Wellington NEC Living Lab
Information Certainty: Documented
Deployment Purpose: Surveillance, Crime Prevention
| Summary |
|---|
| From 2014 to 2018, Wellington City Council collaborated with NEC on a living lab project, investing over half a million dollars to use data and technology for city improvements. The initiative aimed to address begging, violence, and adapt to rising sea levels. A network of cameras and sensors was deployed to detect begging, violence, graffiti, and monitor foot traffic using Wi-Fi trackers. After spending $568,783, the pilot project concluded, with the council discontinuing the behavioral analytics exploration but integrating some cameras into the city's safety network. These cameras, especially at key points like the ASB Sports Centre and railway station, will remain for crowd monitoring, operating in partnership with the police. |
Products and Institutions:
| Product Deployed | NEC Face Recognition Technology NEC (Behavioural Sensing) |
|---|---|
| Institutions ⠉ | NEC NEC |
| Datasets | NEC (Dataset) |
| Search software |
Status and Events:
| Status | Concluded |
|---|---|
| Events | Start (2 January 2014, Documented, , No description) End (8 August 2018, Documented, , No description) |
| Start Date | |
| End Date |
Users:
| Involved Entities | |
|---|---|
| Managed by | NEC Wellington City Council |
| Used by | NEC Wellington City Council |
Location:
| City | Wellington |
|---|---|
| Country ⠉ | New Zealand |
Description[ ]
From 2014 to 2018, Wellington City Council allowed NEC to trial a living lab in Wellington. It was to address 'begging' and violence, as well as changes needed in the city due to rising sea levels.
The Wellington City Council entered into an agreement with NEC to explore the use of data and technology aimed at improving the city for residents - spending more than half a million dollars of ratepayer money. A camera and sensor network was used to try and tackle begging on Wellington streets, detect screaming, smell paint fumes from graffiti and sense people in groups who may end up in fights. It also measured the volume of foot traffic, using wi-fi trackers to follow people's movements around the city 1
Documents released under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act reveal the council spent $568,783 on the pilot projects and it looks set to cover ongoing costs for licence fees and upkeep of some cameras it intends to keep. A CCTV behavioural analytics platform, which the council says was "an exploration" to see if it was possible to detect behaviour such as begging, violence and crowd counting, has ceased. "The council is no longer pursuing the exploration of behaviour sensing," the documents say 1
The council says it has transferred the behavioural analytics cameras to the safety city camera network and will continue to operate city safety CCTV cameras in partnership with the police 1
However, the documents show that cameras installed at the ASB Sports centre and and railway station will be retained to keep count of individuals passing through chokepoints 1