Several CCTV cameras with sophisticated data analytics software that monitors crowd mood and density will be temporarily installed along Sydney’s Oxford Street as part of the Mardi Gras Parade on Saturday.
Technology that counts mobile phones by measuring radiofrequency has been separately installed at several shopfronts in Darlinghurst and Surry Hills to count people as part of WorldPride.
It is the first time either technology has been used as part of Mardi Gras and WorldPride, although it has previously been used for Sydney’s New Year’s Eve celebrations and the annual Vivid festival of light.
The sophisticated CCTV software can detect an average mood of a crowd by creating ranks of happy, neutral, sad, and angry – it can also measure the speed of groups walking.
While some of the software’s functions can be disabled, Mardi Gras has decided to use all the capabilities so proactive calls could be made about crowd safety.
At a parade like Mardi Gras, the argument is that knowing simply a headcount, for example, might not provide critical information needed to take action. Instead, knowing the density or mood of a specific area of Oxford Street will allow Mardi Gras to identify if a pinch point is occurring there — which can lead to crowd crush if not addressed — while only knowing the headcount wouldn’t provide that.
The argument by some for using smart CCTV software is that crowds often won’t distribute themselves evenly and safely without intervention – and such technology can help manage that.
Mardi Gras said the company behind the software, Dynamic Crowd Measurement, was only engaged for the parade and would be used to support on-ground staff to “direct people to less crowded zones if areas are becoming too full”.
“The technology helps with managing the safety of the crowd by measuring capacities, allowing operations to zone in on an area that needs immediate response or to plan ahead for where there are areas of growing crowds,” a Mardi Gras spokesperson said.
Mardi Gras pointed to the Seoul Halloween crowd crush that killed 159 people last year as justification for the use of the CCTV software, which it said was “not used for surveillance and does not track or collect any personal information”.
“There is no facial recognition tracking and it cannot track people from one place to another. It provides real-time metrics that snapshot the crowd across the entire route at any given point to inform proactive crowd management decision-making,” the spokesperson said.
“With hundreds of thousands of spectators set to descend on Oxford and Flinders streets, Dynamic Crowd Measurement will be an important tool to help parade operations avoid potential incidents.”
A Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras officer will monitor the CCTV software on parade night and “feed specific metrics to police who help direct crowds”, Mardi Gras said. “All data will be handled by the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras team and only provided to event stakeholders including police at specific times on the night when it is relevant for crowd safety decisions.”
While footage will not be recorded, metrics to help with crowd management will be, such as density and speed. The technology doesn’t use City of Sydney CCTV, but temporarily installed cameras.
Mardi Gras said Dynamic Crowd Measurement offered the best solution for Mardi Gras to safely manage crowds.
“There is other technology that can help with crowd management through pinging mobile phones in the area. However, due to the large numbers of crowds expected at [the] parade, phone networks will be unreliable, making it difficult to receive accurate data to make important operational decisions.”
But tech experts the Herald spoke to refuted the claim that mobile pinging technology was unreliable with large crowds. This, they say, is because the technology does not require mobile devices to have any connections to a cell tower.
WorldPride will make use of software known as “radio frequency density” measuring technology, with devices from company Behavioural Analytics used to measure crowds attending “Pride Villages” – mini street festivals that will involve shutting down portions of Crown, Riley and Foley streets to traffic.
On Thursday, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age observed at least two of the mobile phone tracking boxes installed – at underwear shop Daily Jocks on Oxford Street, and at Ziggy’s Barber Salon on Riley Street.
“Sydney WorldPride are using safety technology that estimates how many people are in an area via pings to mobiles phones,” a Sydney WorldPride spokesperson said. “This technology does not require cameras and the data is not personally identifiable. All that is reported is the amount of mobile phones in the area. Sydney WorldPride are covering the cost of this safety technology.”
NSW Police referred requests to comment on the two technologies to Mardi Gras and WorldPride, but said it had been working with them and a range of government agencies to “provide a safe and secure environment for those attending Mardi Gras Parade”.
“That includes plans to manage traffic and transport, public safety and health and crowd management,” it said. “Police will be deployed from police area commands across the metropolitan area, supported by specialist officers. from SMH
In bedded in the article is how both technologies work. No facial recognition, yet it assesses mood? No recording and no data collection just metrics such as crowd density and speed?
The two companies offering their services are Behavioural Analytics & Dynamic Crowd Measurement. – from Bliskitt, Qld
How many have contacted the ABC protesting their promotion of sodomy? Sodomy is Biblically described as an abomination?
