92-644: The Auckland Northern Motorway (known locally as the Northern Motorway , and historically as the Auckland–Warkworth Motorway ) in the Auckland Region of New Zealand links Central Auckland and Warkworth in the former Rodney District via the Hibiscus Coast and North Shore . It is part of State Highway 1 . It is 58 kilometres (36 mi) in length, with 17 junctions. Until the end of
184-448: A barricaded area, the decision may be made to have an acceptable error rate of one character. This is because the likelihood of an unauthorized car having such a similar license plate is seen as quite small. However, this level of inaccuracy would not be acceptable in most applications of an ANPR system. At the front end of any ANPR system is the imaging hardware which captures the image of the license plates. The initial image capture forms
276-594: A clear run from Tristram Avenue to St Stephens, on the northern side of the Bombay Hills . In 1979, the Northern Motorway was extended northward to Sunset Road, near the present Upper Harbour Highway interchange. The motorway ended at a set of traffic lights on the top of a hill, giving limited visibility to motorway traffic. In 1984 a two-lane expressway opened, continuing from Sunset Road to Greville Road and on towards Albany Highway Albany Village . On 30 March 1984,
368-457: A clearer image of the plates. During the 1990s, significant advances in technology took automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR) systems from limited expensive, hard to set up, fixed based applications to simple "point and shoot" mobile ones. This was made possible by the creation of software that ran on cheaper PC based, non-specialist hardware that also no longer needed to be given the pre-defined angles, direction, size and speed in which
460-423: A code of practice in 2013 for the use of surveillance cameras, including ANPR, by government and law enforcement agencies. The aim of the code is to help ensure their use is "characterised as surveillance by consent, and such consent on the part of the community must be informed consent and not assumed by a system operator. Surveillance by consent should be regarded as analogous to policing by consent ." In addition,
552-571: A critically important part of the ANPR system which, in accordance to the garbage in, garbage out principle of computing, will often determine the overall performance. License plate capture is typically performed by specialized cameras designed specifically for the task, although new software techniques are being implemented that support any IP-based surveillance camera and increase the utility of ANPR for perimeter security applications. Factors which pose difficulty for license plate imaging cameras include
644-468: A dedicated camera set to 1 ⁄ 1000 of a second. It is also important that the camera use a global shutter, as opposed to rolling shutter , to assure that the taken images are distortion-free. Because the car is moving, slower shutter speeds could result in an image which is too blurred to read using the OCR software, especially if the camera is much higher up than the vehicle. In slow-moving traffic, or when
736-682: A direct impact on the resolution and accuracy of a read in these conditions. Installing ANPR cameras on law enforcement vehicles requires careful consideration of the juxtaposition of the cameras to the license plates they are to read. Using the right number of cameras and positioning them accurately for optimal results can prove challenging, given the various missions and environments at hand. Highway patrol requires forward-looking cameras that span multiple lanes and are able to read license plates at high speeds. City patrol needs shorter range, lower focal length cameras for capturing plates on parked cars. Parking lots with perpendicularly parked cars often require
828-603: A license plate is identified as expired or on the incorrect vehicle. Successfully recognized plates may be matched against databases including "wanted person", "protection order", missing person, gang member, known and suspected terrorist, supervised release, immigration violator, and National Sex Offender lists. In addition to the real-time processing of license plate numbers, ANPR systems in the US collect (and can indefinitely store) data from each license plate capture. Images, dates, times and GPS coordinates can be stockpiled and can help place
920-445: A number of possible difficulties that the software must be able to cope with. These include: While some of these problems can be corrected within the software, it is primarily left to the hardware side of the system to work out solutions to these difficulties. Increasing the height of the camera may avoid problems with objects (such as other vehicles) obscuring the plate but introduces and increases other problems, such as adjusting for
1012-409: A population density of 364 people per km . Auckland Region had a population of 1,656,486 in the 2023 New Zealand census , an increase of 84,768 people (5.4%) since the 2018 census , and an increase of 240,936 people (17.0%) since the 2013 census . There were 818,262 males, 832,188 females and 6,036 people of other genders in 544,083 dwellings. 3.5% of people identified as LGBTIQ+ . The median age
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#17328555021271104-553: A principle of video fixing of the car with recognition of license plates with check under data base. The Home Office states the purpose of automatic number-plate recognition in the United Kingdom is to help detect, deter and disrupt criminality including tackling organised crime groups and terrorists. Vehicle movements are recorded through a network of nearly 13,000 cameras that capture approximately 55 million ANPR 'read' records daily. These records are stored for up to two years in
