Panasonic offers new approach applied to CCTV systems in Regensburg mall

A total of 62 CCTV cameras from this manufacturer and four network video recorders guarantee the security of the Donau-Einkaufszentrum center, whose managers take advantage of this security system to increase revenue with the commercial and analysis data offered by the integrated software.

The Donau-Einkaufszentrum shopping centre in Regensburg, located a few 110 kilometers north of Munich(Germany) has installed new network CCTV infrastructure to replace the old security system, based on the i-Pro camera range of Panasonic and in your software, that integrates advanced analysis functions that provide reliable commercial information that those responsible for the center also use to improve their income.

The new IP security system consists of 62 Panasonic i-Pro cameras and four network video recorders of the WJ-NV300 model to ensure both the protection of visitors and goods of this shopping center, as well as as a tool to improve customer knowledge, as the analysis software integrated into the system provides age-related data, sex and visitor movements, as well as heat maps and facial recognition.

The center also plans to expand the system to include digital signage with advertising adapted to the age and gender of visitors who access the center through one of its nineteen tickets.. This is indicated by its managing director, Thomas Zink: "We have two sets of stakeholder groups: our tenants and our customers, as the new system ensures the safety of customers and provides our tenants with extremely valuable information about the people who enter or do not enter their stores. This system has elevated our operations to a new commercial level, as we can now provide data to any tenant interested in customer visits, for example".

For this project, box-type HD cameras have been installed at each entrance and strategically located throughout the shopping center., plus omnidirectional 4K dome units, that offer greater coverage in areas that are not reached by box cameras. "We bought fewer cameras than we had initially anticipated.. Panasonic's omnidirectional cameras cover a much wider area than we had anticipated, which allowed us to cover a larger space with fewer devices", explains Willi Blößl, technical director of the center.

After months of operation, those responsible for the center have enough data to adjust the price per square meter applied to new tenants, depending on the level of visits in a given area, something that was previously very expensive to do. "We've started by offering tenants the ability to purchase data for marketing purposes., which will allow the system to be amortized in a matter of months, says Zink.. We'll soon see how we can improve signage initiatives within the center to drive traffic to the stores that most interest customers based on their age and gender.".

As this manager emphasizes, this network security system "is perfect for Germany, where the public perception of surveillance is quite negative. The dome cameras are so small that most visitors don't even notice they're there.. We have configured the system to automatically send alerts to the security team's mobile phones in the event of an incident that requires our attention.. We leverage integrated analytical systems to detect abandoned objects or any deliberate scene changes.".

Panasonic's intelligent coding technology makes it easy and efficient to manage storage, as it is based on the advanced H.265 codec, which reduces storage requirements by approximately the 70 % compared to H.264. This solution applies intelligent algorithms to ensure the storage of the non-moving parts of an image at a lower bit rate, and that only moving parts are captured in Full HD resolution.

"We have a very small number of people in our facial recognition database.. A few months ago there was the theft of a cash register after the closure of the stores. Two weeks later, the system warned us that an entrance camera had recognized the thief, which allowed us to quickly arrest him and hand him over to the police.", remember this person in charge.

This mall attracts more than 40.000 people on a day of great affluence, like a Saturday. In manual tests performed with a counter it was discovered that the people counting software was a 97% more accurate. As Willi Blößl points out, "I have never seen the director of the center as much as now.. I've gone from trying to manage security reactively with an outdated system to becoming the provider of essential data that will drive future success.".

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