Promoting the effectiveness of the IOC smart urban model in Vinh City

Experimental steps to create effects

Specifically, along with investment in the Operations Centersmart city90m wide²Located within the City People's Committee campus, the equipment at the IOC control room, 12-panel video wall system with signal controller, rack cabinet, switch equipment, modem...; LAN network system, high-speed internet line are invested and installed to ensure operations at the IOC Center.

Next, the city also coordinated with the construction unit to install 2 traffic surveillance cameras at the intersection of Nguyen Van Cu - Le Hong Phong and Nguyen Van Cu - Nguyen Si Sach; 1 360-degree PTZ camera in the Ho Chi Minh Square area, completing the synchronous LAN infrastructure of the 5-storey Vinh City People's Committee building after renovation.

Technical staff monitor image quality via traffic cameras at the Vinh City IOC Operation Center. Photo: Nguyen Hai

Based on the proposed roadmap, the city has deployed the integrated platform of IOC Center version 1.0, configuring 8 subsystems including scene reflection, security cameras, traffic cameras, information monitoring software on the network environment, SOC information security monitoring system, integrating medical, educational databases, socio-economic indicators; integrating the VMS system to centrally manage 32 cameras at key locations of the city; providing a system for processing scene reflections with web subsystem and application "Vinh Smart” for mobile devices using both IOS and Android operating systems; providing nearly 900 accounts to 54 units across the city, organizing training for all leaders and focal officers of departments, wards and communes... on handling and reporting on the scene of citizens and businesses.

A tree on Dinh Le Street that was at risk of falling was reported by the people and sent to Vinh IOC Center for reception, then Vinh City People's Committee assigned Vinh City Green Park Joint Stock Company to handle within 2 days. Photo: Nguyen Hai

To operate, the city has also established a pilot operation team of 5 members; at the same time, issued temporary regulations on management, operation and use of the IOC monitoring system and temporary regulations on receiving and handling feedback from organizations and citizens via the Vinh Smart online application; regularly receive comments, exchange, guide and promptly handle difficulties and problems in the application of ward and commune officials and civil servants...

Thanks to the Vinh Smart application, the city has been able to handle many urban management issues. Images of the risk of trees falling before the rainy season or the phenomenon of houses without numbers or streets without names reported by people to IOC Vinh have been directed by the city to be handled by relevant departments. There are times when the Department handles dozens of on-site reports from people every month.

Mr. Dang Hieu Lam - Deputy Head of Urban Management Department of Vinh City

By early May 2022, there had been 11,550 downloads of the Vinh Smart application, 3,051 citizen accounts registered to use; 310 complaints were received. As a result, 266 complaints were processed, reaching 86%, 44 complaints were being processed, accounting for 14%; 540 citizen reviews were made, of which the satisfaction rate was 80%, 10% accepted and 10% dissatisfied. In addition to the main function of receiving and processingreflect the scenefrom businesses and people; Vinh Smart application also integrates many other utilities such as providing information from the government to people about Covid-19 epidemic prevention or social distancing; integrating online cameras to send information to support emergency response; utility maps provide locations with scene reflections, serving people's search and lookup needs.

In the long term, if smart cities are effective, the traffic police and urban order forces will reduce the pressure on traffic flow in the walking street every weekend. Photo: Contributor

The high-altitude camera system in Ho Chi Minh Square area and the public Wifi network on Ho Tung Mau and Nguyen Van Cu streets allow monitoring and observing the city center from 2-4 km and within a radius of 300 m; 32 security cameras in wards and communes are also integrated into the system. On average, each month the system records 3,500 news articles from newspapers nationwide and 6,000 news articles from social networks, 1,500 news articles from other sources related to Vinh City; currently, the data system on education, health care and socio-economic index data of the City People's Committee in 2019 and 2020 has been integrated into the system.

In particular, although the traffic and security camera system is not numerous, it has effectively monitored violations. Specifically, the system has recorded 158,500 violations, of which IOC officers have checked and classified 13,009 cases as non-violent (due to traffic lights and other objective reasons leading to the system catching errors incorrectly), 144,667 violations have not been handled because there is no actual penalty procedure.

