The City of Edinburgh Council has announced the officially opening of a new City Operations Centre, which the authority hopes will help it achieve smart city status.
The council plans to use the centre and harness technology to help keep the city moving, with the new site intended to advance the city’s smart security and surveillance capabilities.
The new hub has been delivered in partnership with IT service and solutions provider North, as part of a £2.6m contract, which was funded by the council and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
Specifically, the remit of the new hub falls under the ERDF’s 2014-2020 programme known as ‘Scotland’s 8th City – the Smart City’, which has allocated £712k in grant funding towards the project.
What’s more, the centre will act as a replacement for the old facility, and will be staffed to support the receiving of real time CCTV data around the clock.
This service will be integrated with other technology to improve traffic flow, transport infrastructure and city planning, thus improving the city’s collective carbon footprint, the council has said.
Real time data and analytics will be used to support the council and its partners respond to emergencies and manage large-scale events, such as Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and August Festivals.
Cammy Day, council leader, said: “This new operations centre has been years in the making and it’s fantastic to see it live in action.
“With cutting-edge low-carbon technology designed to keep the city moving and our communities safe, it drastically steps up our capabilities as a council.
“We’ve completely overhauled the technology we use within the control centre and across the city – replacing outdated analogue cameras with intelligent internet-enabled devices. This means we can analyse events and traffic in real time.
“Particularly as our city grows, our investment will support the safety of the public and wider community, deterring and preventing anti-social behaviour and crime like we sadly experienced recently on Bonfire Night and Remembrance Sunday.
“Edinburgh is fast becoming an example of a truly smart city and its thanks to trailblazing projects like this.
“We’re also rolling out waste and housing sensors, innovative digital learning opportunities in schools, while exploring an urban traffic management control system which is a tool for monitoring traffic flow.”
The data will be captured by a new CCTV system rolled out across the city, which has significantly expanded existing security coverage and upgraded the city’s digital Video Surveillance System (VSS).
Other upgrades include enhancing video analytic function and data protection capabilities and replacing analogue cameras with high-resolution Internet Protocol (IP) devices.
Edinburgh is one of the seven Scottish cities collaboratively working towards becoming a world leading smart city.
This scheme is being supported by the Scottish Cities Alliance, a partnership of Scotland’s seven city local authorities and the Scottish government.
Funding for the programme so far totals £45m, including £18m of ERDF support, plus city-matched funding of £28m.
