Intelligent camera technology transforms enforcement efficiencies

A major advance for automatically identifying and recording parking contraventions has been launched by Imperial Civil Enforcement Solutions.  ScanSmarti capitalises on the versatility of the company’s Rialto software and the integrated camera on smartphones to enable complete streets or car parks to be scanned by a patrolling Civil Enforcement Officer.  Significantly, this eliminates the need for registration numbers to be entered individually and manually. Benefitting from a real-time interface with both the back office processing system and any cashless parking system, the new solution identifies contraventions automatically.

ScanSmarti has been developed and piloted on the Samsung Galaxy smartphone in partnership with Winchester City Council.  According to ICES’ Sales Team Manager, Mandy Watson, the new scanning functionality will transform enforcement efficiencies in both on- and off-street parking applications as well as permit parking zones.

“We’re indebted to the support and encouragement of Winchester City Council in helping to bring this significant new development to the market,” says Watson. “We developed our dedicated software for handhelds – Rialto – to provide versatile functionality and reliability for handheld units and smartphones used in enforcement applications. By harnessing the functionality of this advanced software platform we’ve now been able to take full advantage of the latest generation of smartphone camera technologies. 

“To be able to scan all parked vehicles for contraventions without breaking one’s stride and without any manual input will save a lot of time and greatly simplify the enforcement process.  We’re absolutely delighted with the success of the pilot scheme and are confident there will be considerable demand for this exciting new development.”

As a Civil Enforcement Officer (CEO) scans parked vehicles in a cashless parking area, ScanSmarti checks vehicle registrations against payment records in real-time. Where there is no record of payment or if payment has expired, the handheld display advises the CEO that a Penalty Charge Notice should be issued.  It will also notify the CEO if a vehicle registration is known to belong to a persistent evader so that appropriate action can be taken.  This provides a proactive and far more effective way for encouraging compliance and identifying and addressing the problems of evasion.

Where an earlier alert has been raised on the back office system for a specific registration number – such as a police notification or advisory note – ScanSmarti will also make full use of the special message functionality of the Rialto software.  This will inform the CEO of the special circumstances and advise on the relevant course of action if the registration number is identified during a routine scan of vehicles using ScanSmarti.

For more details on ScanSmarti, Rialto software and the comprehensive range of enforcement solutions available from ICES, just call the company on 0117 925 1700 or email sales@ices.imperial.co.uk.