(Excerpt from the report of Vinh City People's Committee)

Continue to invest and exploit the database well.

Talking to us, Mr. Nguyen Nhu Kien - Officer in charge of Vinh IOC Center said: the benefits and effectiveness of monitoring, operating and managing for society of Vinh IOC are real and undeniable. In the context of increasingly reduced human resources, maintaining extended arms and information channels through this smart application is very necessary. However, in reality, after 1 year of pilot operation, a number of problems and shortcomings have been revealed. In order to operate well, there must be solutions to invest in infrastructure and enhance connectivity, data exploitation and interaction capacity.

If the process of handling fines through traffic cameras is approved, people who stop at red lights and touch the prohibited line or run red lights will be fined without the need for traffic police to monitor the scene. Photo: Contributor

As far as we know, Vinh city implemented the IOC smart urban model according to the Project, decentralized by the province. However, due to the modest initial investment and the part-time staff at IOC Vinh, in which the initial period of operation was mainly monitored by the equipment supplier Viettel, so it only lasted for a while and then lost heat and attention. Specifically, if at the beginning of operation, the rate of accounts downloading the "Vinh Smart" application was quite good, the information reflected from the field was quite a lot and handled effectively, but only for a while and gradually became less, the processed information was less publicized, so the attraction gradually decreased.

Currently, for the Vinh smart urban model to operate well, along with continuing to invest in upgrading technical infrastructure through the installation of additional surveillance cameras and good transmission lines connecting to the Operation Center, a separate group of technical staff is needed at the Center instead of holding concurrent positions as at present. Regarding funding, during the pilot operation period, the city has proactively applied for some investment, but after all, this is a project of the province, so according to the City People's Committee, the province needs to continue to pay attention, support and invest.

From another perspective, if smart urban areas are operated well by increasing the number of traffic cameras at key intersections, Vinh City can use the Vinh Smart software application to warn and guide traffic to reduce congestion during rush hours. Photo: Contributor

It is known that after 1 year of trial operation, in order to re-evaluate and continue implementing items such as roadmap and commitment with suppliers, the City People's Committee has sent a document to relevant departments and the Provincial People's Committee for comments on funding allocation, and at the same time, adding personnel to monitor at IOC. However, only the personnel plan has been approved, but the investment funding for the next phase is still not available.

Regarding data collection for IOC, Vinh City People's Committee plans to ask for opinions and share databases from the system.traffic camerasof the Provincial Traffic Police Department but failed. Currently, the system has not connected or shared data with the Operation Department at the Provincial People's Committee.

Currently, there are many violations of urban order, from encroachment on sidewalks and roadsides to illegal parking and stopping. Every day, based on reports, the city's Rapid Response Team has to handle dozens of cases but cannot always be present at the scene. Having a surveillance camera system is extremely necessary. To manage the city according to the smart urban model, sooner or later the city will have to invest in and increase the number of cameras at public places to both monitor violations and manage officials at the scene.

Mr. Nguyen Tat Thien - Captain of Vinh City Urban Order Team

On the other hand, although there is Vinh Smart application software that can be installed on smartphones, due to the city's weak propaganda, promotion and guidance, and not widely popularized to the people, the number of people downloading and registering for this application account is decreasing and not widely spread.

Similar to traffic violations, thanks to smart urban areas, Vinh City can handle construction units that are careless or do not return the land and sidewalks after licensing and completing urban infrastructure projects. Photo: Nguyen Hai

Finally, the City People's Committee needs to consult the Provincial People's Committee on issuing a penalty procedure for traffic and urban violations. Accordingly, through surveillance from security camera images, traffic and urban violations such as running red lights, littering in public places, etc. can be fined. Currently, after one year of operation, the system has recorded a fairly large rate of traffic violations in Vinh City.

However, to ensure objectivity and accuracy in punishment, the city needs to invest more in modern, synchronous traffic signal infrastructure to eliminate objective reasons, and at the same time integrate AI features such as facial recognition into the camera surveillance system so that punishment is fair and convincing./.