Yes, you read that correctly. MV smart cameras now support RTSP. RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol) is a protocol that allows a third party system to access the video stream directly from the camera. Now, you may be thinking, “But why? MV smart cameras already have so many great features that make it easy for me to do what I need to do!” If you are, thank you! We think you’re right.
A Focus on Solving Business Problems
Almost three years ago, we published a blog post called “APIs for Meraki MV Cameras” in response to the many requests for camera APIs. An overwhelming number were driven not by a desire for APIs, but by the need to solve a business problem. These needs fell into a few categories:
Off camera storage for longer retention or offsite backup
Integration to provide context into business systems, or other physical security solutions
Analytics
In the months following, we released new functionality that addresses many of these needs without sacrificing simplicity, or ease of use. To meet the need for longer retention or offsite backup, we introduced Cloud Archive with simple, one-click provisioning. The Snapshot and Video Link APIs let customers easily integrate into access control systems like Kisi, shown below, or point of sale platforms to provide visual context to events.
The Snapshot API helps integrate MV Smart Cameras with Kisi Access Control.
The third category, analytics, is one of the most exciting areas of video. Analytics provide insight into processes and help organizations better understand what is happening within their space. MV cameras have always analyzed motion, and this was the basis of our first analytics, motion heatmaps. The second generation of cameras introduced machine learning based computer vision for object detection, specifically for detection of people and vehicles.
This was followed by the launch of the MV Sense API, which provides access to all this detection data in real time. When these various MV APIs are combined, it enables custom or advanced analytics capabilities that range from other types of object detection, to text recognition, and sentiment analysis (emotions or demographics).
Person Detection on MV Smart Cameras
The Best of Both Worlds
By building solutions to solve customer problems, and keeping video within the Meraki ecosystem, we are helping to ensure they are not held back by their video data. It means that users do not have to watch countless hours of footage to investigate an incident, or need to be data scientists to gain insight from video analytics. While we have come a long way since launch, there are a few unique use cases that call for solutions outside of the Meraki ecosystem.
An example of this are customers with large-scale deployments of legacy cameras. Previously, these customers would have no choice but to operate two viewing systems (a legacy VMS and the Meraki dashboard) in tandem as they worked to replace their old cameras with Meraki cameras. Now, RTSP lets them view video from Meraki MV cameras in their old VMS platform until all legacy cameras are replaced, and they can switch over to viewing everything in the Meraki dashboard. Another example is a public viewing monitor, or PVM, placed at a store entrance. With a PVM, there is no need to interact with the video in any manner other than static, live viewing, and RTSP fills this need.
Enabling RTSP on a Meraki MV Smart Camera
Finally, RTSP will enable access to the video stream for particularly niche analytics that simply cannot be met using the MV Sense and Snapshot APIs. This could be an organization with an existing analytics solution that relies on a traditional camera architecture.
By enabling access to RTSP, MV smart cameras are now available to customers who previously had no path forward with MV. These customers can benefit from the core value of MV smart cameras – simple architecture and cloud management through the Meraki dashboard – and use RTSP when needed to meet their other needs.
What Do You Think About RTSP?
RTSP is available now, for all second generation MV smart cameras (models ending in 2). For more information on how it works, check out the documentation. Or, head on over to the Meraki Community to join the discussion. We’d love to hear your thoughts on RTSP, and if it may be beneficial to your use case. Let us know what you think!
Hacer que los colegios, institutos y universidades sean más seguras con cámaras inteligentes y confiables, es posible con Cisco Meraki.
Imagine administrar las cámaras de seguridad de su escuela desde un tablero intuitivo basado en la web sin NVR, sin descargas de software y acceso remoto seguro. ¿Suena demasiado bueno para ser verdad? Las cámaras de seguridad de Cisco Meraki MV están cambiando la forma en que las escuelas piensan acerca de la videovigilancia. Con Meraki MV, las escuelas pueden mantener a los estudiantes más seguros al ayudar proactivamente con la detección de amenazas y la seguridad, y los equipos de TI pueden tomar decisiones informadas con análisis integrados, que no requieren servidores. MV es fácil de implementar y administrar, y está específicamente pensando para los equipos de TI.
Aquí tiene 5 razones por las que debe considerar las cámaras de seguridad Meraki MV para la próxima implementación de su escuela o campus:
Implementación simple: con la implementación de cero toque, usando solo números de serie, un administrador puede agregar dispositivos al Dashboared de Meraki y comenzar la configuración incluso antes de que el hardware llegue al campus. Envíe cámaras directamente a cada escuela o espacio y póngalas en funcionamiento rápidamente.
Sin NVR: todas las imágenes de video se almacenan y se cifran localmente en la cámara, lo que elimina la necesidad de los costosos y complicados NVR o DVR. Esto no solo agrega seguridad adicional, sino que también permite una sencilla implementación y administración de la cámara. También significa que el equipo de TI puede escalar fácilmente sin complicaciones.
