Three app developers have created promising surveillance technology as part of Security and Safety Things GmbH's App Challenge, a contest to spur creative development in video analytic applications. The winning apps were chosen from a pool of more than 30 proposals for solutions that addressed specific security and business use cases in the retail, transportation, healthcare and stadiums and entertainment verticals.

noema, a subsidiary of DSR Corporation based in Colorado, received the highest overall rating for its seat occupancy application to the transportation market. This application allows a surveillance camera to check seat availability and overall occupancy of a train car, as well as determine if the seat is occupied by a human or object. This application seeks to address pain points such as a passenger taking up more than one seat, luggage or pets blocking seating areas, passengers sitting in the wrong seat or section and passengers riding without fare. Each of these issues can impact both train departure as well as overall revenue.

WaterView, based in Italy, received the second highest rating for its FloodCam application, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) software used to monitor infrastructure or areas which are subject to flooding episodes, such as road underpasses or areas close to riverbanks. This app recognizes portions of the images where water is present and raises an alert if the estimated water coverage exceeds a certain threshold. To keep privacy in mind, the image taken can be masked so that only a desired region of interest is taken into account.

Studio Automated, based in Amsterdam, was the third winner for its Virtual Surveillance Assistant (VSA) application, an AI algorithm developed by The Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO). This application can detect anomalies in video footage and can specifically be trained to detect aggressive behavior at stadiums and in transportation vehicles and venues. Besides the detection of aggression, the footage analyzed by this app can also be used for analysis of walkways and footpaths, as well as passenger behavior in general. This will allow decision-makers to optimize operations at airports, stadiums and bus and railway stations.

These winners were chosen by a jury of representatives including 22 prominent integrators from around the globe and will be awarded individual prizes of 10,000€ each. Read more about the winning apps here.