CASE STUDY

OS pioneers smarter CCTV for Salford

This case study looks at how support and data from OS helped to reduce crime, support local authorities and create much safer, more connected, smart cities in the City of Salford in Greater Manchester

Providing Ordnance Survey (OS) spatial intelligence for smarter surveillance in cities.

This case study looks at how support and data from OS helped to reduce crime, support local authorities and create much safer, more connected, smart cities in the City of Salford in Greater Manchester.

|2 MIN READ

Challenge

The UK has more than four million closed circuit television cameras (CCTVs), which have proved to dramatically reduce crime and antisocial behaviour.

However, the huge number of systems can be challenging:

  • Effectively managing CCTVs, knowing where they all are, who they belong to and what their capabilities are – is crucial information for police agencies and local government.
  • Identifying, managing and sharing camera information in their area and beyond.
  • Optimising the planning, investment and development of CCTV coverage (each camera costs approximately £100,000 to commission).

Solution

OS data combined with Cadcorp’s CCTV Mapping System enabled Salford City Council in Greater Manchester to implement a system that allows local authorities, emergency services, and other crime reduction agencies to quickly access all CCTV information within their area of interest through a simple web interface.

The Salford system started with 260 council cameras and 300 additional private ones, more than doubling their ‘reach’ and currently has over 178 users.

Result

  • The new system enables local authorities and emergency services to reduce costs and deliver more efficient operations.
  • Police agencies can find out immediately what footage is available and what systems might have ‘seen’ making investigations smarter, quicker, and more efficient.
  • This in turn leads to faster response times to disturbances and antisocial behaviour and ultimately to improved crime detection and prevention.
  • Information can be shared easily between numerous organisations, quickly and efficiently.
  • It takes less time to identify the best cameras to monitor incidents.
  • Ability to define access routes and to determine the potential of camera footage.
  • These benefits combine to deliver greater public and company business engagement for crime and disorder.

"This new system will help to speed up investigations, saving both police and court time, and should reassure the public that we are keeping a close eye on criminals."

Andy Sutcliffe, Salford Police Inspector

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Partners, products and solutions featured in this study

  • Cadcorp

    Cadcorp helps organisations derive meaningful and actionable intelligence from data. We do this with an extensive range of spatial data, software and services designed to better inform decision-making. With our technical knowledge and expertise, we know how to support our customers in realising the benefits of location information.

  • OS MasterMap Highways Network - Roads

    A navigable road network dataset with detailed information about planned roads and roads under construction for Great Britain.

  • Boundary-Line

    Ordnance Survey's Boundary-Line™ is an open dataset of every administrative boundary in Great Britain.

  • OS MasterMap Imagery Layer

    Digital colour-balanced and corrected for geometric distortions (orthorectified) aerial photography for Great Britain.