Explore the latest in Germany ANPR and Austria ANPR, not to be confused with Australia ANPR. Our fast, accurate software works in all environments and even decodes umlauts in license plates.
Cars driving towards beautiful mountains of Bavaria. Source: Pixabay.
Arguably the Best Germany ANPR Hands Down
Sprawling, historic German cities like Berlin, Hamburg and Munich have streets packed with commuters, residents and tourists one day after the next. Our Germany ANPR and Austria ANPR makes short work of traffic and parking management challenges.
Autobanh at night in Germany. Source: Pixabay.
Plate Recognizer Now Supports Germany ANPR and Austria ANPR
Compared to other countries, Germany isn’t huge. That’s why its reputation for technical innovation and quality craftsmanship is especially impressive. The country more than makes up for any lack of natural resources with the ingenuity and diligence of its people. Companies like Bosch, Carl Zeiss, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz achieved global renown because their people strive relentlessly to make products and processes better. At Plate Recognizer, we work the same way.
In 2020, there were almost 50 million passenger vehicles on Germany’s roadways. That’s a lot to keep up with for the people in charge of managing that traffic, and that kind of stress isn’t great for your gesundheit. Our ANPR software for Germany and Austria appeals to those who prize innovation because it addresses a range of issues and streamlines traffic management in ways that benefit almost every industry.
Streets of Berlin, Germany. Source: Pixabay.
What Our Germany and Austria ANPR Does
The Land of Poets and Thinkers (Das Land der Dichter und Denker) produced Albert Einstein, who once famously said, “If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.” He believed long-term solutions come from one’s ability to really understand what’s causing the problem in the first place.
Traffic problems are the wurst. No matter where you live, the most common ones are issues like these:
- Drivers ignoring rules of the road when they speed, tailgate, run red lights, drive recklessly and so on.
- Criminals using vehicles to commit crimes or to get away from a crime scene.
- Individuals drinking and driving.
- Auto theft.
- Drivers parking where they shouldn’t be or causing accidents in parking lots.
When you think through each problem, you realize the solution in each one is catching the driver who isn’t following the rules and being able to take action. Our Germany ANPR and Austria ANPR help police officers and property managers do just that.
ANPR stands for Automatic Number Plate Recognition. You also might see it called ALPR (Automated License Plate Reader), LPR (just license plate reader) or a number of other similar names. Basically it involves using a camera with special software to take a photo or video of vehicles, identify the license plate and send the characters to a database. Our Germany ANPR also provides additional information about the vehicle like its type, make, model, color, orientation, and direction of travel.
Police can use that data to detect, locate and deter traffic violators and criminals. Property managers use our ALPR for Germany to make their apartment complex or gated community safer. Parking lot managers install our Germany license plate recognition software to ensure only authorized users park in their spaces.
Another view of the Autobahn. Source: Pixabay.
Why We’re So Proud of Our Germany and Austria ANPR
Plate Recognizer is grabbing the world’s atchung because we have our own reputation for technical innovation. Our software involves machine learning that allows it to become more accurate on its own, as we also provide specific, intentional input. It’s so smart that it can even work for countries where over 90% accuracy in number plate readers is almost impossible to accomplish like ANPR for India.
It’s much like when a parent allows a child to explore a creative learning environment but also sends them to kindergarten for formal instruction. Only our Germany ANPR matured past the kinder level many years ago.
Plate Recognizer identifies license plates even when there is other text on vehicles, a situation that confuses some other types of license plate software. It also works when vehicles are moving fast, when the light is dim, when the weather is bad and when plates are captured at an angle.
For years our ALPR has been extremely fast and accurate, capable in various environments and able to be customized to user needs. Now it overcomes challenges unique to Austrian and German license plates.
Rainy day on the streets of Hamburg. Source: Pixabay.
Unique Germany License Plate Recognition Challenges
A country known for its pretzels and pumpernickel, the Audubon and the Alps is also known for its unique language and culture. At first glance, German plates might not look much different from those in other European countries, but the country’s language and plate formatting both required our software to evolve.
