St. George, Utah, August 5, 2020 – SimplyPermits has officially released the latest update to its mobile parking enforcement app, SimplyPermits LPR version 3.0. This revolutionary mobile app has given community managers and parking enforcement companies a tool to monitor digital permits over the past 2 years, and is now equipped with even more cutting-edge technology.
Previous versions of the SimplyPermits LPR app included the foundation to validate a virtual parking pass through various methods: Advanced search by user details, search by vehicle information, and license plate recognition.
These features were hugely successful and proved to be beneficial to all parking enforcement personnel in speeding up their monitoring process and accuracy by using the built-in license plate recognition camera.
Version 3.0 includes the same great features as before, just on steroids. The biggest upgrade being, the app has been converted to allow for two LPR modes, Manual LPR and Automatic LPR (ALPR). The manual process of scanning a license plate and validating a permit has been streamlined to a single step, which will increase productivity on large parking lots and garages. The newly added Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) method allows for continuous scanning of multiple vehicles.
Additionally, the SimplyPermits design team enhanced the overall usability with revamping the app menu and by allowing the user to navigate anywhere within the app from any screen. After several field tests ranging from small multifamily communities to large medical complexes, the SimplyPermits team found an 18%-20% decrease on time spent monitoring with the improved layout.
A virtual parking pass is the new wave of parking technology as it provides a contactless and streamline process for users to register their vehicles. Because they’re instantly permitted, parking enforcement can monitor and manage with real-time data. Since there are no tangible stickers or hangtags, the license plate becomes the permit. Every state within the U.S. requires a vehicle to have at least one license plate and each is unique, making for a perfect digital permit identifier.
License Plate Recognition is the method which analyzes a still image, locates a license plate inside that image, and finally converts that visual output into plain text for further analysis.
SimplyPermits LPR versions 1.0-2.0 utilized manual license plate recognition, requiring the user to manually snap a photo of each license plate to check the permit status.
Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) is very similar to the manual mode, however instead of using a single still image, it processes and analyses license plates from a video. ALPR is the preferred method for large scale parking lots as it allows for a continuous scan of vehicles without user intervention.
By far, ALPR is more efficient than a manual LPR, but always came with a high cost. Heavy server resources to process and analyze data, dedicated vehicles with mounted cameras, or static infrastructure to power ALPR cameras can cost tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars to implement.
SimplyPermits LPR 3.0 has harnessed this technology without the immense cost. With the Automatic License Plate Recognition built directly into the SimplyPermits app, the user is now equipped with LPR technology for use on iOS / Android Smartphones and Tablets. No additional hardware or infrastructure is needed.
SimplyPermits LLC is a national digital permitting software provider for Parking Enforcement Companies, Multifamily Communities, Condo’s & HOA’s, Student Housing, and Commercial Parking Lots. Since 2018 SimplyPermits has spearheaded the parking industry with its state-of-the-art license plate recognition technology that is affordable and accessible to anyone through their smart device. By keeping the focus on advancing parking technology without additional hardware or infrastructure, SimplyPermits has positioned itself to pave the way for years to come.