1196-514: A registration plate number recognition system on the main arteries and city exits. The system has been used with two cameras per lane, one for plate recognition, one for speed detection. Now the system has been widened to network all the registration number cameras together, and enforcing average speed over preset distances. Some arteries have 70 km/h (45 mph) limit, and some 50 km/h (30 mph), and photo evidence with date-time details are posted to registration address if speed violation
1288-554: A result, on 1 April 2019, a Fairfax County judge issued an injunction prohibiting the Fairfax County Police Department from collecting and storing ALPR data outside of an investigation or intelligence gathering related to a criminal investigation. On October 22, 2020, the Supreme Court of Virginia overturned that decision, ruling that the data collected was not personal, identifying information. In April 2020,
1380-684: A set of standards were introduced in 2014 for data, infrastructure, and data access and management. In the United States, ANPR systems are more commonly referred to as ALPR (Automatic License Plate Reader/Recognition) technology, due to differences in language (i.e., "number plates" are referred to as "license plates" in American English ) Since 2019, private companies like Flock Safety have grown rapidly, promoting stationary ALPR cameras to private individuals as well as neighbourhood associations and law enforcement. By April 2022, 1500 cities across
1472-443: A specialized camera with a very short focal length. Most technically advanced systems are flexible and can be configured with a number of cameras ranging from one to four which can easily be repositioned as needed. States with rear-only license plates have an additional challenge since a forward-looking camera is ineffective with oncoming traffic. In this case one camera may be turned backwards. There are seven primary algorithms that
1564-525: A stolen car was made in 1981. However, ANPR did not become widely used until new developments in cheaper and easier to use software were pioneered during the 1990s. The collection of ANPR data for future use ( i.e ., in solving then-unidentified crimes) was documented in the early 2000s. The first documented case of ANPR being used to help solve a murder occurred in November 2005, in Bradford , UK, where ANPR played
1656-408: A suspect at a scene, aid in witness identification, pattern recognition or the tracking of individuals. The Department of Homeland Security has proposed a federal database to combine all monitoring systems, which was cancelled after privacy complaints. In 1998, a Washington, D.C. police lieutenant pleaded guilty to extortion after blackmailing the owners of vehicles parked near a gay bar. In 2015,
1748-476: A system called Matrix Police in cooperation with the police . It consists of a portable computer equipped with a web camera that scans the stolen car database using automatic number-plate recognition. The system is installed on the dashboard of selected patrol vehicles ( PDA -based hand-held versions also exist) and is mainly used to control the license plate of parking cars. As the Auxiliary Police do not have
1840-636: A total of 9.7 millions. According to the Dutch Attorney General, the average number of violation of the speed limits on motorway sections equipped with average speed cameras is between 1 and 2%, compared to 10 to 15% elsewhere. One of the most notable stretches of average speed cameras in the UK is found on the A77 road in Scotland, with 32 miles (51 km) being monitored between Kilmarnock and Girvan . In 2006 it
1932-417: A vital role in locating and subsequently convicting killers of Sharon Beshenivsky . The software aspect of the system runs on standard home computer hardware and can be linked to other applications or databases . It first uses a series of image manipulation techniques to detect, normalize and enhance the image of the number plate, and then optical character recognition (OCR) to extract the alphanumerics of
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#17328555021272024-549: Is a monitoring system named Tutor (device) [ it ] covering more than 2,500 km (1,600 miles) (2012). The Tutor system is also able to intercept cars while changing lanes. The Tutor or Safety Tutor is a joint project between the motorway management company, Autostrade per l'Italia , and the State Police. Over time it has been replaced by other versions for example the SICVe-PM where PM stands for PlateMatching and by
2116-934: Is a requirement to forward images to the remote server, and this can require larger bandwidth transmission media. ANPR uses optical character recognition (OCR) on images taken by cameras. When Dutch vehicle registration plates switched to a different style in 2002, one of the changes made was to the font , introducing small gaps in some letters (such as P and R ) to make them more distinct and therefore more legible to such systems. Some license plate arrangements use variations in font sizes and positioning—ANPR systems must be able to cope with such differences to be truly effective. More complicated systems can cope with international variants, though many programs are individually tailored to each country. The cameras used can be existing road-rule enforcement or closed-circuit television cameras, as well as mobile units, which are usually attached to vehicles. Some systems use infrared cameras to take
