Jakarta X Nodeflux: Creating a Smarter City Through Vision AI

The future is now and it is built upon young minds with a fresh outlook upon the world, looking ahead towards the temporal horizon and brainstorming new methods which would help us reach it faster and more efficiently by the day. Recent years have seen a rise in technological startup companies with these innovative thinkers at the helm. The Provincial Government of Jakarta has noticed these seeds of progress and aims to nurture them into something greater through the spirit of collaboration. As such, the Provincial Government has formed partnerships with several of these startups, among which is Nodeflux.

[Jakarta X Startups: Collaboration in The Time of Pandemic]

Founded by Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) graduates, Nodeflux is a shining example of these technology startups led by innovative young minds. Established in 2016 as a startup specializing in Big Data analysis, Nodeflux has now become the first and largest vision artificial intelligence company in Indonesia. Nodeflux and the Provincial Government signed a mutual MoU last September 2019, in hopes that their collaborative efforts will bring large strides in turning Jakarta into a Smart City. Since then, this partnership has resulted in many programs and plans with the use of vision-based AI, Visionaire. The following are some of their fruits of labor:

1. Jakarta Tax Initiative

The Jakarta Tax Initiative aims to use Visionaire’s license plate recognition capabilities to optimize the locally-generated revenue and vehicle tax of each registered vehicle. Potential locally-generated revenues are projected to reach IDR169 million.

1. Vehicle Counting & Monitoring GAGE

With the abundance of cars and motorcycles zooming through Jakarta’s streets, the Visionaire License Plate Recognition & Vehicle Counting Classification can be used to accurately calculate as well as categorize the vehicles of Jakarta citizens. This may also identify whether or not a vehicle is obeying the Odd-Even rule on a given day.

1. Air Pollution Monitoring

An abundance of motor vehicles, unfortunately, results in an abundance of air pollution. Nodeflux intends to use the Vehicle Counting Classification system to relate the number of vehicles in the streets to the severity of air pollution in Jakarta.

1. Waste Monitoring of Water Gates and Rivers

Using the Visionaire Waste Monitoring and Water Level Management system, waste blockage and water levels in Jakarta’s water gates and rivers will be closely monitored as a prevention method or an early warning system for potential flooding. Sensors placed on the CCTV cameras along Jakarta’s main rivers will send warning signals if the water surface level rises above normal. This way, flooding risks can be mitigated more efficiently.

1. Transjakarta Shelter Monitoring

By installing cameras in TransJakarta stops along with the implementation of Visionaire, citizens can know how many people are at the stops at any given time as well as an extra security measure in case of vehicle intrusion.

1. MRT Jakarta Station Monitoring

Similarly, the use of the Visionaire People Counting, Crowd Estimation, and Face Recognition can detect how many people are in each MRT station and the number of passengers inside each MRT carriage.

1. Monitoring Streetside Vendors

The implementation of Crowd Analytics will be very useful in assisting the municipal police (Satpol PP) in patrolling the city streets, and the Sidewalk Vending Acquisition system will help in identifying unauthorized streetside vendors. A Face Recognition Command Center is planned to be built in Satpol PP headquarters. 

1. COVID-19 Solutions

Amidst the pandemic raging across the country, Nodeflux proposes several ways Visionaire may assist during these times. Among which are detecting the distance between pedestrians to ensure the physical distancing rules of 1 meter are upheld, as well as facial recognition to detect whether or not a citizen is wearing a mask while outdoors. In addition, graphs of data regarding the development of COVID-19 in Jakarta can be seen in the Data Visualization sub-menu on the Jakarta COVID-19 Response website.

[Jakarta during pandemic through data and numbers]

The possibilities for implementing vision-based AI are endless. Hopefully, these technologies will continue to improve the quality of life of every citizen. Expect more results of the Jakarta Provincial Government and Nodeflux collaboration in the coming years as Jakarta advances further into becoming a Smart City.