Everything You Need to Know About ANPR (Camera-Based Parking)

What is ANPR?

ANPR stands for “Automatic Number Plate Recognition”. The cameras are placed at the facility’s entrance and exit. When a car enters, a parking session starts automatically in the system. When it leaves, the visitor is charged for the time it was parked and a tenant is checked out automatically. The technology suits anyone with parking assets who wants to automate charging for visitor parking and get more reliable data on how the facility is used, so that they can optimise the parking business for both visitors and contract customers.

How does ANPR work in a car park?

The camera reads the number plate as the car enters. The system immediately checks whether the car has a valid permit. Cars with a permit are recognised automatically, and the driver doesn’t need to do anything else. Other cars get a visitor session based on the visitor rate you have chosen. When the car leaves, the parking session ends.

Visitors pay afterwards and only for the time the car was parked. They can pay in a parking app connected to the system, such as EasyPark or Parkster, or via a QR code with Swish or card. However the visitor pays, the parking and the payment show up in your own system.

Read how automated parking with ANPR works in practice.

How can ANPR be used?

ANPR has traditionally been used to automate charging for visitor parking, for example in shopping centres and other commercial properties. But ANPR can also be used in so-called hybrid facilities, where there are both visitors and contract customers, such as tenants with monthly permits. The advantage of ANPR in these facilities is that you get data on how all customers park. That data can then be used to plan how the facility should be laid out and which type of parking is most profitable.

What are the benefits of ANPR?

Camera-based parking offers several benefits, for example:

• You can lower your costs, as the need for manual parking enforcement decreases.
• It increases revenue, as everyone who parks in the facility is registered and charged automatically. Without cameras, it is up to visitors themselves to register and pay for their visit in an app or at a pay station.
• You get accurate data on how people move through and use the facility, such as how long they park and the share of visitors compared with contract customers. This data can then be used to optimise and develop your parking offering.

Read more about the benefits of ANPR cameras.

Can ANPR increase occupancy?

Yes, there are several ways ANPR can help increase occupancy. Because you can see how the parking is actually used, you can make well-founded decisions on how to optimise occupancy.

Imagine, for example, a residential car park where permits have been sold for every space. But the data from the ANPR cameras shows that, on average, 20% of the spaces are empty during the day. You can then increase occupancy by making those spaces available to visitors at those times. That benefits both people looking for visitor parking and your net operating income. See how the data is used to increase revenue.

Read more about how ANPR increases parking profitability.

Does ANPR replace parking attendants?

ANPR takes over the checking of permits and payments, but parking attendants may still be needed to keep order. The cameras register every car, so no one needs to walk around and check the cars one by one. Attendants are needed instead when someone parks in the wrong place, for example in a disabled parking space. In our experience, the cost of enforcement usually drops by 90–95% compared with attendants who check once or more a day. The system can also be connected to parking enforcement companies, so cameras and attendants complement each other.

Read about the difference between digital and manual parking enforcement.

Does ANPR work with and without barriers?

Yes, ANPR works with a barrier or gate and with no barrier at all, in both garages and surface car parks. What’s needed is a clear entrance and exit where the cameras can be placed. In a garage with a gate, the system can open the gate for cars with a permit. Without a barrier, everyone drives in and the cameras register the cars instead. The two set-ups can also be combined.

Read when free flow parking works and when a gate is a better choice.

What should you consider when choosing an ANPR system?

There are a few things worth considering before you choose a camera-based parking system:

• Look at the accuracy of the supplier’s solution: how good are the camera and the system at reading number plates? At our ANPR facilities, it is 97%.
• What is the visitor experience like? Paying for parking should be as simple as possible.
• The solution should be able to handle contract customers. Otherwise it can’t be used in hybrid facilities, and you miss out on important data that you need to optimise your business.

Read about six things to consider when choosing an ANPR system.

Read about GDPR and privacy with ANPR.

What makes ANPR46 different?

ANPR46 is integrated with our parking management system, Park46. This opens up several possibilities:

• You can optimise both the visitor business and the contract business in the facility with ANPR.
• You as the property owner or operator, and your brand, are behind the services for both contract and visitor parking. You get control over the entire customer journey and a direct relationship with the people who visit your facility.
• Because contract parking and visitor parking are in the same system, you can convert visitors into contract customers. You have both an overview of how they park and a direct relationship with them. You miss out on this when the visitor service is outsourced to a third party, such as a visitor parking app.
• You don’t need to replace your existing camera equipment, as several ANPR suppliers are supported.

Why invest in a system for combined visitor and contract parking?

With a system for combined visitor and contract parking, you can create incentives for customers to choose the product that suits them best, while optimising occupancy and utilisation.

Imagine being able to send this message to a visitor: “Hi, you’ve averaged 6 days a month over the last six months. If you keep parking this often, we recommend switching to contract parking to save money. You can find more information here [link].”

Read about hybrid agreements and customer clubs in the webinar How to develop your parking business with ANPR.

The most important things to know about ANPR

• ANPR is camera-based parking where cameras read the number plate and parking is charged automatically.
• The system recognises cars with a permit, and visitors pay in an app or via a QR code for the time they are parked.
• It is used for visitor parking and in hybrid facilities with both visitors and contract customers.
• It lowers enforcement costs and provides data on how the facility is used.
• With the data, you can increase occupancy, for example by opening empty spaces to visitors.
• Parking attendants may still be needed to keep order, but not to check payments.
• ANPR works in garages and surface car parks, with or without barriers.
• When choosing a system, accuracy, user experience and support for contract customers are worth looking at.
• ANPR46 is integrated with Park46, so you have visitor and contract parking in the same system. That lets you turn visitors into contract customers and manage occupancy better.

Read about three common myths about ANPR, including whether it is expensive.

Want to know more?

Read how to get started with ANPR, from the first meeting to cameras in operation.

Read more about our camera-based parking system, ANPR46.