People Tracking
Issue 45 - September 08

With current closed-circuit television (CCTV), access control and tracking device technology, it is already possible to track and monitor populations on a giant scale. As these technologies filter down to facility level systems, what should FM's be looking at when it comes to monitoring people moving through their buildings?

When journalist and author Naomi Klein investigated China's surveillance market for Rolling Stone magazine earlier this year, her piece was subtitled "China's allseeing eye", and dramatically revealed an explosion in CCTV and surveillance. In one example, Shenzhen has seen the installation of 200,000 cameras across the city over the past two years, and it is estimated that by 2011, the city will boast over two million cameras.

Combined with other people tracking technologies such as RFID, wi-fi, GPS and mobile telephone tracking, it would seem like the potential possibilities are endless. Conspiracy theorists will doubtless be conjuring up images of a big brother state snooping on citizen's privacy. However, those involved in the industries of the built environment will be asking, how can people tracking be used to improve the management and activities taking place within our facilities?

The reality:
"The reality on the ground, both in Asia and globally, is that there is limited real implementation of solutions that are tracking people within facilities," says Michael Tomordy, Associate Director, Arup and leader of the firm's security practice in Asia. He points out that, while vendors are keen to push the application of people tracking systems, it can be difficult for end-users to justify the outlay.

However, as the technology develops, the cost of systems that monitor people locations or transmit their information is coming down. Also, the use of tracking systems is gaining acceptance, having been proven in asset handling applications. With smartcard technology advancing, it would seem that integrating these technologies, and establishing a prudent business case, is the challenge.

There are a number of implementations where limited people tracking systems have already added value, says Philip Wong of Cisco Systems. He points to RFID tracking as the most cost effective and popular solution on the market (see side box for more info on RFID). Applications can range from patient tracking in medical facilities, or for customer relationship applications in theme parks, hotels or airports. In the former, being able to know where each patient is, as well as being able to link each individual electronically with their medical records, has clear benefits.

Yet, it is in the realm of offering enhanced value to high rolling clients, that people tracking technologies are most likely to be implemented in the short term. There is a "meet and greet" element that luxury hotels, banks and airlines are keen to exploit. As Tomordy says: "One airline client wants to offer clients a more personalised service, so their frequent flier or premium card will contain personal information that will then transmit to their ground staff, so they know who you are and what you want before you even open your mouth to say hello."

Common platform
For real time inclusive people tracking to take place, it is clear that a number of different systems will need to work in harmony. "No one system can provide comprehensive tracking," insists Wong. Integration is the heart of the matter, with real, tangible benefits possible when a common platform is used. Cisco for example, offer IP based networks to enable the video surveillance. The system will encode footage from IP cameras and store it on a frame by frame basis, thus enabling third party software to do video analytics.

These analytics then feed back into a policy engine, so if somebody goes somewhere they shouldn't, a number of actions are possible through linked systems. An alarm can go off in a security room, a phone call can be placed to the police, the nearest camera can zoom in on the intruder etc (see case study this page for another example of an integrated CCTV system). Tomordy also sees further integration opportunities to connect systems and offer better solutions. "What we are talking about with vendors and our casino customers is how we can link together surveillance and access control in a more powerful way."

Holding back these powerful implementations seem to be two main barriers. The first is the ROI. Tormody concedes that: "If you cant attach a financial figure to the benefits and do a proper cost-benefits analysis, then its quite challenging to justify investment in these systems." However, beyond the cost question, the human barrier is one of the hardest to overcome. The distrust of surveillance that is clear in Klein's article is not confined to investigative journalists. Whether the end-user of a facility, or a high net-worth client is willing to accept being traceable and monitored, and how comfortable we are with that data being available, is a question that will decide the future of commercial people tracking technology.

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