The Cameras section puts the camera tools of your community in one place. To open it, select Cameras in the navigation menu. The section opens on the first tab that you can see.
The tabs depend on the cameras of your community:
- The Live, Analytics, LPR and APM tabs show when your community uses the Eagle Eye camera integration.
- The Activity clips tab shows when your community has a paired kiosk tablet or saved kiosk clips.
| Tab | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Live | The live feed of each camera. |
| Analytics | A search of the video events that your cameras recorded. |
| LPR | The plate reads of your license plate recognition (LPR) cameras. |
| APM | The guests and vendors who are still on site. |
| Activity clips | The short clips that a kiosk saves when there is movement at the gate. |
By default, the Admin, Supervisor and Gate Attendant roles can open each tab. Residents do not see the Cameras section. By default, only the Admin role can open Camera settings.
Live
The Live tab shows a grid of live feeds.
- The list at the left shows each camera and its bridge. To find a camera by name, use Search cameras. To load the list again, select the refresh button next to Cameras.
- At first, the grid shows each camera. To remove a feed from the grid, select its camera in the list. To add the feed back, select the camera again.
- To show the feeds in one, two or three columns, select 1x, 4x or 9x next to Layout.
- Each feed has an Online or an Offline chip. An offline camera shows no video.
- If a feed does not load, it shows We could not load this camera. Trying again. The video comes back when the camera loads.
- To open a feed in a larger window, select the feed. The window has a full-screen button and a Close button.
- To fill the screen with the online feeds of the grid, select Enter fullscreen. To show only one feed, select it. To go back to the grid, select the feed again. To exit, select the close button at the top right, or press Esc.
Analytics
Use the Analytics tab to search the video that your cameras recorded. You do not have to play hours of video to find an event.
1. Select the Analytics tab.
2. Optional: In Search query (optional), type what you look for, for example "red car", "person" or "white vehicle". To get all events, leave the field empty.
3. In Time range, select a period from Last 1 hour to Last 7 days. To set your own start and end, select Custom range.
4. In Camera, keep All cameras or select one camera.
5. Select Search.
Each result shows a thumbnail, the camera name, the date and time, and the type of event. Under the filters, a box shows the number of results. To open Event video, select a result. The window shows the camera, the time and the event type, and it plays the video of the event.
If you get too many results, use a narrower query, a shorter time range or one camera. If you get no results, use a more general query, for example "vehicle" in place of "red sedan".
LPR
The LPR tab lists the plate reads of your LPR cameras. The tab opens on the reads of the last hour.
To find a read:
1. Optional: In Search plates, type 3 or more characters of the plate. The list updates when you stop typing.
2. Select a Time range and a Camera. The list updates when you make a selection.
3. Optional: To set your own start and end, select Custom range in Time range. A custom range can be 30 days or less.
The list has these columns: Time, Snapshot, License plate, Confidence, Vehicle and Direction. The Time column also shows the name of the camera. On a phone, each read shows as a card. To copy a plate, select its plate chip. To load the reads again, select the refresh button.
To open LPR event details, select a row. On a phone, the window fills the screen.
The window shows:
- The plate, with a close-up image of the plate at its left. When the camera reports it, the confidence of the read shows as a percentage. When the camera reads no plate, the window shows No plate read. To copy the plate, select it.
- The video of the read, from 10 seconds before the read to 10 seconds after it. The video starts when the window opens. If the camera did not record that time, the window shows We could not load the clip.
- Clip and Photo, when the camera sends a full image of the read. To see the full image, select Photo. To go back to the video, select Clip.
- Under the video, When, Camera, Direction and Vehicle. Vehicle shows the color, the make and the model, for example "Blue Toyota", with one confidence for the vehicle. Each item shows only when the camera reports it.
A confidence of 80% or more has a check mark. A lower confidence has a warning icon. If the confidence of a read is low, compare the plate with the plate image. Some characters look alike, for example O and 0, or B and 8.
APM
The APM tab shows Visitors on site: the guests and vendors who entered and did not leave yet. The list updates every minute.
Two counts at the top cover your full community, also when you search:
- Inside now shows the number of people inside, and how many of them are guests and vendors.