Challenge 1 – Umlauts in German & Austrian License Plates
The German language uses the same 26 alphabet letters as all the other languages using the Latin alphabet, but they have a few extra characters called “umlauts.” They are:
- Ä.
- Ö.
- Ü.
Those two little dots above each letter mean the vowel changes its sound. There aren’t really equivalent sounds in other Latin-derived languages, so umlauts are part of what gives German its unique sound. There are also long umlauts and short umlauts, but we won’t get into that since our Germany ANPR didn’t need to speak the language aloud, just accurately identify characters.
On license plates, a “ü” and a “u” are not the same. A license plate reader that fails to make the distinction between regular characters and umlauts in license plates cannot provide accurate data, it might as well be kaput. We didn’t feel schadenfreude over other software’s shortcomings, we just set about finding a solution. Now Plate Recognizer’s Über-ALPR knows umlauts in license plates are meaningful.
Taxis in Germany line up. Source: Pixabay.
Challenge 2 – Spaces in German & Austrian License Plates
Before we donned our lederhosen and took a break at the local biergarten, we had another problem to solve. German number plates have standard dimensions and all use the same typeface. The first part of the plate, the “Unterscheidungszeichen,” contains one, two or three letters that represent the district in which the vehicle was registered.
It’s a little like an area code and might have “B” for Berlin, “HH” for Hamburg or “FÜS” for Füssen, Bavaria. After the Unterscheidungszeichen, there’s a space.
It’s the space that sets the country code apart from the stickers and random numbers that follow. In other words, FÜ S1234 isn’t the same as FÜS 1234.
In other countries, individual characters stand alone, so license plate readers only need to be able to identify them. Germany and Austria ANPR require software that understands a space gives critical meaning to the first set of characters. We’re proud to report ours has this capability.
German police car in local streets. Source: Pixabay.
No Doppelgangers
There are lots of options when it comes to license plate recognition cameras and software, but none like ours. Our Germany ANPR is unique in its ability to decode letters with umlauts and to recognize spaces.
Long-haul truck on the Autobanh. Source: Unsplash.
Germany and Austria ANPR for Parking
Parking is a pain in many German cities. An INRIX study found German drivers spend an average of 41 hours a year looking for parking spaces. That’s a lot of time spent frustrated and stressed. It’s also hard on the wallet and the environment, since it means more fuel burned and more emissions released.
For law enforcement, parking problems create incidences of road rage, parking violations and parking lot accidents. For apartment managers, when residents can’t find somewhere to park they might start looking for another place to live. If your retail facility or restaurant doesn’t have spaces because drivers from other businesses are taking them up, would-be consumers might decide to go somewhere else.
Parking spaces attract cars, and not just the ones that are supposed to be there. Chalk it up to wanderlust if you will, but one publication says illegal parking amounts to 40 – 50 percent of total parking, and is a widespread issue in German cities. If you own or manage a paid parking facility, you need a way to hold drivers accountable or you’ll lose money.
Traffic jam in Germany at sunset. Source: Unsplash.
Germany and Austria ANPR for Security
In Germany, the most frequently committed criminal offense in 2020 was theft. Police recorded around 1.68 million cases of theft crime, with incidents like shoplifting, bicycle theft, bag theft, burglary and vehicle theft. In Austria, the most commonly experienced crimes are also related to theft.
If someone uses a vehicle to commit theft and you have a camera in place, they can’t get away with taking what doesn’t belong to them. There’s an indisputable record of their vehicle’s presence.
It’s simple, fast and affordable to connect our Germany and Austria ANPR to your existing IP cameras. Then you can keep around-the-clock tabs on what happens in your parking lot or community.
Mercedes Benz exiting a historical building. Source: Unsplash.
Try Germany ANPR and Austria ANPR Free
The best way to explore all the ways our Automatic License Plate Recognition Software can benefit you is to take it for a test drive. Sign up for an account today for a free trial.
How can we do a blog on Germany ANPR without showing a real, nice German car! Source: Unsplash.