Case: Visor
VISOR - research for smart event safety
On a normal day there is about 262 megabytes of data traffic per square kilometer. On a festival day that rises to 33,000 megabytes per square kilometer.
Our public life de facto largely takes place in the public spaces.
Open spaces are usually in the open air; however, these can also be part of municipal institutions and other (semi-) government buildings. Public spaces are not only limited to physical places, but also relate to the “mental and social” spaces. This implies that public spaces should allow citizens to be themselves without unsolicited interference from others. An important feature of the public spaces is that they are usually multi-functional, and as such are used for summer / winter events, including music festivals, public holidays, markets, and so on.
Every year an abundance of large and small events (>1000) take place in such public spaces in the Netherlands. It is not uncommon for unsafe situations to occur at these events, sometimes resulting in serious incidents.
Safety plays a crucial role in public spaces given the massive influx of people. Many issues can arise like noise, crime, riots, harassment, pollution, environmental crimes, fires, undesirable social behavior, looting, public drunkenness, dehydration, drug incidents, bacterial infections, and a multitude of other dangers that affect the quality of life.
RATIONALE behind VISOR
Public order and safety in public areas is generally guaranteed by an integrated approach of organizers,
municipalities, law enforcement officers (including private security services), fire brigades and emergency
medical services, including first aid. A wide range of instruments is used by these chain partners, including
drawing up scenarios, crowd management, risk analyzes for foreseen and unforeseen threats, event permits, briefing, and investigation.
Although such approaches do have a positive impact on supervision and enforcement in public areas, it can be concluded at the same time that much can still be improved.
The smarter collection and use of data, interpretation from the operation, as well as the more sophisticated
collaboration based on data and interpretation, seems potentially a decisive weapon in the fight against disorder
and insecurity in public spaces.
VISOR at Paaspop
PaasPop traditionally kicks of the festival season in the Netherlands. It is organized each year in the municipality of Meierijstad (Schijndel) as a three-day event during the Easter weekend. In 2019, Paaspop will be organized on April 19th, 20th and 21th.
Typically, there are 15 stages with more than 175 bands, including a wide range of musical and theater genres. Next to its broad music offerings, Paaspop also boasts many other activities including a barber shop, hot tubs, a camping shop, a coffee lounge, a retro seventies-eighties roller-skate track, an old school Arcade hall and an actual cinema. Multi-day tickets holders typically reside at the luxurious camping site of the festival. The camping site boasts not only spots for their own tents, but also, festival caravans, huts and glamping like festival tents such as Wigwags.The VISOR project consists of three phases (see image)
Public order and safety in public areas is generally guaranteed by an integrated approach of organizers,
municipalities, law enforcement officers (including private security services), fire brigades and emergency
medical services, including first aid. A wide range of instruments is used by these chain partners, including
drawing up scenarios, crowd management, risk analyzes for foreseen and unforeseen threats, event permits, briefing, and investigation.
Although such approaches do have a positive impact on supervision and enforcement in public areas, it can be concluded at the same time that much can still be improved.
The smarter collection and use of data, interpretation from the operation, as well as the more sophisticated
collaboration based on data and interpretation, seems potentially a decisive weapon in the fight against disorder
and insecurity in public spaces.
PaasPop traditionally kicks of the festival season in the Netherlands. It is organized each year in the municipality of Meierijstad (Schijndel) as a three-day event during the Easter weekend. In 2019, Paaspop will be organized on April 19th, 20th and 21th.
Typically, there are 15 stages with more than 175 bands, including a wide range of musical and theater genres. Next to its broad music offerings, Paaspop also boasts many other activities including a barber shop, hot tubs, a camping shop, a coffee lounge, a retro seventies-eighties roller-skate track, an old school Arcade hall and an actual cinema. Multi-day tickets holders typically reside at the luxurious camping site of the festival. The camping site boasts not only spots for their own tents, but also, festival caravans, huts and glamping like festival tents such as Wigwags.The VISOR project consists of three phases (see image)
Phase 1: Prepare & Test
During this phase the algorithms for the data safety experiments are trained exploiting a variety of machine learning techniques.
Phase 2: Operate and Monitor
This involves the actual setup and operation of the experiments in a controlled environment. During the experiments the training algorithms (e.g., for moshpit identification and prediction) are further explored and improved.
Phase 3: Learning & Sharing
The final stage pertains to learning from the experiments. Not only technical elements are considered, but also socio-organizational issues.
More information
Experimenten moeten festivals als Paaspop veiliger maken
SCHIJNDEL - Drones die in contact staan met wetenschappers met ‘slimme brillen’. Het is een van de experimenten die festivals in de toekomst veiliger moeten maken. Paaspop in Schijndel dient dit paasweekeinde als proeftuin. (bron: BD)