SURFERS and beachgoers could soon check out the swell in Bargara and Agnes Water from the comfort of their own homes if a plan for 24-hour online camera monitoring goes ahead.

Surf Life Saving Queensland Wide Bay Capricorn regional manager Craig Holden said initial assessments had been carried out on Kelly’s Beach, Bargara, and Main Beach in Agnes Water to determine their suitability for continuous video monitoring systems.

“There are a lot of considerations we need to take on board in terms of location and power access, but we think it’s something which would be an asset to the region and it’s something we will keep looking into,” he said.

The cameras would allow the public to check beach conditions on the www.coastalwatch.com website, with footage streamed live 24 hours a day.

Mr Holden said the technology could be an important tool for surf lifesavers to use to improve safety and prevent drownings, as well as for surfers who wanted to check out conditions.

“It’s an exciting avenue for us to try and improve beach safety and would help us monitor areas further away from the flags, and keep an eye on things when no one is on duty,” he said.

The project has pricked the ears of local surfers, who hope to be able to cast an eye over conditions at the two popular surfing beaches with a simple click of the mouse.

Pacifique Boardriders Club president Keith Drinkwater said the surf community would throw its full support behind the project, saying it could also help to boost the profile of the beaches.

“It’s a great service for swimmers and surfers,” he said.

“People from out of town can see what the conditions are like before driving all the way to the beach. I think it would also help bring surfers from other areas, which would be a shot in the arm for local businesses.”

Coastal Watch technical support manager Graham Clark said Bargara and Agnes Water were on the company’s radar and would be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

“We need to work with the local community to determine the need for it and then go from there,” he said.

“We appreciate that this agreement allows us to continue to support and work with those who provide lifesaving services here in California, while providing useful information services to the beach-going public”, continued Chandler. “Our goal is to provide a multi-use camera platform that benefits not only the surfers and beach users but gives something back to those who work to keep the beaches safe and operational.”

“This is a perfect partnership for us,” said Solspot.com CSO Jens Rasmussen. “The technology behind these new cameras aligns with our goal to provide the most accurate ways of understanding current and future conditions on the beach and in the surf. The high definition broadcasting backed by live readings of the wave conditions is exactly the type of information our surf audience expects.”

For more information, contact:

Tim Chandler
Coastalwatch USA | CoastalCOMS
tim at coastalwatch dot com

Jens Rasmussen, CSO
Big Orange Dot LLC
jp at solspotllc dot com

This broadcast was unique as it showcased the ability to publish high quality, HD content from lifeguard surveillance camera systems to the web, with integration of real time data as video images of the surf zone were processed in real time during the contest.

For more information on the Lifeguard Nationals visit the USLA website, or USLANationals.org.

Chris Lane, General Manager of Research and Development of CoastalCOMS is presenting this paper at the 2010 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium in Hawaii next week.

To see this paper, please click here.

View presentation poster, please click here.

For more information on the IEEE IGARSS, go to http://www.igarss10.org/.

In a paid trail that will carry through the 2010 season, State officials are working with CoastalCOMS hosted monitoring software and Coastalwatch’s national camera network to command and control a portion of the Coastalwatch cameras along the Queensland coast line. This deal showcase’s the CoastalCOMS platform’s ability to integrate with existing surveillance camera networks and government systems and policies to offer hosted, government-focused software services in support of broad coastal and environmental management.

Media Coverage:

• NineMSN Press Release
• ComputerWorld Australia Release
• Bay Journal Release
• Article on Coastalwatch

If your organization is interested in finding out more about the shark net monitoring program or how you can leverage the CoastalCOMS platform to quickly get up and running with your monitoring program, we stand ready to assist.

Mobile Beach Monitoring and Surveillance Unit

FEATURES INCLUDE:

• 3G/4G Connectivity via USB Modem
• Supports Sprint, ATT, Verizon, and Other Carriers
• Standard and High-Definition Camera Options
• Amplified VoIP Loudspeaker supports prerecorded or live broadcast from anywhere (headquarters, substations, etc)
• Support for AC Charging, even on Solar Units
• Solar Powered Options
• Battery Operation for Short Deploys

SUPPORTED COASTALCOMS DATA SERVICES:

• Real-Time Wave Height and Period
• People Counting by Beach Area
• Recordings to 365 days with Terabytes of Network Storage Available
• Scheduled Video Loop or Image Recording
• Live Images/Video for Web

Of note, the units are preprogrammed and support “drop-in deployment” – meaning video is instantly available in headquarters and on other substation or mobile displays when the unit powers on. This makes it possible to trailer mount or truck mount the unit, roll out to a beach, and immediately have full surveillance systems and public address systems in place.

