The Israeli city of Eilat has deployed behavioural analytics from Tel Aviv-based Viisights.

The AI-powered technology provides real-time detection of events of interest to alleviate potential threats, maintain Covid compliance and improve quality of life.

Viisights is a developer of behavioural recognition systems for real-time video intelligence. The installation in Eilat can detect, predict and analyse events of interests in real time and alert authorities of crowding, violent or suspicious activity, traffic or crowd congestion, and more. Deployment of the behavioural analytics technology was fast-tracked in preparation for the large number of tourists who typically flood the city during the Passover and upcoming holiday season.

Behavioural analytics have been integrated into the city’s surveillance system, which includes more than 300 cameras that are monitored at a centrally located command and control centre. Viisights can monitor hundreds of cameras in real time and, upon recognition or prediction of unusual behaviour, a command centre operator receives an immediate alert and can notify the authorities.

Eilat is the first city in Israel to advance Israel’s smart city City without Violence initiative. Avinoam Nahari, director of the city’s information methods and systems division in charge of the project, said Viisights behavioural analytics enabled the city to address quickly and efficiently abnormal events for the benefit of its residents and visitors’ safety and security.

Maya Scheyer, vice president at Viisights, said the company’s behavioural analytics leverage advancements in imaging technology to deliver benchmarks in video intelligence that transcended traditional real-time surveillance monitoring and forensics by providing actionable intelligence to reduce liabilities and prevent incidents from escalating.

Unlike conventional video analytics that use old pixel technology to recognise static objects and classify objects, Viisights behavioural analytics employ artificial intelligence (AI) to detect, analyse and understand actions and events autonomously. This level of video understanding is based on an implementation of deep neural networks capable of analysing and defining specific activities using video streams from conventional security cameras.

Eilat deployed the technology to increase situational awareness and generate alerts autonomously on events of interest such as crowding events in areas and locations where Covid-19 guidelines are not being followed, predicting gatherings by monitoring traffic and people’s movement towards a certain location, and more.

“As a city that ranks high in Israel’s smart cities index, we’re proud of this innovative system which will enable us to maintain the public’s safety and security, and its health under the current Covid-19 pandemic,” said Eli Lankri, acting mayor of Eilat.

Asaf Birenzvieg, Viisights CEO, added: “We’re proud to take part in this national effort and provide a critical component of the City without Violence project to help prevent the spread of Covid-19 and get life back on track while maintaining the Covid-19 guidelines. Given Eilat’s status as one of Israel’s most popular tourism cities, we are extremely proud to be part of this national effort.”

As well as adding to Eilat’s image as leading the country’s smart city initiative, the municipality is a living lab for technologies in various fields. Examples include a renewable electricity system that handles 70% of daytime power needs, smart transportation, travel technologies, smart lighting and gardening systems, and environmental monitoring technology with sensors located throughout the city to detect radiation, air and noise pollution.