Metadata and metadata search

To manage and configure metadata devices, see Show or hide metadata search categories and search filters.

What is metadata?

Metadata is data about data, for example, data that describes the video image, the content or objects in the image, or the location of where the image was recorded.

Metadata can be generated by:

  • The device itself delivering the data, for example a camera that is delivering video
  • A third-party system or integration via a generic metadata driver

Metadata search

Metadata search is any search for video recordings in XProtect Smart Client that uses search categories and search filters related to metadata.

The default Milestone metadata search categories are:

  • Location: Users can define geo coordinates and a search radius from these coordinates.
  • People: Users can search for gender and approximate height and age as well as select to show results with faces.
  • Vehicles: Users can search for vehicle color, speed, and type, as well as search for a specific license plate.

Metadata search requirements

To get search results, you need one of the following:

  • At least one device in your video surveillance system that can perform video analytics and is configured correctly
  • A video processing service in your video surveillance system that generates metadata

In either case, metadata must be in the required metadata format.

For more information, see the documentation for integration of Metadata Search.