Houston takes steps to improve quality of life, public safety
Houston, the most ethnically diverse metropolitan area in the country, is the fourth most populous city in the nation with an estimated population of approximately 2.3 million residents as of April 2020. Houston is home to 24 headquarters of Fortune 500 companies in the larger metropolitan area and continues to expand.
The Dynamics of the City Houston First Corporation (HFC) is the official destination marketing organization for the dynamic city of Houston. HFC’s vision and efforts enrich the lives of Houstonians in a few ways, beginning with promoting the region as a destination for tourism and convention business. HFC wanted Houston to become an even more attractive destination by supporting smart city initiatives and helping set the standard of what a smart city truly means.
The city of Houston used data and emerging technologies to help improve the quality of life for citizens by sharing important information with the public, driving economic growth, and building a more inclusive society. Piecing together the right technology partners and building upon the existing infrastructure to help accomplish its goal was the next step in going beyond security. Houston is shaping the future of “smart cities” with its forward-thinking approach when it comes to public safety and security.
It all began in 2017, the year that the city of Houston hosted Superbowl LIVE, when Milestone Systems was requested to take part in the design of a supplemental camera system to be deployed during the Super Bowl LIVE Event. The video surveillance cameras installed were from Axis Communications and included a mixture of PTZ dome cameras, thermal cameras and the Axis F series modular cameras.
A permanent installation was implemented after the Super Bowl to support the Houston Living Lab (HLL) and repurposed to monitor the Toyota Center, Discovery Green Park, the George R. Brown Convention Center, and intersections near the venues. HLL is a collaborative effort hosted by Houston First that leverages big data and evolving technologies to deliver capabilities to public safety professionals. HLL helps city entities test solutions until they are proven and allows technology partners to validate their technology in an active environment. Acting as an R&D site that offers live public safety technology used during real world events, the city was able to effectively test the latest technologies for future deployment or share best practices with private security professionals within the Houston area.
This article originally appeared in the March 2022 issue of Security Today.
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