Survision's LPR Technology Powers Seamless Parking at OVUM Urban Mobility Hub in Cologne

At the beginning of 2024, the parking operator Q-Park concluded a management contract for the “OVUM” parking property in Cologne-Braunsfeld. The modern “OVUM” quarter, which was designed by the project developers Alfons & Alfreda and FAY Projects, offers around 27,000 m² of space for a mix of tenants from the office area, catering, retail and a hotel.

The underground car park is open around the clock and is initially available for long-term parking on two levels with around 270 spaces.

The Challenge

The OVUM team needed to implement a system that accurately provides access to the various user groups (e.g., office workers, retail customers, restaurant patrons, hotel guests, and residents) and their respective parking needs. To ensure that the system could effectively manage parking access based on each user group's specific requirements, sophisticated programming and data analysis were required.

A solution was required to uniquely identify users at the barrier.

The Solution

Q-Park decided to use LPR/ANPR to identify the different users. Each lane has a barrier integrated with an LPR camera that reads the license plate at the entry and exit. The LPR camera digitalizes the license plate in less than 20ms and sends the data over a network connection to the overlaying system.

The system can then link the license plate with the user’s profile and store that information in a database, sending a signal to the barrier to open, and making ulterior classification possible.

Identifying and categorizing users based on license plate data allows for tailored parking solutions depending on the type of stay (short-term/long-term parker).

Results

The system allows for dynamic management of parking access. For example, new employees or users can alter their license plates individually, so the barrier will open automatically the next time the registered license plate approaches the car park. This secures access control for permanent users.

Also, hotel guests have the option to prebook a car space, providing their license plate at the time of booking the parking space. For the booked time frame, users have ticketless access to the facility.

Short-term parkers will also get ticketless access to the car park if they via registering on the Q-Park App before entering. In case the license plate was not registered in the app, a regular ticket can be drawn at the barrier.

Due to the camera recognition, the ticket is printed with the license plate on it to provide faster exit after payment at the pay machine. They can pay at the pay machine, and then the barrier will open when they approach the exit lane.

About SURVISION 

SURVISION is a global leader in License Plate Reading (LPR). Since 2001, with solutions being deployed in over 50 countries with more than 50,000 cameras thanks to a network of 900 Value Added Integrators. The quality of its R&D team allows SURVISION to work with world-class integrators for a complete set of innovative solutions for Smart-City, Smart-Parking, law enforcement, toll road collection, car-park management, and for local authorities.

About Q-Park

Q-Park is one of Europe's leading operators of owned, managed and leased parking facilities as well as parking facilities in the form of a mixed business model. Q-Park is known for its quality standards and has a portfolio of more than 3,600 parking facilities with more than 706,000 parking spaces and has a strong market position in seven northwest European countries: the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium, Great Britain, Ireland and Denmark. Q-Park has already equipped 39 locations in 22 cities in Germany with e-charging stations and is thus actively promoting the expansion of the charging infrastructure. The company pursues a sustainable strategy by expanding the charging points in line with actual demand. In this way, Q-Park is making a long-term and resource-saving contribution to electromobility.