“There have been huge advancements in both facial recognition analytics and in network camera technology, which is ultimately the source that the analytics have to work from.Retail outlets and CCTV vendors are catching on to the opportunities for a return on investment facial recognition technology provide.
“In particular HDTV cameras offer higher resolution video and enhanced clarity and sharpness, that complements the accuracy of facial recognition solutions making identification even simpler and more accurate.”
The article neglects to mention, however, that the installed base of CCTV cameras is poorly suited to facial recognition.
Facial recognition is what it says: the recognition of faces. It's not top-of-the-head recognition; it's not profile recognition; it's not back-of-the-head recognition. In general, CCTV cameras have been installed to observe and/or record what people are doing, not who they are. They have been deployed to answer the question, "what's going on?"
This is changing and can be overcome by moving a camera down and changing its zoom to where it is capturing good face images. As CCTV installers become more familiar with facial recognition technology, results will improve dramatically.
