Vehicles, and so number plates, are growing in number across the world. The use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) for vehicle entry is not new. But it’s being used in more innovative ways to streamline processes and help business planning. Research says that the global ANPR System Market is predicted to grow by 9.6% annually between 2017 and 2023[1]. With data becoming more available, effective ways of maximizing its use are critical. That’s where powerful VMS solutions, like Hikvision HikCentral Professional, come in.
Intelligent vehicle entry
ANPR cameras are now smart enough to read license plates and even determine the make and color of a vehicle. This provides valuable data when managing a car parking facility, whether for public or private use. But the real value comes when the data is brought together in a way that can be managed and analyzed.
Using a powerful video management system (VMS) like HikCentral Professional, users can add vehicle information to the platform. They can categorize them into different types (including registered vehicles, temporary vehicles, and visitor vehicles). This helps the system to ‘recognize’ and analyze the data, providing numerous business benefits.
A Vehicle Analysis Report can tell how many cars are going through the entrance, within a certain time frame. This provides intelligence to car park operators to plan their business – maybe providing more employee resource at those times, for example.
There are operational benefits too – an ‘Overtime Parking Report’ can identify the vehicles that have ‘overstayed’ their parking time. This means operators can take action to flag this and present fines.
Streamlining car park operations
All of these reports can be set up through HikCentral and configured to send automatic alerts for certain criteria. These can be sent by email daily, weekly, or monthly. This gives the business operators a practical and valuable way to monitor their system, without even having to access the system themselves.
ANPR facilitates easy access to a car park for ‘known’ vehicles. The system recognizes the plate and can automatically raise the barrier. Private car parks can use this, for example to allow only ‘member’ vehicles in. It can also provide a way for public car parks to streamline their payment system.
Car park operators use the technology to give drivers information on the number of free spaces, and even direct them to the nearest one. This management and guidance system reduces stress and speeds up the parking process.
In a world where data is the key to efficiency and business development, an effective way to maximize its worth is key. HikCentral Professional offers a simple and effective way for car park operators to use ANPR data to make their lives, and those of their customers, easier.
