Italian city of Imperia relies on video technology from Dallmeier

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The port city of Imperia in north-west Italy has become a popular tourist destination over the years. In order to better secure both the city and the port area, Imperia decided to expand its video surveillance system. At the heart of the system are Dallmeier’s Panomera® multifocal sensor cameras.

Imperia is a pretty city of the province of Liguria and is located in the northwest of Italy on the Riviera di Ponente. Originally an industrial town, Imperia has developed over the years into a popular tourist destination, whilst retaining the character of a small fishing village. Picturesquely situated between the sea and the hills, it offers a wide range of leisure activities for both locals and visitors: You can stroll through the small, narrow streets of the town called “carruggi”, relax on the beaches with crystal clear waters or explore one of the many museums in the area.

Video technology for critical areas
Like many places, Imperia faces the challenges of being a vibrant and busy city. There have been repeated incidents of inappropriate behaviour, vandalism and crime. Particularly critical areas, such as the access area to the marina, required an upgrade of the video security system.

“One of the main requirements for the system was to be able to reconstruct events of interest with high reliability and high resolution”, says Daniele Sisinio, Director Dallmeier Italia, explaining the customer’s requirements.

Integration into a management system
Imperia has been using video surveillance technology for many years. The original system was based on a marina system with numerous cameras from different manufacturers, which were finally integrated into a Dallmeier management system. Later, the marina and city surveillance systems were unified. As a result, not only were additional cameras from other manufacturers integrated into the management system, but a selection of state-of-the-art Dallmeier cameras were also added to the infrastructure.

Everything in view at all times
In addition to numerous single sensor cameras, Dallmeier’s Panomera® multifocal sensor technology is at the heart of the system. This offers many advantages, especially when monitoring large areas or long distances. The patented Panomera® technology combines several lenses and sensors with different focal lengths in one optical unit. Thus, Panomera® cameras also capture rear and middle image areas with the same high resolution as scenes in the foreground. 

Not only does this mean that significantly fewer cameras are needed than with conventional technology, which naturally leads to savings in the necessary infrastructure such as cables, masts, etc. The system is also much easier and less complicated to operate: security personnel always have a complete overview of the scene, while at the same time any number of detailed views can be displayed in high resolution. The detail zooms can be opened with a simple mouse click in the overall image, like “virtual” PTZ cameras – both live and in recording. This allows any number of operators to view the footage simultaneously. Additionally, everything is always recorded at the highest resolution. This means that incidents can be traced and reconstructed for use in court, and perpetrators identified, even after the fact.

Reliable on-site recording
In addition to the high image quality, the high reliability of the data recording was extremely important to the security managers at Imperia. “By using the very flexible and scalable SeMSy® management system from Dallmeier, we were able to create a client-server architecture that is exactly tailored to our needs. We use IPS 10000 appliances to store images from a large number of cameras. At the same time, we were able to place compact recording devices on site with the VideoNetBox to ensure local data recording without necessarily relying on radio links”, explains Alessio Meneghello, CEO of High Intelligence.

Strict data protection requirements
The city of Imperia attached great importance to secure data management. In accordance with the “Privacy & Security by Design” guideline, products from Dallmeier have the highest level of technical precautions with which customers can easily implement video security solutions that comply with data protection regulations – from setting up “private zones” to sophisticated access concepts and secure authentication procedures in accordance with IEEE 802.1X. The video system also meets all requirements for evidence in court and has been tested for image quality, security against tampering and protection against unauthorised access by LGC Forensics Certification.

Smooth operation
Dallmeier Italia implemented the project in close cooperation with its certified partner High Intelligence. Dallmeier actively supported High Intelligence during the planning phase and on-site demonstrations to ensure that the solution was optimally tailored to the customer’s needs. High Intelligence took care of the complete installation, configuration and calibration of the video surveillance system. With many years of experience in managing high quality video surveillance systems, the company is able to ensure the smooth operation of the system 24/7. This results in an optimisation of the security work carried out by the operators and the law enforcement agencies and increases the security of visitors to the city.

Reduction of incidents
The use of the video surveillance system is showing positive results. “By installing the cameras in several strategic locations, such as the roads and access routes to the marina and the city of Imperia, we have been able to consistently reduce the occurrence of critical incidents”, says a satisfied Dr. Hon. Claudio Scajola, Mayor of Imperia.