Making the most of visual tracking in Security Center - Security Center 5.9 - 5.12

Product
Security Center
Version
5.12
5.11
5.10
5.9
Language
English
Last updated
2021-05-05

About visual tracking

With visual tracking, you can follow an individual in live or playback mode from camera to camera through your facility.

Benefits

Visual tracking saves you time and simplifies monitoring and investigation tasks. You can follow someone quickly without losing time looking for the right camera to switch to. You do not have to remember all the camera names in your system because the cameras are linked together.

Some other advantages of linking cameras are:
  • Training new operators quickly.
  • Reducing operator stress during high-alert situations.

Common use cases

Some common use cases for visual tracking are:
Following suspects
Following a suspect in real time or in playback mode after an incident has occurred.
Guard tours
Conducting manual guard tours at your own pace.
Exit routes
Monitoring individuals as they exit a building.
Visitor escorts
Tracking visitors and their escorts through your facility.
Business processes
Monitoring individuals during a money collection and distribution route in a casino.
Loading docks
Following goods as they are received and unloaded.

How it works

When you turn on visual tracking using the feet icon () in Security Desk, colored shapes are displayed on the video image, according to how they are configured. Each shape corresponds to another camera field of view that you can switch to by clicking it. If more than one camera is associated with a shape, a list of camera names is shown when you click the shape.

When you hover your mouse pointer over a shape, you can see a preview of the next camera image.

Tip: You can press Ctrl+Shift+F to turn on visual tracking for all cameras that are displayed in the canvas.

Watch this video to learn more.

Visual tracking example for large areas

This is a sample configuration that uses the same visual tracking layout for multiple cameras on your system. This unique way of using visual tracking can be helpful for scenarios at larger facilities, such as a distribution route for a casino, a guard tour, or monitoring at a mall.

Here is the visual tracking configuration from Config Tool:
  • Select the Ellipse () drawing tool and add a circle on the video image.
  • Apply 45% opacity and add a white border with a thickness of 20 points.
  • Create eight identical circles by copying and pasting the first circle. Place the eight circles in the corners, top, bottom, and sides of the image.
  • Align the center-top and center-bottom circles using X coordinate 430.
  • Align the center-left and center-right circles using Y coordinate 234.
  • Set the color for each circle (for example, PTZ cameras in the top corners in yellow, exit cameras on the sides in red, and so on).
Tip: You can apply this configuration to one camera and show it to your end users as an example while discussing their visual tracking requirements.
A photo of monitoring a mall using visual tracking in Config Tool.

Benefit of the sample configuration

When you copy the visual tracking configuration to other cameras in your facility, you can keep the same layout on each video image. Keeping the same layout helps you know exactly where to click to switch to the nearest PTZ camera, the next camera in the distribution route, and so on.

Setting up visual tracking

To make the most of visual tracking, we recommend that you follow this process when setting up the feature.

  1. Ask your end users the following questions so you can determine what visual tracking settings to apply on the cameras.
    • What do you want to use visual tracking for?

      Visual tracking shapes can link to nearby cameras and doors, or you can link cameras based on a scenario at your facility, such as a guard tour.

    • What shapes and border styles do you want to use?
    • What colors do you want to use?

      We suggest color-coding your shapes for different objects and scenarios at your facility. For example, you can identify exit cameras in red, PTZ cameras in yellow, guard tour routes in blue, or distribution routes in green.

    • Do you have any restrictions due to employees who are color blind?
  2. Configure visual tracking for one camera.
  3. Copy the visual tracking configuration to the other cameras you want to use the feature with.
  4. Complete the configuration for each camera by editing the following visual tracking settings:
    • Link the correct cameras to each shape.
    • Move the shapes according to where the adjacent cameras are in the video image.
    • Change the colors of the shapes based on your color-coding scheme.
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Configuring visual tracking

Before you to can follow an individual through a facility, you must create links between your cameras so you can easily switch to those video streams.

Procedure

  1. Open the Video or Area view task.
  2. Select a camera and click Video analytics > Visual tracking.
  3. Create shapes on the video image:
    1. Select the Rectangle () or Ellipse () drawing tool and draw a shape.
    2. Resize, reposition, and rotate the shape using your mouse or using the Size and position fields.
    3. Set a color, opacity, border color, and border thickness for the shape.
    We suggest color-coding your shapes for different objects on your system, such as exit cameras in red, PTZ cameras in green, and so on.
    Tip: If you like the dimensions of your shape, you can copy and paste the shape to use it again. You can also copy the shape and use it for another camera.
  4. Link cameras to each shape:
    1. Select a shape and click Entities () in the toolbar.
    2. Drag a camera from the area view onto the shape.
      The camera name is listed in the Links section. If you link multiple cameras to a shape, Security Desk users must select which camera to jump to.
  5. Click Apply.

Example

Watch this video to learn more.

Parent topic: Setting up visual tracking

Copying the visual tracking configuration of cameras

To save you time when setting up visual tracking, you can copy the visual tracking settings from one camera to other cameras using the Copy configuration tool.

Procedure

  1. From the Config Tool homepage, click Tools > Copy configuration tool.
  2. On the Entity type page, select Camera and click Next.
  3. On the Source page, select the camera you want to copy the settings from and click Next.
  4. In the Options page, select the Visual tracking option and click Next.
  5. On the Destinations page, filter by Camera entity type, select the cameras you need, and click Select > Next.
  6. When the copying process is completed, click Close.

Results

All the cameras you selected now have the same visual tracking configuration.

After you finish

Complete the configuration for each camera by editing the following visual tracking settings:
  • Link the correct cameras to each shape.
  • Move the shapes according to where the adjacent cameras are in the video image.
  • Change the colors of the shapes based on your color-coding scheme.
Parent topic: Setting up visual tracking