Working with license plate match lists

License plate match lists (explained)

License plate lists are collections of license plates that you want your LPR solution to treat in a special way. License plate recognitions are compared with these lists and if there is a match, the system triggers an LPR event. The events are stored on the event server and can be searched for and viewed on the LPR tab in XProtect Smart Client.

By default, events are stored for 24 hours. To change this, open the Options dialog box in the Management Client and on the Event Server Settings tab, in the Keep events for field, enter a new time frame.

After specifying a license plate match list, you can set up additional events and alarms to be triggered on a match.

Examples:

  • A company headquarter uses a list of executive management's company car license plates to grant executives access to a separate parking area. When executives' license plates are recognized, the LPR solution triggers an output signal that opens the gate to the parking area
  • A chain of gas stations creates a list of license plates from vehicles that have previously left gas stations without paying for their gas. When such license plates are recognized, LPR triggers output signals that activate an alarm and temporarily block the gas supply to certain gas pumps

Triggered events can also be used for making cameras record in high quality or similar. You can even use an event to trigger combinations of such actions.

Unlisted license plates list (explained)

Often you would trigger an event when a license plate that is included in a list is recognized, but you can also trigger an event with a license plate which is not included in a list.

Example: A private car park uses a list of license plates to grant residents' vehicles access to the car park. If a vehicle with a license plate that is not in the list approaches the car park, the LPR solution triggers an output signal which lights a sign telling the driver to obtain a temporary guest pass from the security office.

To trigger a surveillance system event, when a license plate that is not on a list is recognized, use the Unlisted license plates list. You select it for a camera like any other list (see Match lists tab) and set it up like any other list (see Events triggered by LPR).

Add new license plate match lists

  1. In the Site Navigation pane, select License plate match lists, right-click and select Add New.
  2. In the window that appears, give the list a name and click OK.

    As soon as you have created a license plate list, it becomes visible in the License plate match list and on the Match lists tab for all your LPR cameras.

  3. If you want to add columns to the match list, click Custom field and specify the columns in the dialog box that opens (see Edit custom fields properties).
  4. To update the match list, use the Add, Edit, Delete buttons (see Edit license plate match lists).
  5. Instead of defining the match list directly in the Management Client, you can import a file (see Import/export license plate match lists).
  6. If prompted, confirm to save changes.

Edit license plate match lists

  1. In the Site Navigation pane, select License plate match lists.
  2. Go to the Overview pane.Click the relevant list.
  3. The License plate match list i nformation window opens.
  4. To include new rows to your list, click Add and fill out the fields:
    • Do not include any spaces
    • Always use capital letters

      Examples: ABC123 (correct), ABC 123 (incorrect), abc123 (incorrect)

    • You can use wildcards in your license plate match lists. Do this by defining plates with a number of ?'s and the letter(s) and/or number(s) which must appear at specific places

      Examples: ?????A, A?????, ???1??, 22??33, A?B?C? or similar

  5. If prompted, confirm to save changes.

Import/export license plate match lists

You can import a file with a list of license plates that you want to use in a license plate match list. You have the following import options:

  • Add license plates to the existing list
  • Replace the existing list

This is useful if, for example, the lists are managed from a central location. Then all local installations can be updated by distributing a file.

Similarly, you can export the complete list of license plates from a match list to an external location.

Supported file formats are .txt or .csv.

To import:

  1. In the Site Navigation pane, click License plate match lists and select the relevant list.
  2. To import a file, click Import.
  3. In the dialog box, specify the location of the import file and the import type. Click Next.
  4. Await the confirmation and click Close.

To export:

  1. To export a file, click Export.
  2. In the dialog box, specify the location of the export file and click Next.
  3. Click Close.
  4. You can open and edit the exported file in, for example, Microsoft Excel.

License plate match list properties

Name

Description
Name

Shows the name of the list. If needed, you can change the name.
Custom fields

Click to specify which license plate entry columns that you or the client user can add additional information to. See Edit custom fields properties.
Search

Search the list for specific license plates, numbers, patterns or similar. If needed, you can use ? as a single wildcard
Add

Click to add a license plate.

  • Do not include any spaces
  • Always use capital letters

Examples: ABC123 (correct), ABC 123 (incorrect), abc123 (incorrect)

  • You can use wildcards in your license plate lists. Do this by defining plates with a number of ?'s and the letter(s) and/or number(s) which must appear at specific places

Examples: ?????A, A?????, ???1??, 22??33, A?B?C? and similar.

Some regional areas might have exceptions to these rules. For example, personalized plates with spaces. Plates with two sets of characters which must be recognized separately by an underscore character ( _ ). Or plates from certain regions with letters on a different background color on parts of the license plate.

Example:

Edit

Click to edit a license plate. You can select multiple rows for editing.
Delete

Click to delete the selected license plate(s).
Import

Click to import license plates from any comma-separated file, for example a .txt-file or .csv-file (see Import/export license plate match lists).
Export

Click to export the entire license plate list to a comma-separated file, for example a .txt-file or .csv-file (see Import/export license plate match lists).
Rows per page

Select how many license plates to display in one page (one screen). You can choose between 50 to 1000 rows.
Events triggered by list match

Select which event(s) should be triggered by a list match (see Events triggered by LPR). You can choose between all available types of events defined in your system.

Edit custom fields properties

You can add columns to your license plate match lists for additional information. You define the name and number of columns as well as the field content.

The XProtect Smart Client users can update the information in the columns but not the columns themselves.

Name

Description
Add

Adds a column to the match list. Enter a name for the column.
Edit

Click to edit the name of the column.
Delete

Deletes a column.
Up

Changes the order of the columns.
Down

Changes the order of the columns.