Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR - or ALPR for us in Australia) has come a long way in the last decade - from old, expensive and unreliable OCR systems through to modern AI-powered solutions that offer high-accuracy, low cost license plate analysis alongside vehicle make, model and colour detection.

ANPR is commonly associated with public law enforcement agencies, but there are many other industries that can benefit from the speed and flexibility of modern AI-powered ANPR solutions.

Let's take a look at some of the industries that should be taking full advantage of ANPR if they aren't already.

Councils & Local Government

 

It's a no-brainer for councils to add ANPR to their toolkit - with streets to patrol, public carparks to monitor and town planning to undertake, ANPR can drastically increase the amount of vehicle data that local governments can collect and act on with even a single vehicle outfitted with an ANPR system.

 

Add to that the fact Councils often have existing CCTV networks in place that can easily integrate with ANPR software, and the decision to use ANPR becomes even easier.

 

Parking enforcement can be automated with an ANPR system acting as a virtual tyre-chalking system, and parking permit stickers replaced by a cloud-synced database of registered vehicles. Council Ranger vehicles can alert the occupants of parking infringements and instantly send infringement reports back to the office  - no more standing around with a clipboard.

 

ANPR systems can also act as permanent or mobile road survey units, allowing Town Planners to gather statistics on the use of built and natural asset use such as parks, libraries and recreation centres - including overall patronage, busy periods and dwell times. Multiple ANPR cameras (or existing CCTV systems) can provide point-to-point speed analysis, traffic congestion analysis and more to allow local governments to make informed decisions based on high volumes of 24/7 data.

 

 

 

Logistics & Supply Chain Management 

With an emphasis on real-time asset tracking and route optimisation, the Logistics & Supply Chain Management industry is an ideal candidate for integrating ANPR into their day-to-day operations.

 

ANPR units can be used for traffic management at weigh-bridges, toll booths and delivery facilities to automatically direct supply trucks or couriers to the correct location for deliveries & receivables. Managed assets can be tracked and logged at each ANPR-equipped location, allowing for automatic tracking updates and proof-of-delivery as well as preventing missing stock.

 

Existing CCTV systems outfitted with ANPR software allow for automated access control at nominated checkpoints, shaving precious minutes off freight times.

 

Road freight routes can be analysed by outfitting trucks with ANPR systems to capture vehicle data and generate a comprehensive map of traffic conditions at certain locations, allowing for predictive analysis of ideal routes based on historical data.

 

 

 

Fuel Stations & Convenience Stores

Many fuel stations are already using ANPR technology to successfully prevent fuel theft, allowing station attendants to be instantly notified when a previous offender is detected and stop authorisation of the fuel pump before they can strike again. As high volume 24/7 vehicle thoroughfares by nature, facility security is an obvious application of ANPR technology for fuel stations.

 

On the retail side of things, ANPR can also be used by fuel stations & convenience stores to get in-depth consumer analytics such as dwell time (the length of time between a vehicle entering & exiting the premises) and overall patronage, as well as to measure the effectiveness of certain promotions or pricing schedules based on 24/7 patronage data. Customer profiles can be generated without resorting to intrusive facial detection, with loyalty rewards offered to returning vehicles.

 

With street frontage, the traffic outside the storefront can also be monitored, allowing fuel stations & convenience stores to create targeted pricing schedules and promotions based on surging traffic periods and measure retail performance based on the total percentage of vehicles entering vs. not entering the premises.

 

 

Parking

Many private parking operators already employ ANPR technology to keep track of occupancy and gather evidence for infringements, but there's a lot more that can be done in the space.

The obvious use-case is for automated enforcement of parking compliance with vehicle-mounted ANPR systems, allowing a single parking officer to quickly sweep an entire carpark and virtually chalk each vehicle and detect any that have overstayed their welcome. However, with the installation of static ANPR cameras (such as at the entry/exit points of each parking area) the need for human patrols is removed completely. Consenting drivers can opt to forgo manual payment entirely, and allow the ANPR system to automatically detect the length of their stay and bill them electronically.

 

For carparks with reserved parking spaces or daily/weekly/monthly payment agreements, ANPR systems can detect and allow hands-free automatic access to whitelisted vehicles. Easy reporting and analytics on carpark occupancy and overall usage is possible thanks to 24/7 automated data capture.

 

 

 

Private Security

 

Another no-brainer, private security operators often already have existing CCTV networks, vehicle patrols and field agents that operate in a similar way to law enforcement agents, just without the big budgets for expensive toys.

 

Modern AI-powered ANPR is cheaper than ever and allows private security companies to outfit their vehicle fleets and human agents with ANPR systems such as mobile apps and mobile ANPR hardware units that can be shared across multiple people & vehicles, allowing for flexible and modular ANPR setups that can instantly adapt to different scenarios.

 

AI-powered ANPR systems that provide vehicle make/model & colour information, as well as licence plate, allow for suspect vehicles to be detected and verified against multiple criteria rather than one, reducing the number of false positives or missed plates and allowing security companies to ID offenders without resorting to intrusive facial recognition technology.

 

Existing CCTV networks require only a simple ANPR integration to turn a manually-monitored security booth into an automated vehicle detection powerhouse with automated alerts sent out via email, SMS or in-app notification to ground patrol units to allow them to respond to potential security breaches instantly.

 

 

 

No better time than now

 

The truth is, any industry that deals with vehicles (and that's most industries) can benefit from ANPR, and the technology is more accessible than ever to the average organisation.

 

If you'd like to learn more, get in touch with Aero Ranger today and let us show you how automated vehicle detection can help your business.