As an example, Atlanta, Georgia, has employed surveillance cameras and analytics to create a “smart corridor” for traffic on one of the main midcity routes. A specific goal of the project is to improve the quality of life in the city by reducing emissions and pollution on a route that carries almost 29,000 vehicles every day.

The system uses Citilog’s (Paris, France; www.citilog.com) analytics application installed on 84 Axis (Lund, Sweden; www.axis.com) surveillance cameras covering 26 intersections along the 2.3-mile route. Traffic data—including vehicle counts, speed, and occupancy —is used by SURTRAC, an adaptive traffic signal control technology developed at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA, USA; www.ri.cmu.edu) that optimizes the performance of traffic signals.

In enabling real-time adjustments of traffic signals, the solution improves travel time and reduces waiting time at intersections. Over the longer term, the data recorded allow city planners to optimize traffic operations through offline analysis.
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