License Plate Recognition

License Plate Recognition (LPR)

LPR Technology at IU Bloomington

IU Bloomington Parking Operations will continue testing License Plate Recognition (LPR) technology. Please be sure that your vehicle has a license plate facing the driving lane.

How LPR works

License Plate Recognition (LPR) is a virtual permit system that associates your license plate to your parking permit. In future phases of our LPR system, your license plate will be your virtual permit! LPR cameras work much like a supermarket scanner but it uses your vehicle’s license plate number in place of a barcode. The license plate is captured by cameras mounted on enforcement vehicles or inside parking garages. When read, the numbers of your plate are automatically referenced against the parking database to verify proper parking privileges for the parking location.

Why LPR technology?

The bottom line is that this technology is designed to improve our efficiency and your experience with us.

  • Once LPR is fully implemented, there will be no need to:
    • Wait in line in our office, or for your permit to arrive in the mail
    • Visit our office if you forget your permit
    • Worry about your permit falling from rearview mirror or being improperly displayed
    • Pay a fee for lost permits
    • Remember to switch your permit to another vehicle
    • Scan or swipe a permit when entering or exiting a garage.

With LPR, it is automatic!

About the LPR testing on this campus

The impact to your day-to-day parking experience will be minimal. You will continue to display your valid parking permit in your vehicle during the evaluation period and park in the same areas as allowed by that permit.

To ensure we collect enough results during the evaluation period we are asking all permit holders to do the following:

  1. Navigate to the IU Parking Portal to review and update your current vehicle information and license plate.
  2. Log in with your IU credentials.
  3. Click on Vehicles in the navigation at the top of the page.
  4. Delete old vehicles, edit vehicle information, or add vehicles you drive.
  5. If you have a personalized plate with a special character (heart, star, etc.) skip the special character and enter only the numbers or letters.
  6. Always park your vehicle so that your license plate faces the drive lane and the LPR cameras can read it.

Secondary permits such as the service vehicle (SV) and reserved (R) should be displayed as usual. Current parking rules for use of secondary permits will not change. Protocol for visitors displaying a visitor permit or parking in designated visitor locations will not change.