A good ALPR — Automated License Plate Recognition — system can have profound benefits, helping to increase efficiency, decrease errors, and provide accurate 24/7 monitoring. With that said, not all ALPR systems are created equal, and it’s not always easy to determine which one is right for your organization. All too often, businesses focus on the quantity of features or the price, but what really matters is their ability to integrate into your systems, provide full coverage, and be genuinely beneficial on a long-term basis.
With that in mind, we thought it’d be a good idea to put together a list of some of the key things to look for when choosing an ALPR system. Make sure it has the following, and you should find that it makes your team more efficient.
Make Sure It Offers Full Accuracy
The job of an ALPR system is to read license plates correctly, as reliably as possible. That makes accuracy vital for good performance. The best automatic license plate recognition tools work well in real-world conditions, including day and night, rain or sunshine, and in a parking lot or on a fast-paced road. They should also be capable of reading a wide range of license plate types — including digital plates — and utilize machine-learning so that they improve over time.
Good Integration With Other Systems
ALPR systems work best when they can talk to the organization’s other systems, such as its video surveillance system. This allows employees to work much more effectively, since instead of having to unpack siloed data, they can effortlessly connect the license plate to the broader data ecosystem. It’s generally best if the ALPR system is built using open architecture, since that can greatly enhance its capabilities (both now and in the future) compared with closed systems.
Real-Time Alert Feature
One of the primary benefits of advanced ALPR tools is their ability to automatically provide real-time alerts relating to a vehicle of interest. The best allow you to set customizable alerts that allow you to track down wanted vehicles even when you’re not actively looking for them.
Ease of Use
An automatic license plate recognition tool should make your team’s life easier, not more difficult. The software’s ease of use can make a big difference not just to how readily team members can get to grips with the tool, but also to decreasing response time and reducing errors. While it’s the core underlying infrastructure that will be of most interest, the UX — the design of the software — also matters.
Long-Term Reliability
A good ALPR system will work well on the first day of deployment; a great one will work well years down the line. Working with a provider that has a long track record in the industry, and which understands what it takes to put together tools that are reliable on a long-term basis, is better than working with a brand that has just entered the field. The best provide ongoing software updates, incorporate machine learning for improved performance, and offer the best return on investment.
