Russia pavilion uses crime fighting technology to track Expo 2020 visitor numbers

Visitors to Russia’s Expo 2020 Dubai pavilion are being monitored by surveillance technology that is comparable to the facial recognition software that is used to follow criminals in the Russian capital.

Visitors’ numbers, as well as their ages and gender, are provided by Ntech Lab software, which collects information from existing cameras at the Russia pavilion.

The information is confidential and will only be used to provide pavilion organizers with information about foot traffic during Expo and the need for additional security in more crowded locations.

In the United States, video analytics are utilized to help staff monitor Covid-19 rules; however, in Russia, the technology is employed on a larger scale to combat crime and locate missing persons.
“This technology is already being used successfully in Moscow to detect criminals and assist law enforcement in the search for missing people,” said Andemir Bizhoev, regional sales director for NTechLab.

“It can assess an individual’s pattern of behavior by determining the locations where they spend the majority of their time.

“If the authorities have built a watchlist of suspects with images, the algorithm can recognize specific attributes and determine whether or not there is a match.

The ability to recognize individuals makes this type of research extremely important when police forensics are trying to piece together an investigation.

It is possible to do real-time, high-precision facial recognition in a video feed, and the findings may be compared with those in police databases.

According to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, around 5,000 crimes were resolved in Moscow in 2020 as a result of the use of a video analytics system integrated with face recognition.
Facial recognition is a technology that employs biometrics to map facial traits from a photograph or video, which is then compared with a database of known faces to determine whether or not there is a match between the two.

Some financial institutions have embraced technology to allow new customers to open accounts electronically, rather than having to physically visit a financial institution for identification.

For example, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) was one of the first businesses in the United Arab Emirates to embrace technology, allowing new clients to open accounts remotely and online, using their face as identification verification via their smartphone camera.

Mr Bizhoev explained that while Ntech Lab software can extract some details such as age, gender, facial hair, and other identifying traits like as glasses, it can have difficulty identifying persons who are wearing a protective facemask.

Visitors to the Russia pavilion, which is designed to look like a traditional matryoshka wooden stacking doll, are not required to provide any personal information.