2208-412: Is a technology that uses optical character recognition on images to read vehicle registration plates to create vehicle location data . It can use existing closed-circuit television , road-rule enforcement cameras , or cameras specifically designed for the task. ANPR is used by police forces around the world for law enforcement purposes, including checking if a vehicle is registered or licensed . It
2300-406: Is also used for electronic toll collection on pay-per-use roads and as a method of cataloguing the movements of traffic, for example by highways agencies. Automatic number-plate recognition can be used to store the images captured by the cameras as well as the text from the license plate, with some configurable to store a photograph of the driver. Systems commonly use infrared lighting to allow
2392-434: Is becoming a significant component of municipal predictive policing strategies and intelligence gathering, as well as for recovery of stolen vehicles, identification of wanted felons, and revenue collection from individuals who are delinquent on city or state taxes or fines, or monitoring for Amber Alerts . With the widespread implementation of this technology, many U.S. states now issue misdemeanor citations of up to $ 500 when
2484-449: Is completed in approximately 250 milliseconds. This information can easily be transmitted to a remote computer for further processing if necessary, or stored at the lane for later retrieval. In the other arrangement, there are typically large numbers of PCs used in a server farm to handle high workloads, such as those found in the London congestion charge project. Often in such systems, there
2576-532: Is detected. As of 2012, the fine for exceeding the speed limit for more than 30% is about ₺ 315 (US$ 175). The project of system integration «OLLI Technology» and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Department of State Traffic Inspection (STI) experiments on the introduction of a modern technical complex which is capable to locate stolen cars, drivers deprived of driving licenses and other problem cars in real time. The Ukrainian complex "Video control" working by
2668-587: Is often featured in the reality TV show Parking Wars featured on A&E Network . In the show, tow truck drivers and booting teams use the ANPR to find delinquent vehicles with high amounts of unpaid parking fines. Laws vary among the states regarding collection and retention of license plate information. As of 2019 , 16 states have limits on how long the data may be retained, with the lowest being New Hampshire (3 minutes) and highest Colorado (3 years). The Supreme Court of Virginia ruled in 2018 that data collected from ALPRs can constitute personal information. As
2760-457: Is only possible on dedicated ANPR cameras, however, and so cameras used for other purposes must rely more heavily on the software capabilities. Further, when a full-colour image is required as well as use of the ANPR-retrieved details, it is necessary to have one infrared-enabled camera and one normal (colour) camera working together. To avoid blurring it is ideal to have the shutter speed of
2852-722: Is sent to the NZTA office in Palmerston North for human analysis. Each toll cost 78 cents to collect in May 2010. The first section of the Northern Motorway opened on 30 May 1959, in conjunction with the opening of the Auckland Harbour Bridge. The motorway totalled 7.4 km, from Northcote Road to Fanshawe Street. On its opening day, 51,000 vehicles crossed the Harbour Bridge, with southbound traffic backing up for 10 km north of
Auckland Northern Motorway - Misplaced Pages Continue
2944-468: Is tested by the Danish police. It has been in permanent use since mid 2016. 180 gantries over major roads have been built throughout the country. These together with a further 250 fixed cameras is to enable a levy of an eco tax on lorries over 3.5 tonnes. The system is currently being opposed and whilst they may be collecting data on vehicles passing the cameras, no eco tax is being charged. On 11 March 2008,
3036-578: Is the summit of Little Barrier Island , at 722 metres. Prior to the merger into the Auckland Council on 1 November 2010, the Auckland Region consisted of seven territorial local authorities (TLAs); four cities and three districts: The Auckland Region is home to at least 23 known species or subspecies exclusively found in the region. This includes plant species such as the Waitākere rock koromiko ,
3128-778: The Auckland isthmus and across the low-lying land surrounding the Manukau Harbour , ending within a few kilometres of the mouth of the Waikato River . It also includes the islands of the Hauraki Gulf . It is bordered in the north by the Northland Region , and in the south by the Waikato region. The Hunua Ranges and the adjacent coastline along the Firth of Thames were part of the region until
3220-495: The Auckland metropolitan area , smaller towns, rural areas, and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf . Containing 34 percent of the nation's residents, it has by far the largest population and economy of any region of New Zealand, but the second-smallest land area. On 1 November 2010, the Auckland region became a unitary authority administered by the Auckland Council , replacing the previous regional council and seven local councils. In