Benefits include:

• Very Little Setup Time with Support for Over 600 Camera Models
• Works with New or Existing Cams, Wired or Wireless
• Customizable Archive Size, Distribution, Authentication
• Managed Camera Service Plans
• Low Fees per Month rather than Expensive Up Front Purchase

As your project expands or your needs grow, resources can be moved local to your area while maintaining the ability to fail over to the CoastalCOMS monitoring network in the event your local systems become unavailable.  Utility pricing models allow your organization to scale up, without paying for resources you’re not using.

If you’re already running digital or analog surveillance cameras or have partners running cameras that you’d like to take advantage we can help. In the same way that we’ve enabled multi-camera utilization and data processing for Coastalwatch.com cameras – we can assist you and your partner organizations with understanding the ins and outs of shared camera systems, planning sharing scenarios, and dealing with access control issues, liability concerns, and public sharing or publishing.

Not Just Video Archives, Data Archives

By utilizing CoastalCOMS collection systems and methodologies, you’re ensured that you’re not just storing raw video. We collect and store video information such that in can be processed for wave information, people counts, shoreline counts, vessel movements, and motion sensing in arrears. Highlight an area of video, and move through the archives searching for information and data automatically via full application or web services in your Internet browser.

Recently Bill Klink, Vice President of Flir’s security and surveillance business unit discussed the challenge of supporting video analytics with thermographic images and video when tracking transient things like moving people or animals in environments where virtually everything in view is in motion. This problem is clearly illustrated when monitoring the beach for people who have entered the water, yet Flir infrared technology allows for tuning imagery to clearly depict people engaged in various activities within the surf zone.

You’ll see in our video samples on Youtube that with Flir technology it’s possible to pick out many items of interest to coastal safety or beach ecology professionals, from beachgoers, to boats and personal water craft usage, to monitoring people surfing or swimming in the breaking waves and shore break areas.

We’re proud of our growing relationship with Flir in both Australia and the US, and for this demonstration we’re using a Flir infrared camera that provides highly repeatable temperature measurement and thermographic imaging for a very reasonable cost (thousands, not tens of thousands). While many people immediately think “night vision” when the hear about thermal images, this video was taken at mid-day to show usage of thermography during daylight hours on a sandy beach.

Flir offers a wide range of cameras and remote sensing equipment that fits well for use in coastal applications. Building solutions coupled with Milestone, Flir, and CoastalCOMS software, our consulting team offers unique combinations of intelligent surveillance patterning, motion detection, and alarming based on weather or changing coastal environmental conditions.

If you’re interested in finding out more about options with thermal and infrared technology, and how Flir solutions might fit for various applications – please don’t hesitate to contact us.  We’ll show you applicable solutions and case studies from environments like yours, and for those of you who own Milestone, Sony, or other video management platforms we can help navigate the integration with Flir.

UPDATE 3/17/10: Video of Strong Run at Doheny Beach, CA

The CoastalCOMS team is operating a multi-camera, mobile, beach camera unit this spring and recording late into the night in hopes of ‘catching’ local fish.   We’ve coordinated our efforts with local grunion experts, and our goal is to provide thermal and low lux video and images of the beach and surf zones to those interested in the annual grunion runs along the California coast.

While it’s understood the fish themselves don’t produce a heat signature, thermal imaging may be useful for viewing the water and beach areas in which these fish are spawning.  By looking for patterns in the sand with thermal cameras and comparing with imaging from low lux or infrared video cameras, we expect we’ll be able to provide indications of fish and wildlife activities and human interactions/impacts during the spawning events.

We’ll be focused primarily on Doheny Beach early in the season, but ultimately may move as far North or South as Santa Barbara or San Diego as we seek to provide useful visual observations of at least one high activity area for the 2010 season.

Grunion Cam Broadcasting Live

During our observation runs, we’re broadcasting imaging live from the mobile unit.  If you’re a coastal scientist or research organization interested in remote control of the cameras or in outputs and outcomes – please drop us a line for a schedule of when we’ll be on the beach.

Sample recordings from the early season are already available – see the CoastalCOMS Youtube Channel and let us know what you think.

March 16th, 2010: First Grunion of the Season Caught on CoastalCOMS Mobile Thermal Imaging System

These first images are from a W2 size run at Doheny, and we are now positive we can see the fish on the sand. Teaser sample of what this looks like on the CoastalCOMS Youtube Channel. Also of note, there are Great Blue Herons and birdlife in this video…

March 17th, 2010: Strong, Early Season Grunion Run at Doheny Beach, CA

We’re excited to say that last night we captured what experts on site tell us was a 2 or 3 on the Walker scale. The video clearly shows birds and humans interacting with the run from scouts to finish. Check out the video here for a 10 min clip, and please contact us for access to raw footage.