In late 2020, ONVIF announced a Release Candidate for Profile M, a standard which supports analytic configuration and information query for metadata. It also supports the filtering and streaming of metadata. With interfaces for generic object classification and specified metadata for geolocation, vehicle, license plate, human face and human body – Profile M conformant products can be an edge device or an analytic service.

While ONVIF has many Profile standards to promote interoperability of access control and video surveillance systems, Profile M will prove to be a vital addition, as the number of edge devices increases – as well as the use cases for analytics. The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic increased access and uses for video analytics in a more mainstream way – as demands for technologies to assist in social distancing, occupancy management and contactless access increased. 

To discuss the evolution of Profile M, ONVIF Steering Committee member, Todd Dunning, director of product management for Pelco, a Motorola Solutions Company, spoke with Security Info Watch to discuss the implications of this new metadata and analytics profile  for the security industry. The full article can be found here.