Monitoreo basado en la Web: administre sus cámaras de seguridad desde el mismo panel de control intuitivo y basado en la web donde administra el resto de sus productos Meraki. MV elimina la necesidad de una sala de monitoreo de seguridad o una configuración de VPN compleja, todo lo que necesita es un navegador web para ver y monitorear secuencias de video. Además, el Dashboard reduce el tiempo de capacitación para los administradores y el personal que interactúan con el sistema.
Controles de acceso granular: ya no es solo el guardia de seguridad el que necesita acceso. Desde el director hasta el maestro pueden tener acceso personalizado a todas las cámaras de la escuela, o seleccione las cámaras por etiqueta, con solo unos clics.
Análisis integrados: MV va más allá de la seguridad; utiliza un potente procesador integrado para analizar el video y proporcionar información valiosa sin la necesidad de enviar esos archivos de video a la nube o un servidor local. Vea fácilmente dónde los estudiantes se congregan o caminan con mapas de calor de movimiento. Detecta cuántas personas hay en un aula o en un pasillo con la detección de personas.
Las escuelas de todo el mundo están implementando Meraki MV para mantener a sus estudiantes más seguros de forma sencilla y eficiente. En Estados Unidos, el Distrito Escolar de Reading utiliza la herramienta de búsqueda de movimiento para aislar incidentes y encontrar lo que están buscando en menos de 20 minutos, en lugar de pasar buscando durante horas de video almacenado. Además, los guardias de seguridad, los directores y los administradores escolares pueden ver imágenes desde una tableta o PC, sin tener que ir a la sala de monitoreo de video.
Conozca más de Meraki MV conversando con su representante de ventas y participando en nuestro próximo webinar en vivo.
In keeping with the age-old Meraki philosophy of empowering our customers to do more with less, people-counting analytics on MV12 has finally arrived!
We’re excited to see this new set of tools build on top of an already impressive (and necessary) security product. Now, MV12 can act not only as a great security camera, but also as a sensor for businesses big and small — no servers or extra infrastructure needed.
Sound familiar?
If you’re already familiar with our wireless product line, this rollout might feel reminiscent of our WLAN Location Analytics tool, and it should! At Meraki, we love the notion of providing our customers more intelligence with less infrastructure, an idea especially apparent with MR and now MV.
How does it work?
Using the advanced processor on our recently launched MV12 security camera, and built-in, anonymized person detection (not to be confused with unique facial recognition/identification) software, video is stored and analyzed on-camera, at the edge. This metadata is sent to the cloud and aggregated into people-counting metrics independently of the video itself. Plus, over time this software will become more accurate using machine learning.
To see this functionality in action, just click on the ‘Analytics’ tab for an individual camera and select the time resolution (minute-by-minute, hourly, or daily) and timeframe of interest. The ‘People count’ section of this page shows an at-a-glance overview of your busiest time period, estimated peak occupancy over that period, and the total number of entrances. Remember that the ‘Total Entrances’ value will double count individuals if they leave a frame and then return, since this data is anonymized. Consequently, we encourage thoughtful placement of cameras intended for use as sensors to minimize both double counting (place them in an area with restricted traffic flow moving in one direction, like an ‘Entrance Only’ door) and occlusions (where two people or objects pass in front of one another, making it difficult for the camera to see what’s going on).
Clicking on the ‘Most Utilized’ and ‘Peak Occupancy’ results will jump directly to that moment in the camera’s historical footage so you can quickly analyze what events may have driven that spike in traffic. Drilling down into each bar in the people counting bar chart will also take you to the corresponding piece of footage, making it simple to investigate anomalies.
So what?
You’ll now be able to observe and quantify granular foot traffic patterns through a given frame.
For retailers: monitor the ebb and flow of customers throughout the day, optimize staffing headcount to make sure your customers get the attention they need, and increase the efficacy of marketing campaigns by targeting days of the week with the greatest or least traffic.
In schools: track general attendance patterns, see which areas of campus are used most frequently, and make a business case for updating facilities and equipment based on usage patterns.
At offices: figure out whether it makes sense to add more common spaces, or repurpose these areas based on popularity with office-dwellers. And are those pricey espresso machines actually getting used anyway?
Of course, these examples represent only a fraction of the uses cases now available with this additional functionality. Coupled with motion heat maps (available on all MV models), it’s never been quite so easy to see the big picture quickly.
Does this mean my MR Location Analytics setup is now redundant?
Definitely not! Think of these tools as complementary. Because MR access points count mobile device wireless signals throughout a wireless network, they provide a broad “macro” level view of foot traffic through, say, an entire store location. People counting on MV only tabulates traffic within that visual frame, making it more accurate on a “micro” level, like an individual product display within that store. By pairing these two features, you can quickly gain insights across multiple levels of your business.
