Bologna launches intelligent traffic management system with IP video surveillance

This city in Northern Italy has installed network cameras, with built-in applications, vehicle counting and license plate recognition, from Hanwha Techwin's Wisenet range.

Known for being the city in which the ministers of Education of various countries of Europe signed the agreement to establish the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), Bologna is currently one of the favorite places for thousands of students, which has become a tourist destination in Northern Italy.

Proof of this is that Bologna is the seventh most populous city in Italy, with a central metropolitan area of approximately one million people using a wide range of means of transport to get around within a very large area.

Precisely for this reason, city authorities have invested in traffic control and supervision systems with the aim of making commuting easier and faster for its citizens. An example of this is a centralized traffic light management system that has been in operation since 2013 and that has helped in these years to reduce travel times within the urban area.

With the aim of evolving and improving mobility and safety, its managers were looking for a network video solution to monitor twelve vehicle access points to the city that would provide authorities with reliable real-time information on urban mobility, and thus take strategic planning measures and optimally redistribute the traffic load on the road network.

After analyzing numerous proposals and evaluating a wide range of possible solutions, the decision chosen by the authorities has been the manufacturer's video surveillance technology Hanwha Techwin, with the acquisition of a total of 89 Wisenet cameras.

The installed solution consists of network cameras that are dedicated to the counting and classification of vehicles, along with license plate reading devices that have been installed in strategic accesses of the city. These cameras monitor movements in both directions to allow local authorities to study vehicle access flows.

This is possible thanks to the latest generation of Wisenet cameras, that combines high image quality and advanced video algorithms to bring more value to video surveillance and contribute to improving mobility and security in smart cities.

Specifically,, twenty-four Wisenet XNO-6120R/TD bullet cameras equipped with Traffic Data have been installed, an application based on the camera itself and developed together with Sprinx Technologies facilitating the collection of statistical data on vehicle flow (Count, average rating and speed).

To the above are added another twenty-four Wisenet XNO-6120R/FNP units, which include the Roadway License Plate Recognition app from FF. Group, which helps operators of the local authority's control centre detect illegally parked vehicles and other traffic offences.

Compatible with all European license plate formats, the application has a recognition accuracy of more than 95%, regardless of environmental conditions, even when vehicles are moving at speeds of up to 150 Km/h.

The Wisenet XNO-6120R camera is a bullet camera, of 2 Megapixel, capable of capturing high-definition images with the help of a 12x optical zoom. Has digital image stabilization, integrated gyroscopic sensor, a function to de-play the lens and integrated IR lighting.

They have also been installed as well 41 PTZ domes Wisenet SNP-L6233RH, resolution of 2 megapixels and 23x zoom with IR, strategically located at the main road junctions of the city of Bologna so that the operators of the control center can see in detail any incident.

Alberto Nuzzo, head of the digital infrastructure and telecommunications office of the Bologna community, explains his satisfaction with "the ease of successfully integrating Wisenet cameras with our video management platform and other monitoring systems".

Thanks to this solution, "the data captured by traffic data and license plate reading applications, running on the cameras themselves, allow us to manage existing traffic levels much better," says Nuzzo., while helping us capture and store valuable data that we analyze and helping us plan better.".

Other articles on Bologna, FF Group, Hanwha Techwin, Sprinx Technologies