- Overstayed shows the number of guests and vendors who are inside for more than 8 hours.
The overstayed visitors come first in the list, then the others. Each row shows:
- The name of the visitor, and Guest or Vendor. An entry with no name shows Unnamed entry.
- A snapshot and the vehicle. When the camera read no plate, the row shows No plate read.
- Visiting: the street of the property.
- Entered: the date and the time of the entry.
- Time inside. An orange Overstayed chip marks a visitor who is inside for more than 8 hours.
On a phone, each visitor shows as a card.
To work with the list:
- To find a visitor, type 3 or more characters in Search visitors. You can search by name, plate, company or street.
- Residents do not show at first. To show them, set Residents to Included in the filters. The list then shows each entry that has no exit.
- To load the list again, select the refresh button.
- To open the entry record, select View entry on the row.
A visitor leaves the list when the entry gets an exit. An entry gets an exit in three ways:
- An LPR camera reads the plate as the vehicle exits.
- A staff member marks the visitor as exited.
- MyWatchtower closes the entry after 7 days with no exit.
To mark a visitor as exited:
1. Select Mark as exited on the row. The Mark vehicle as exited dialog opens. It shows the plate, the name, the entry time and the time on site.
2. Set the Exit time. If you do not change it, MyWatchtower uses the current time. The exit time cannot be before the entry time or in the future.
3. Select Mark as exited.
If an LPR camera read the plate of the vehicle, MyWatchtower closes each open entry with that plate. By default, the Admin, Supervisor and Gate Attendant roles can mark a visitor as exited.
Activity Clips
When there is movement at the gate, a kiosk saves a short clip, so that staff can review entry activity later. The kiosk setup on the tablet turns clips on for each kiosk, with the Save clips on movement switch.
The Activity clips tab shows the clips of your community. The tab puts the clips under a heading for each day, with the newest clip first. Each card plays a short preview and shows the time and the length of the clip.
- To show the clips of a different period, use Date range. The default is Last 7 days. To set your own start and end, select Custom range.
- To show only the clips of one gate, use Gate.
- A chip such as +1 angle shows that the clip has more camera angles.
- A Cut short chip shows that the recording stopped early. The clip plays up to the last footage that MyWatchtower received.
To open a clip, select its card. In the clip window:
- To change the camera angle, select an angle button, for example Front.
- To go to the previous or the next clip, use the arrow buttons, or press the left or right arrow key.
- To make the video larger, select the full-screen button. To save the clip, select the download button.
By default, MyWatchtower keeps each clip for 30 days. JEKA can set a different period for your community, from 1 to 365 days. After this period, MyWatchtower deletes the clip.
When a visitor makes an entry at a kiosk, the entry page can also show the clip of that visit, under Captures. You see this clip only if your role has the Activity Clips permission.
The Activity Clips permission controls access to this tab. It is separate from the Cameras permission.
Camera settings (Admins)
Camera settings links Eagle Eye cameras to the access points of your community. Select Settings > Camera settings.
Each access point shows the number of its cameras, for example 2 cameras. Expand an access point to see its cameras. An LPR chip marks an LPR camera. A Brivo access point also shows an Enabled or a Disabled chip. The chip tells you if remote activation is on for the door in Brivo.
To change the cameras of an access point:
1. Select the settings button on the access point. A dialog opens with the title Manage cameras for and the name of the access point.
2. Select or clear each camera. To find a camera by name or ID, use the search field. Each camera card shows a recent image and an Online or an Offline chip. An LPR camera also has an LPR chip.
3. Select Save.
You can link more than one camera to an access point. You can also link one camera to more than one access point.
Camera images on entry records
When an entry goes through an access point that has linked cameras, MyWatchtower adds an image from each camera to the entry record. If a linked LPR camera read a plate near the time of the entry, MyWatchtower also puts that plate on the entry record. By default, the read must be within two minutes of the entry. The entry page shows the images under Camera snapshots.
Need help?
If the Cameras section or a tab is missing, there are two possible causes. Your community does not use that kind of camera, or your role does not have the permission. Ask your community Admin.
If a camera stays Offline, tell your community Admin.