The rapidly advancing nature of the technology forces systems integrators to update themselves constantly.
Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) systems are among the most popular video analytic tools for security customers today. With the continuing development of algorithms, ALPR systems are becoming more accurate and efficient, being able to identify vehicles in varying conditions correctly.
However, the rapidly advancing nature of the technology forces systems integrators to update themselves constantly. We recently talked to some of the major video analytics companies to understand the best practices that integrators can follow to make the most of their ALPR systems.
Clarity in user requirements
Most integrators and customers would know what an ALPR solution can do or how it works. But different customers would have different uses for it, and gaining clarity on this would help integrators offer better service.
“Understanding customers’ desired outcome and setting the right expectations with regards to these outcomes will be key when it comes to deploying ALPR,” explained Larry Legere, Commercial Director- AutoVu at Genetec. “ALPR cameras need to be installed with the sole purpose of reading the license plate, which will be different than the installation requirements of a traditional IP camera which is designed to provide a wider overview image.”
Better investigation with smart search
One of the biggest advantages of video analytics is the ability to find specific objects or incidents from tons of footage quickly. Stephanie Weagle, CMO of BriefCam, pointed out that users can pinpoint objects and events of interest to advance investigations and powerfully accelerate the time to target by using such a feature.
“LPR is one of an ever-expanding set of object classes and attributes that can be used to search and filter video across cameras, in addition to people and vehicle classifications, lighting changes, appearance similarity, and others,” Weagle pointed out. “Operators can review hours of video in minutes and refine search results through filter tolerance as well as density, speed, direction, and sort controls.”
Situational awareness with real-time alerts
Major ALPR solutions allow users to receive real-time alerts based on complex object classification and recognition filter combinations – including LPR and others – to increase situational awareness and deliver critical time-sensitive intelligence. Speaking of the Briefcam’s Respond feature, Weagle pointed out that this brings a host of benefits to the end user.
“RESPOND empowers operators to react to events as they unfold, from proactively protecting people and property to driving better visitor or customer engagement as opportunities arise,” Weagle said. “BriefCam allows for improved responsiveness, real-time decision-making, and effective balancing of sensitivity, accuracy, and efficiency with alerting rule configuration, license plate watchlist management, and alert notifications for messaging services and VMS alarm areas.”
Deriving operational intelligence
Video analytics has turned a reactive video surveillance system into a proactive intelligence gathering solution. Using various analytic features, customers can now gain actionable insights that help them make better decisions.
“BriefCam empowers operators to uncover patterns, drive strategic decision-making, and optimize operational and business practices by aggregating video data in a fully-integrated, highly customizable business intelligence platform,” Weagle said. “BriefCam RESEARCH visualizes object movement, demographic segmentation, behavior trending, hotspots, and object interactions. It offers interactive, intuitive, and easy to use dashboards for data analysis, as well as tools for auto-generating and prioritizing relevant data points and charts.”
Conclusion
At its core, ALPR solutions capture and identify license plates, but it's up to the customer to decide how to make use of it. Some may want it just to identify known vehicles and provide access control, while others may want it for surveillance and monitoring.
From a business intelligence standpoint, ALPR can also help identify high-value customers who may require special services. Understanding all this is necessary for the systems integrator to provide the best service to the customer.