Video surveillance dollars not just for security

Security is the best-known application of video surveillance, but by no means the only one. Transportation systems and retail are both promising markets for video surveillance, where its uses extend to legal liability prevention, customer behavior analysis, and store design.

Global spending on video surveillance for transportation markets will jump from about $630 million in 2006 to a projected $2 billion in 2013, while retail will account for a spending rise from about $1 billion in 2006 to almost $4 billion in 2013, according to ABI Research.

We have come to expect security-related video surveillance in airports, but railways, buses, and port facilities are equally important, and often overlooked, markets. Buses, for example, may have video surveillance cameras facing both out and in, to provide documentation of any accidents and to disprove any spurious claims for “injuries.” Firetide, Strix Systems, and Tropos Networks are just a few of the leading transportation surveillance vendors.