TECHNICAL GUIDE
Vehicle Dwell Time & Parking Violation Detection
For parking, forecourt and logistics teams evaluating zone occupancy and vehicle dwell events.
Define dwell before choosing a threshold
Dwell is elapsed presence of an associated vehicle in a defined area. Decide whether the clock begins at first observation, after confirmation or after crossing a boundary. Define how brief exits, occlusion and stream gaps affect that clock. A threshold is a business configuration, not a universal measure of illegal parking.
A practical event state model
An entry establishes context. Continued presence can become an overstay after the configured threshold. A confirmed departure closes the lifecycle. Repeated detections should update the same event rather than generating a new alert on every frame. Temporary loss of a box is not necessarily departure; a dwell rule needs an explicit missing-observation policy.
Camera placement changes the result
Use a view that keeps the vehicle and bay boundary observable. Test partial vehicles, overlapping lanes, shadows, headlights, parked vehicles near the border and camera shake. A timer can be correct while association is wrong, so review the evidence and identity continuity as well as the final duration.
What plate recognition contributes
ALPR may help associate a vehicle and attach a stable plate observation. It should not replace event geometry or fabricate an identity when recognition fails. The existing engineering route uses HyperLPR3 / RKNN with temporal voting; audited sample agreement is not a general accuracy claim. Plate categories, night footage and target hardware require separate evaluation.
An event is not a legal verdict
The system can flag a configured occupancy or dwell condition. Whether that condition is a parking violation depends on local operating rules, authorization and human review. Do not infer enforcement readiness from a demonstration. Evidence retention, plate access and external linkage must be agreed for the site.
Acceptance cases worth testing
Include a short stop below the threshold, a genuine overstay, two vehicles in succession, occlusion, a vehicle leaving and re-entering, a camera interruption and duplicated receiver requests. Record false entries, missed departures, split identities and duplicate events. Discuss the measured boundary cases with Hank before expanding the pilot.
Resolve timer ambiguity explicitly
Consider a vehicle observed inside a bay, temporarily hidden by another vehicle, then visible again. Decide in the acceptance contract whether the clock pauses, continues with uncertainty or starts a new identity. Do not silently turn a stream outage into a long parking duration. If the time source jumps after restart, retain that condition for review. The correct policy depends on the operational workflow and must be tested with annotated video rather than chosen from a single attractive screenshot.
DEFINE ONE TESTABLE WORKFLOW
Bring your application to Hank.
Agree inputs, events and acceptance before discussing integration.