Problem

BC Ministry of Transportation & Infrastructure (MoTI) was operating a small network of proprietary construction cameras to monitor the progress of major infrastructure projects throughout the province. Though the cameras worked well, they were expensive, proprietary, and included several features that were not needed for the Ministry's purposes.

Solution

An Information System (IS), specifically tailored to the Ministry's requirements, was implemented—it includes an internet web app serving as the front-end UI, and back-end services to perform scheduled image collection and distribution. The system integrates with more open, and less expensive, IP cameras, thereby enabling more flexible and economical monitoring of construction progress throughout the province. Live video streaming and camera control enable project stakeholders to remotely monitor site conditions in real-time. A map-based UI facilitates selection of cameras of interest to the user, and the image archive browser enables quick and intuitive access to available photos. Camera image archive retention policies ensure that consumed file storage remains within reasonable limits.

Notable aspects of this project include:

  • Implementation of an internet web app based on ASP.NET, together with jQuery and KnockoutJS for front-end client interactivity,
  • Integration with various IP cameras via vendor-specific and industry standard APIs for image capture and video streaming,
  • Leveraging OpenCV computer vision library to implement image stitching pipeline for panoramic image generation,
  • Integration with video streaming software for scalable, live video streaming,
  • Integration with FTP servers for image distribution to external services.

Interface 48 delivered this project in collaboration with PBX Engineering.