What is behind automatic license plate recognition, ALPR and ANPR?

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Parking space management is currently changing. Modern license plate scanners are replacing barriers, parking tickets and parking discs. The technology is simple: license plate numbers are captured by a license plate scanner when entering and exiting the car park in compliance with data protection regulations. Operators can conveniently manage their parking spaces online and store authorizations for long-term parkers, for example, with just a few clicks.

Anyone considering the introduction of license plate-based parking space management or control will inevitably stumble across terms such as:

• Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) 
• Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR)
• Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI)
• Car plate recognition (CPR)

The terms and abbreviations refer to one and the same technology. In German, it is also often called automatic license plate recognition, automatic license plate recognition or automated license plate recognition.

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How does automatic license plate recognition work?

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Parking management solutions such as the Peter Park system are smart Internet-of-Things technologies. Cameras detect whether a license plate is in their field of vision and only take a photo if it is. Who is driving the car and who is sitting in the car is not recognizable. With the help of artificial intelligence, the system reads the license plate number and saves it together with the time the vehicle entered and exited and calculates the parking time.

What else is part of digital parking management?

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‍The The practical thing about digital parking enforcement is that it requires very little hardware in the area: Signs indicating that license plate recognition complies with data protection regulations and explaining the applicable rules are required, as well as a camera that scans license plates at the entrance and exit. And a maximum parking time can already be enforced, because everything else runs remotely and is software-based.

Even parking space management is possible in some cases with this minimal equipment: parkers then simply pay for their parking stay using their smartphone.

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Car park operators who want to offer their customers additional payment options also install pay stations so that parkers can also pay by card or cash on site.

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What is the difference to parking sensors?

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In contrast to parking sensors, which have to be installed and maintained at each individual parking space, it is sufficient to place license plate scanners at entrances and exits. Another advantage is that parking enforcement using license plate recognition does not require enforcement personnel, as violations can be automatically recorded and tracked. Sensors, on the other hand, still require the use of enforcement staff and paper tickets. If a parking space sensor reports a violation, an enforcement officer must quickly catch the parking offender before the car has left the parking space. License plate scanners, on the other hand, record all vehicles almost seamlessly.

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How the OBI store in Bremerhaven keeps its parking spaces free for customers

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Visitors from nearby events often occupied the parking spaces at the OBI store in Bremerhaven, which affected the store's visitor numbers and led to resentment among customers. The use of parking disks did not fulfill its purpose of keeping out third-party parkers.

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In August 2023, the OBI store introduced the digital parking management system from Peter Park . License plate scanners now automatically record all license plates of cars entering and leaving the store in compliance with data protection regulations. The system automatically compares whether the vehicles comply with the maximum parking time or not. If parkers who are not customers of the OBI store exceed the maximum parking time of two hours, they are asked to pay an increased usage fee.

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This means that the area is no longer attractive for third-party parkers who want to park for longer than two hours. There are more parking spaces available for OBI store customers, which ensures a relaxed shopping and parking experience. If a visit to the DIY store takes longer than two hours, customers can extend the maximum free parking time in the store.

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Efficient and low-cost parking space management with ALPR

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Only a few components are required for parking space management with ALPR-based solutions - wear-prone components such as barriers and sensors are not necessary. As a result, parking management systems based on ANPR generate only low acquisition and maintenance costs. At the same time, digitalization and automation reduce personnel costs. Solutions based on automatic license plate recognition, such as the Peter Park system, therefore offer all-round efficient parking space management.

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Do you still have questions about ANPR/ALPR? Contact us for a non-binding consultation.