Improve your map experience in Security Desk

In a multi-camera supervision session, the map is often the fastest way to understand where an event is happening. Yet without assistance, the operator has to pan the map by hand every time they switch camera in order to find its location - a repetitive and slow operation that pulls attention away from the video. The ADDONXPERT MAP EXTENSIONS plugin adds automatic map centering and advanced selection tools to Genetec Security Center. Once enabled from the map context menu, every selection of an entity placed on the map triggers an instant re-centering of the map view, so operators keep their eyes on the video while permanently seeing the geographic position of what they are watching.

• Automatic centering: The map re-centers in real time on the camera or entity the operator displays or selects in the tile pattern.

• Multi-selection with adaptive zoom: Select several cameras at once and the map centers on the middle of the selection, adjusting the zoom so that every selected entity fits in the view.

• Enable / disable on the fly: Instant mode switching from the map context menu (right click > Map extensions), with no restart and no configuration.

• Status banner: An "Auto-center mode activated" banner is displayed at the bottom of the map so the operator always knows the tracking is active.

• Zoom level preserved: On a single selection, only the center point of the map moves - the operator keeps the zoom level they chose.

• Lasso selection: Draw a freehand lasso around a group of entities on the map - a more flexible alternative to the native rectangle selection - then bring them into Security Desk - filling the free tiles of the current page or opening a new Monitoring task.

• Multi-camera click selection (keyboard shortcut): Hold the keyboard shortcut and successively click on the desired cameras - no video popup appears during selection (contrary to Security Center's default behavior where every click opens a popup that hides the cameras below). Release the shortcut and all selected camera streams display at once. Ideal for precise non-contiguous selections.

• Per-operator persistence: The centering target is saved per operator: on reconnection, from the same or another workstation, auto-centering resumes on the last tile or map used.

• Privilege: The "Use auto-centering" user privilege restricts the feature to selected operator roles.

By automating a gesture operators repeat dozens of times a day, MAP EXTENSIONS noticeably improves responsiveness and supervision comfort, with no change to existing habits.

Plugin features

Technical diagram

Automatic map centering

Auto-centering is enabled from the map context menu - right click on the map, then select Map extensions > Enable auto-centering mode. An "Auto-center mode activated" banner confirms it is on. From then on, when the operator displays or selects an entity, the map re-centers on it instantly while keeping the current zoom level.


• Only one centering target is active at a time - enabling it on another tile or map replaces the previous one
• The mode is disabled automatically when the tile is cleared or replaced, when the task is closed, or when the map of a Maps task is changed
• When an entity is placed at several locations on the map, centering uses the midpoint of all its instances and every instance is highlighted

Multi-selection and adaptive zoom

Centering is not limited to a single entity. Holding Ctrl (the default modifier), the operator keeps several entities selected at once; the plugin then computes the geographic centre of the whole selection, re-centers the map on that point and adjusts the zoom so that every selected entity stays in view.

For example, three cameras forming a triangle center on the middle of the triangle, with the zoom set just wide enough to keep the three of them in view.

Lasso selection

Security Center offers a rectangle selection on maps. MAP EXTENSIONS adds a lasso: the operator draws a freehand shape around the entities they want, which makes it possible to follow a road, a perimeter or a building outline instead of being limited to a rectangle.

The entities captured by the lasso are shown in Security Desk right away: they first fill the free tiles of the current page; if there are not enough, an existing task with enough tiles is reused; and only as a last resort is a new Monitoring task created.

Key features and capabilities