A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to a Surveillance Technology Impact Report (STIR)

SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY IMPACT REPORT Department: Traffic, Parking, and Transportation (TPT) Division or Unit Street Management (if applicable): Submitted by: Brooke McKenna, Jeffrey Parenti, Stephen Meuse Date: 09/09/24 Surveillance NDS Aura Traffic Count Mobile Camera Units Technology: 1. Describe how the proposed Surveillance Technology will work, including how it will collect Surveillance Data. • NDS Aura is a portable, battery operated, video-based traffic data collection unit. It is a standalone unit that is deployed in the field for unattended traffic data collection. The camera unit(s) are placed along the street, typically affixed to a street light post, traffic signpost, utility pole, or similar. The camera lens is focused on the roadway, but may also capture people walking on sidewalks or within the vicinity of the camera. For roadway segments, one unit is used, while for intersections, additional units are placed to capture the various intersection approaches. Video is collected over a series of days and stored in the unit on a digital storage card. At the end of the data collection period, the unit is removed, and data is taken from the storage card and processed for traffic data. During deployment only, the units also communicate wirelessly to a nearby phone with the proprietary application used to set up the camera/detection angles and to start or stop the recordings. The units do not stream data to any device outside the immediate range of the unit. NDS Aura units do not have the capability of detecting and recording Media Access Control (MAC) addresses from nearby phones and other devices that are searching for wireless networks within their range. The City of Cambridge does not own or plan to purchase NDS Aura units. However, the units are used regularly by traffic engineering and transportation planning consultants in order to collect traffic data in Cambridge to complete Traffic Impact Studies and other transportation related studies on behalf of the City. 2. What is the purpose of the Surveillance Technology? • The purpose of this technology is to analyze and manage service delivery. In this case, collecting traffic video and data that is later processed to provide a variety of traffic related data such as turning movement counts, intersection counts and classifications, road volume counts, and travel times. TPT only receives and uses the anonymized

traffic data, which after processing by the vendor, is sent to the City as numbers, tallies, graphs, and figures in PDF and Excel format. TPT does not use nor view the raw surveillance data collected by the units. The units are similar to the Miovision Scout camera units that are already approved by the Council for the same type of traffic data collection. TPT has more recently received requests by engineering consultants to use alternative technology from other manufacturers to complete traffic data collection work within the City. We feel that having more than one option for this service will promote more competitive pricing, better scheduling options, and improved data quality. 3. Where will the Surveillance Technology be deployed? When? • These units are deployed in the field, at various locations on a temporary basis. The units are typically attached to a traffic signpost, utility pole, or street light pole within the public right of way. The boxes are locked and inaccessible during deployment. • Deployment is based on the need for transportation data for use in a transportation study, Traffic Impact Study, or other transportation-related data analysis. Units are typically in place for two to five days, depending on the duration of the traffic study. 4. What privacy impact will the Surveillance Technology have? • NDS Aura units are capable of recording video at 1080P resolution. This resolution video offers limited personal information and does not include license plate reading ability, limiting privacy impacts. At least 90% of data collection (these counts included) is done with the resolution set at 490P, with even less personally identifiable information visible. In addition, all video recordings will be done within the public right of way and videos will be stored by the vendor for no longer than 90 days. The Traffic, Parking, and Transportation Department has implemented a permitting system for third-parties that requires pre-approval for all deployments of video-based traffic data collection devices. The permit requires that all deployments meet certain data security and data retention requirements. This technology will also be required to be permitted through this process. 5. What are the fiscal costs of the Surveillance Technology, including initial costs, ongoing maintenance and personnel costs, and source of funds? • Traffic data collection is typically performed on an as-needed basis within the City and is organized by private engineering consultants under contract with the City. All

associated costs to perform the work are built into these contracts. Alternatively, costs may be paid by the City with a traffic data collection vendor directly if this work is part of an on-call traffic data collection contract. TPT plans to have a contract for traffic data collection in the future, for which a vendor may propose NDS Aura or another approved traffic data collection device. Typical prices per location for this type of work are in the $400-$1,000 range, depending on complexity of the roadway or intersection. There are no ongoing costs or subscription fees associated with using this technology.