AI used to provide insight into life in London’s Olympic Park
The London Legacy Development Corporation is using Fyma’s artificial intelligence platform to transform 32 CCTV cameras into smart devices to inform the next chapter of the park’s future as an innovative and accessible area.
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London is partnering with artificial intelligence (AI) computer vision company Fyma to gain insight into life around the park to inform the next chapter of its future as an innovative and accessible area for all.
The park is managed by the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) which has used Fyma’s AI platform to transform 32 CCTV cameras into smart devices (it did so with cooperation of the Smart Mobility Living Lab, also a site user).
AI insight
Following the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics, the park, which covers 560 acres, is a thriving business, culture, education, sports and leisure hub, with a busy network of roads, public transport and Westfield shopping centre in the vicinity.
The new insights, which examine everything from trends in bicycle users and e-scooters, to the popularity of bus stops and waiting times at road junctions, will help LLDC as it works to make the area more accessible, user-friendly, and sustainable for years to come.
A good indication of traffic volumes can be gathered from Waterden Road, which is the route leading to Westfield shopping centre, where Fyma detected more than nine million people, around 1.6 million buses, some 532,000 bicycles and 100,000 e-scooters.
“As a testbed for urban innovation, we wanted to pilot new ways of using tech to help us serve the needs of the park, its residents and visitors and meet our ambitious growth and development plans”
There has been a major increase (around 50 per cent) in all traffic modes after the lockdown has ended as well as pedestrian footfall. Some areas in the Westfield Stratford City area increased by 50 per cent. At the same time, some areas around the London Stadium decreased by 90 per cent.
The Fyma AI platform is trained to never recognise or process human faces, thereby avoiding any risk that facial data and other biometric data is processed. Fyma achieves this by blurring out human faces on images used to train the AI. So, the algorithms, and even the AI data science teams, never see any human faces. The platform has been used by businesses and local governments across other European cities and towns.
As soon as camera feeds pass through AI analysis, the platform automatically deletes all camera feed data, so none is ever stored by Fyma.
“As a testbed for urban innovation, we wanted to pilot new ways of using tech to help us serve the needs of the park, its residents and visitors and meet our ambitious growth and development plans,” said Emma Frost, director of innovation, sustainability and community at LLDC.
She added: “Our collaboration with Fyma was our first project using the latest AI computer vision platform, in a way that was easy to use, reliable and accurate, and maintained unparalleled levels of data privacy.
“We are keen to work in partnership with the world’s leading innovators, like Fyma, who are passionate about using technology to create better urban futures and have established Shift – the park’s inclusive innovation programme and partnership to drive this forward.”
“Our collaboration with LLDC is another proof-point showing how AI vision can be used for good, and in a way that maintains the highest ethical and privacy standards”
LLDC has invested £1.1bn to develop the East Bank area of the park. Some 40,000 jobs are anticipated in and around the park by 2025, and a forecasted total of 125 million visitors by 2031. The park is also home to Here East, an innovation campus of start-ups and university departments.
“Our collaboration with LLDC is another proof-point showing how AI vision can be used for good, and in a way that maintains the highest ethical and privacy standards by completely avoiding facial recognition, which is unnecessary for the project and too easily leads to biased implications,” said Karen Burns, co-founder and CEO of Fyma.
She continued: “We’re excited to work more with LLDC, turning data insights into real-life changes to make the park more accessible, safe, and enjoyable for all in the years to come. Their emphasis on innovation and public service will prove a template for other urban planners and real estate managers.”
Read more at: https://www.smartcitiesworld.net/ai-and-machine-learning/ai-and-machine-learning/ai-used-to-provide-insight-into-life-in-londons-olympic-park