap legacy analogue security system with a standardised network-based solution. The city rebuilt its entire IT infrastructure, integrating Axis cameras, security radars, horn speakers, strobes, and analytics solutions to tackle typical urban issues, as well as help with city operations beyond security.

The solution covers 900 sites throughout the city and is monitored 24/7 via a video wall in the Integrated Security Centre located in Municipal Hall, allowing operators to visually verify incidents and dispatch officers as needed.

The initial focus of the smart city initiative was to improve public safety and security in the community. The city’s Technology Services team have realised that metadata collected by the Axis cameras can used to modernise other areas of city management.

The areas include flood mitigation; monitoring festival clouds; and protecting city parking and storage facilities.

Because central Calgary sits at the confluence of two major rivers, the potential for flooding is always a concern. To provide river engineers with more precise data collection, Technical Services reprogrammed the Axis PTZ cameras already deployed in the emergency call stations along the river to send out automatic alerts to river engineers if the cameras’ analysis shows that the water is rising too fast.

Calgary hosts dozens of festivals throughout the year that attract millions of visitors to the city. One of its biggest events is the 10-day long Calgary Stampede, a western heritage celebration that includes the world’s largest outdoor rodeo, chuckwagon racing, and more. Mobile trailers equipped with Axis cameras are dispatched to large events to not only ensure safety and security, but also to help organisers optimise key operational factors like parking, staffing, emergency response, and even the number of garbage cans and portable toilets.

When the city’s largest fleet parking area, Highfield compound, started facing an onslaught of catalytic converter thefts, Technical Services was forced to rethink the site’s security system. The team decided to install Axis thermal cameras to watch the entire fence line of the compound and equipped them with AXIS Perimeter Defender so that when the thermal cameras detect a heat signature outside the fence line after hours, they automatically send an alert to security to deal with the situation.

“Implementing smart security technology has ultimately transformed Calgary for the better,” said Alex Lee, Security Systems and Technology Section Lead for the City of Calgary’s Department of Technical Services. “Our Axis cameras and other solutions provide a wealth of operational metadata that other departments can utilise to make accurate, informed decisions instead of simply guessing what the city might need. Not only do our multitasking Axis cameras bring us a greater return on our technology investment, but they also help to demonstrate that we’re spending our taxpayers’ money wisely – and for their benefit.”

“The main goal of Axis as an organisation is to create a smarter, safer world – which means going beyond security to also enable operations improvements for our customers,” said Sophie Laplante, Business Development Manager, Cities, Canada at Axis Communications. “Projects like Calgary provide a great example of the many ways in which security technology can be leveraged to its maximum potential. Security will always be one of our core priorities, but so will business intelligence.”

Calgary has received a number of awards for its smart city installation, including an international Smart 50 Award for innovative and transformative projects. The city was ranked by The Economist as the world’s third most liveable city in 2022, due in part to its novel use of intelligent security technology. Calgary’s Technical Services team plans to continue its trajectory of innovation by developing new ways to apply Axis cameras and other security technology for the overall betterment of the community.