Aboriginals viewers are given warning of things that might offend them but Christians are given no warning at all.
The ABC is shamelessly anti-Christian!
Dont take your smartfones to the parade if you’re taking a sickie to go watch it…Your boss might be able to access info about you being at the parade…
(The gays on parade should have no worries…there’s no where in their skimpy outfits to hide their gadgets…
Hasnt been needed at previous gay parades…
Using the occassion to get people used to being spied on all the time…
Not all the high-tech proactive crowd management decision making in the world could safeguard the Sodomy Parade from Lidia Thorpe and prevent her efforts to upstage the pride events of Feb 25. Lidia was forcibly removed from the Parade by police for laying down in front of a float in a lewd position.
She used the occasion of her removal to culturally appropriate the ‘pride’ label from the Sodoms for ‘The Voice’.
https://xyz.net.au/2023/02/loony-lidia-thorpe-evicted-from-sydney-sodomy-parade/.
As one might imagine, this did not gel with any of the creative pronouns or unicorn genders marching in the parade.
Out of the parade, she took to Twitter: “Black and Brown women started the first pride march …” Where is Albo when you need him?
https://twitter.com/SenatorThorpe/status/1629464967471857665/photo/1
Never forget that it was Neville Wran who “legislated” the go ahead for this debauchery when he was “premier” of NSW……..Neville Wran who was a frequent visitor to Costello’s…..a “night club” in Kings Cross that where “boys for rent” could be found out the back
No doubt, the whole show can be traced to Biden’s household, – and his close advisers.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-white-house-brags-about-most-staff-being-black-female-or-lgbtq
At least we know who’s running the West.
When will you guys stop living in a prison island? Hopefully as soon as us bobby dazzlers of c u next tuesdays do. We need to fight back.
Nothing like breaking the public into accepting mass surveillance and tracking, eh? After all, it is for our safety, isn’t it? lol
And not an eyebrow raised by the hapless sheep.
It’s the next phase of their test run to use these technologies permanently!
We are being misled lied to and constantly being distracted from reality!
Compared to Carnivale in Brazil, Mardi Gras is consistently the tackiest thing I have ever seen-and it is consistently tacky, year after year.
People in Brazil are often poor, but put on such a brilliant parade, yet these often quite well off gays put on such a boorish-looking display.
My attitude is not anti-gay, as I never have been, but about having a bit of class.
And for that organisation to accept the infiltration of this technology is abysmal, given that a dystopian digital age is in various stages of a wide-ranging attempt to foist this technology on us.
That is pretty ignorant and brain dead, as far as I am concerned.
We have serious problems in the world when establishments transition to enact a process of normalising a human behaviour were a majority of the population would view it as a psychological human disorder.
Good example – hovered over ATO annual report 2022 and came across a page called Diversity – tabling employees belonging to diversity groups in particular LGBTI+ being 2.5% of total 20375 employees.
Bit of perspective and do I just shake my head and bury it in the sand. First rule of controlling an individual is break the family unit eliminating an informed group opinion.
As in Australia’s “mother country and great example in the western world” the JUSSR of America where Mardi Gras has become established daily in politics, Australia and Albo are not too far behind.
https://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Levine-Brinton.jpg
So, remember at YOUR next election: Australia needs more Queers, transvestites, psychopaths, cat’s and dolphins and all other lost souls who have wandered of the downtrodden tracks of humanity into a perverted political delirium of no return! Make your vote count, GO AUSSIES!
I wonder if the “mood detectors” will sound out alarms to “police” about any Lewd acts being conducted in public?
You know, acts of exposing ones “bits” in public, indecency and sexual gratification are Criminal Acts…..unless of course you’re a biological male dressed as a Nun with your cock out and another Nun is at the “Alter” on hands and knees…….
Let’s hope ElbowSleazy is well and truly “buggered” by all the “enthusiasm and joy” promoted at the ‘gras
… if a farmer found his livestock behaving in this fashion, then if he didn’t outright shoot them all just to put them out of their sick misery, it would be off to the glue factory for the lot (because no ethical farmer would feed these terminally dysfunctional abominations to any reputable abbotoir – that would be like trying to feed fake meat made out of pure gobs of cancer to unsuspecting customers).
Then he’d have to set about determining what poisoned his stock in the first place…
I see nothing to celebrate in this anti-family campaign, for that is what it is and why Soros has supported it.