Milestone's IP Video Platform keeps beaches safe and sound

Milestone Systems' world-leading open platform IP video management software is being used by Coastalwatch, an innovative analytics and media content company that services international surf life saving and coastal management needs by delivering live and recorded video and information on beaches and coastlines around the globe via its CoastalCOMS division.

As a main component of the CoastalCOMS monitoring platform, the Queensland, Australia-based company is using Milestone XProtect software to provide live video surveillance and analytics solutions to marine safety and coastal management officials in several cities in Australia and the United States. CoastalCOMS' analytics software and multi-national network of hosted coastal cameras are also used for the collection of real-time data, such as wave height and wave period analysis, vessel monitoring and counting, people counting on beaches, as well as tracking changes in the shoreline and general beach state.

With access to over a hundred Coastalwatch-owned cameras on the ground in Australia and many more private or municipally owned cameras in the U.S and abroad, CoastalCOMS uses Milestone XProtect software to centrally view and control cameras globally, layering in the ability to extract data for environmental monitoring, public education, tourism and recreational usage.

Different combinations of the imagery and information are used by such customers as the City and County of Honolulu Hawaii's Ocean Safety Division, where CoastalCOMS assists surf lifesavers with hosted surveillance platforms capable of wave height analysis and people counting. The City of Galveston, Texas, also chose CoastalCOMS for surveillance of remote beaches because it increased the ability to measure the amount of shoreline change as a result of hurricanes.

"Milestone XProtect software allows us to create 'networks' of coastal cameras on the fly, patterning and sourcing video from both new and existing beach cameras according to each customer's needs. We then process the video in real time for different groups based on their reporting needs and workflows," says Tim Chandler, President/CEO of CoastalCOMS. "Integrated into our solution using the Milestone SDK, XProtect makes it possible for us to provision access to the video and cameras so only the right people can view the video and information at the right times."

Video streams from a CoastalCOMS camera network being used by Surf Life Saving Queensland are also available to the public on Coastalwatch.com, which provides live video images, wave height and swell information, daily surf reports and other news to the international surfing community.