The Tour de France’s tour of Yorkshire will see real time live footage sent securely from a number of camera deployments along the Yorkshire route of Le Tour.
That is thanks to Thirsk-based wireless live video product company Vemotion. Stewart McCone, Managing Director of Vemotion, pictured, said: “We have powered live video streaming from the lead vehicle in the Tour de France to the control room in Paris in previous years. While it will be nice working closer to home, it’s all in a day’s work for us, really. We are proud to be playing such a key ‘behind the scenes’ role in the Tour and contributing to the success of the UK stages.”
The Grand Départ starts in Leeds on Saturday, July 5, taking riders around North and West Yorkshire, before finishing in Harrogate. Stage two begins the next day in York, with riders circling Leeds and Bradford, before reaching Sheffield. Vemotion will allow critical points along the route to be monitored. The finale in Britain will be stage three, starting in Cambridge and finishing in London on July 7.
Vemotion points to its compression technology, with low bandwidth supplying quality images in real time via the company’s secure server. People either tend to assume CCTV footage is already easily available and widely shared from every event; while others actually question its value. Yet, as the tragic events at the Jim Clark Rally in Scotland have shown, it is not always the case that live CCTV is available everywhere, and it is missed when absent because CCTV is about far more than just ‘catching a crook’ – increasingly it is proving an essential tool in ensuring public safety and in this case, athlete and spectator security too, the firm says.
McCone said: “People outside the industry tend to think this sort of technology has existed for many years, when in reality it is a relatively recent innovation. This is why we have so many clients in policing and security, with many interested in hearing ‘how we do it’. CCTV is not new. Mobile cameras and fixed cameras with live streaming is not new, but our combination of abilities to produce high quality streaming images over low bandwidth at relatively low cost – whilst offering at the same time a live ‘secure share’ facility to security partners – certainly is.”
Vemotion describes its products as ‘plug and play’, designed to dovetail with hardware and infrastructure, so no new equipment or extra capex investment is required. The company adds that any would-be users have legacy equipment and they need a bridge from the past to the present.
Given the technology, an incident picked up in the UK would be usable as evidence for the Gendarmerie in France too; while the technology provides the ability to engage not just the key agencies but the stewards along the route too.
The British Transport Police in Scotland have confirmed they too will be using Vemotion equipment this summer, in overt surveillance as a key part of their security for the Commonwealth Games. Police Scotland will be streaming live images from the field to the command and control centre.
“Hopefully, there will be no serious incidents for the Grand Départ to contend with, but CCTV provides the authorities – and indeed the general public – with real peace of mind. The eyes of the world will be on us, and it is critically important we get it right,” added McCone.
Visit http://www.vemotion.com/, or call 08444 906 906, or email [email protected].
