ALSE SEGURIDAD, one of the most relevant security service providers in the Basque Country, is committed to geolocation to manage its services. The company’s first success has been the implementation of metro, tram and suburban networks in the Basque Country.
ALSE has 40 years of experience under its belt, a period during which it has provided security services with a focus on the most innovative technology. This is the main reason for its commitment to Situm, a solution that improves the effectiveness of the surveillance service and the security of facilities and workers, improving the service they offer to their customers.
Héctor Labeaga, Technology Director of the ALSE Group, points to transparency as an objective when implementing geolocation in its portfolio of services:
“At ALSE, we are committed to a transparent relationship with our customers, who demand accurate and objective information about the services we provide. Geolocation allows us to meet this demand optimally”.
Jon Ander Elorriaga, Managing Director of ALSE SEGURIDAD, stresses the importance of incorporating geo-surveillance into the company’s services:
“ALSE SEGURIDAD is committed to transparency in the provision of its services. Security devices spread throughout a railway infrastructure need a tool of this type to guarantee our clients total control of the resources used and compliance with the operations designed”.
In this way, it has also managed to increase the value of the service offered, differentiating itself from the competition in its eagerness to incorporate the most effective technology on the market. Together with Jon Ander Elorriaga, Jorge Gala, ALSE’s Director of Development and Innovation, argues for the choice of Situm:
“The versatility and robustness of Situm’s system were decisive in our decision to use this technology to provide our employees with geolocated tools and thus improve security processes.”
Situm and ALSE are currently working on several projects with different characteristics: safety control in an industrial environment, specifically in the food industry, and the safety of the Euskotren network, a very particular success story that has been a challenge for both companies.
Geo-surveillance in the Euskal Trenbide Sarea and Euskotren networks
Euskotren is the train operator in the Basque Country that transports more than 30 million people a year. The physical surveillance of this metro, commuter and tram network is one of the services provided by ALSE, for which Situm’s geo-surveillance technology has been incorporated.
In the field of geolocation, this service presents several challenges, as it requires the permanent location of the security guards in not-so-usual situations:
- These transport networks spread over underground (metro stations) and outdoor (above-ground stops) spaces.
- Stops and stations are located at different distances from each other, some very far apart.
- The officers move around inside the suburban, metro and tram cars. It was necessary to be able to locate them in these spaces and on the move.
- The peculiarity of the environment required specific analyses and reports, e.g. to check the officer’s activity in moving cars.
On the challenges presented by the project and the work process through which we managed to overcome them; Jorge Gala specifies:
“The main challenges of the project had to do with the particularities of the environment in which our agents operate. GPS was not enough to achieve robust geolocation in all these environments, but Situm has managed, by combining different signals, to locate in all these different situations, including wagons in motion”.
The joint work between the two companies led to a number of solutions:
- Geolocation of agents at stations and stops, combining indoor and outdoor spaces, in addition to the specific car in which they are travelling.
- Automatic notifications of any non-compliance or anomalous situation during patrols. In this way, ALSE has an objective method of justifying its service.
- Intelligent and automatic alarms in the event of emergencies for the guards.
Héctor Labeaga describes this project as a success:
“ETS and Euskotren are reference customers for ALSE due to their complexity, size, and service atomization. They are a clear example of how much geolocation can contribute to the field of physical security”.
Finally, Jon Ander Elorriaga also highlights the use of reports and the importance they have for the development of this activity in the metro and suburban network:
“In keeping with our maxim of transparency, the reports and tools for checking rounds allow us to guarantee the delivery of services to our clients, as well as a significant improvement in the management and safety of our agents.”
This case has become an example of the success of the partnership between ALSE and Situm to offer a new dimension of geolocation-based security services.