io9
Video surveillance is the hot new thing. Tech market think tank ABI Research has just come out with a new study predicting that the global video surveillance market will "expand from revenue of about $13.5 billion in 2006 to a remarkable $46 billion in 2013." In a press release only Philip K. Dick could love, ABI gushes excitedly about all the fun new uses of the vidcams and databases you could be manufacturing, buying, and selling to the surveillance-craving masses.
The release reads, in part:
"Security" is the word on everyone's lips these days, but there is more to this dramatic market growth than that. Video surveillance finds uses in a variety of vertical markets such as retail, education, banking, transportation and corporate business. And it's not always about security: new facial recognition software can analyze shoppers' behavior within stores, for example, tracking eyeball movements as shoppers view product displays.I just love the idea of a surveillance gold rush. Plus, the blithe way ABI points out that surveillance goes beyond mere security into "new facial recognition software [that] can analyze shoppers' behavior within stores" is pure gold. If you think this is rank speculation on ABI's part, though, you'd be wrong. Companies like VideoMining are already providing this very type of surveillance for stores, tracking shopper behavior and trying to figure out patterns.European video surveillance markets are more mature than those in North America (some say the UK, with its 4.1 million surveillance cameras, is the most monitored society on earth), but massive deployments are also now taking place in North America and, in connection with the upcoming Olympics, in China . . .
But while digital technology offers advantages - higher resolution, easier searching and retrieval, and more efficient storage - many of the traditional security resellers of analog equipment are not yet comfortable with digital, and a massive retraining effort is going to be required.
"This is a modern version of the California gold rush," [ABI vice president Scott] Schatt concludes, "except that people are bringing cameras instead of pickaxes and shovels."
Ah, the future looks so bright. I'd better make sure I'm filming everything that happens in it with hidden cameras. Image via NYC Indymedia.
Video Surveillance: Explosive Market [ABI Research]
Comments
Is there anything on that website about the security monitors that they installed in South Philly that failed to identify any of our daily murderers, because they stopped working after about a month?
Annalee, the W-House just appointed a San Fran businessman to a new DHS post - this may be symbolic of a shift here to more fundamental resource allocation, I don't know - and fundamental not equivalent to "puritanical", per se~
@braak: see my post
At least all those upskirt shots will fade into oblivion once there's a camera that can see through my pants on every street corner.
Don't worry guys I'm sure someone is working on a focused EMP pulse gun.
Yeah, Gawker sites are finally back.
If the number of surveillance cameras is about to explode, then so is my desire to explode a number of surveillance cameras.
@Garrison Dean: I'm pretty sure you can take one of those out with a regular gun.
I saw last year that Cisco is investing millions getting into the surveillance market. When the dust clears from this economic downturn, surveillance and green tech are going to be huge investment opportunities.
@braak: at least until they start installing an acoustics detector in the same unit that releases a police alert when it hears gun shots.
Lemme guess, next step: signs outside of department stores banning sunglasses? Customers may not interfere with the total information awareness cameras.
@Ryan H: Agreed!
I'm having my face auto-scramble every few seconds. Thank god I was born with a malleable face.
... If only.
Perhaps what we need is a law that says all surveillance cameras *must* also be a publicly accessible webcam.
@braak:
It isn't about catching murderers, it's about generating huge revenue through auto-ticketing machines.
There's no money in catching murderers, silly.
-Kle.
@braak: Way to be not sci fi dude.
'K, so it's time to start making a hat with about 100 laser pointers shooting in all directions on it.
And a big honkin' battery!
@tetracycloide: Point! The hoodlums need to switch to bows and arrows.
@Garrison Dean: Uh...bows and arrows...with MAGNETS!
@braak: If its good enough for Doomsday, its good enough for me. Magnetic Bows and Arrows it is.
just to tell everyone, you can go on google and find tons of open live public cams. they're usually pretty boring. facing some corner of a street or inside a shop. Would be a million times more useful if they had a way for these things to be automatically pinpointed on google earth so that some relavance could be added to which cam you decide to view. For example, if you wanted to watch a parade that you knew was going to take place in a certain location, you could check to see if there was a a webcam in that location.
if ur interested, heres a link that will get you started
[www.i-hacked.com]
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