3312-741: The Department of Justice (Victoria) use both fixed and mobile ANPR systems. The New South Wales Police Force Highway Patrol were the first to trial and use a fixed ANPR camera system in Australia in 2005. In 2009 they began a roll-out of a mobile ANPR system (known officially as MANPR) with three infrared cameras fitted to its Highway Patrol fleet. The system identifies unregistered and stolen vehicles as well as disqualified or suspended drivers as well as other 'persons of interest' such as persons having outstanding warrants. The city of Mechelen uses an ANPR system since September 2011 to scan all cars crossing
3404-537: The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany ruled that some areas of the laws permitting the use of automated number plate recognition systems in Germany violated the right to privacy . More specifically, the court found that the retention of any sort of information (i.e., number plate data) which was not for any pre-destined use (e.g., for use tracking suspected terrorists or for enforcement of speeding laws)
3496-683: The Los Angeles Police Department proposed sending letters to the home addresses of all vehicles that enter areas of high prostitution. Early private sector mobile ANPR applications have been for vehicle repossession and recovery, although the application of ANPR by private companies to collect information from privately owned vehicles or collected from private property (for example, driveways) has become an issue of sensitivity and public debate. Other ANPR uses include parking enforcement, and revenue collection from individuals who are delinquent on city or state taxes or fines. The technology
3588-686: The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court found that the warrantless use of automated license plate readers to surveil a suspected heroin distributor's bridge crossings to Cape Cod did not violate the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution only because of the limited time and scope of the observations. ANPR is used for speed limit enforcement in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Dubai (UAE), France, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, South Africa,
3680-571: The Northern Gateway Toll Road . It begins by travelling under Johnstone's Hill though 340-metre long twin tunnels. The electronic toll-registering gantry is at the southern end. At the first junction, west of Orewa, the motorway becomes toll free. The next 17 km to Albany runs through a mainly rural environment. An interchange at Silverdale provides access to the Hibiscus Coast and the Whangaparaoa Peninsula , and access to
3772-599: The Victoria Park Viaduct opened, and the motorway was extended south from Fanshawe Street, over the viaduct, to Cook Street/Wellington Street. In 1969, the motorway was extended northwards from Northcote Road to Tristram Avenue, and the Auckland Harbour Bridge's clip-on lanes opened, widening the bridge from four lanes to eight lanes. In 1978, the motorway was extended south to meet the Southern Motorway at Nelson Street/ Hobson Street . This allowed motorway traffic
Auckland Northern Motorway - Misplaced Pages Continue
3864-528: The Waitematā Harbour to Northcote Point, where it crosses the Auckland Harbour Bridge . The bridge has a contraflow system on it which allows five lanes southbound and three northbound during morning rush hour, five lanes northbound and three southbound during evening rush hour, and four lanes each way at other times. The lanes are separated by a moveable median barrier. Coming off the bridge,
3956-561: The 'Western Arabic' equivalents. A research with source code is available for APNR Arabic digits. The technique is tested by the Swedish Police Authority at nine different locations in Sweden. Several cities have tested—and some have put into service—the KGYS (Kent Guvenlik Yonetim Sistemi, City Security Administration System) , i.e., capital Ankara, has debuted KGYS- which consists of
4048-514: The 1980s, it was largely associated with the Auckland Harbour Bridge as a connection between central Auckland and the North Shore, but since 1994 it has been extended to Warkworth to become the primary route between the Auckland urban area, the Hibiscus Coast satellite towns, the northern Rodney district, and Northland . Between the 1959 opening of the motorway and 1984, tolls were collected on
4140-513: The Auckland Council was formed in late 2010, when they were transferred to the Waikato region. In land area the region is smaller than all the other regions and unitary authorities except Nelson . The region's coastline is 3,702 kilometres (2,300 mi) long. It has about 21,000 kilometres (13,000 mi) of rivers and streams, about 8 percent of these in urban areas. Its highest point
4232-559: The Auckland Harbour Bridge, and since 2009 tolls have been collected on the Northern Gateway Toll Road. In 2019, 170,000 vehicles per day were crossing the Harbour Bridge section of the motorway. The Northern Motorway starts near Puhoi, in the former Rodney District , at the southern end of the Puhoi-Warkworth Motorway, which opened in 2023. The initial 7 km section is an automated-toll road, also known as
4324-519: The Harbour Bridge approaches at the Onewa Road interchange. Dedicated ramps connect the busway with the Northern Motorway at Constellation Drive and at Albany busway station near the Oteha Valley Road interchange. Auckland Region Auckland ( Māori : Tāmaki Makaurau ) is one of the 16 regions of New Zealand , which takes its name from the eponymous urban area . The region encompasses
4416-535: The Hibiscus Coast. The first section, ALPURT A, opened between Greville Road and Silverdale on 20 December 1999. At 13 km in length, it was the longest section of motorway to open at once in New Zealand. At the same time, ALPURT B1, a two-lane expressway between Silverdale and the back of Orewa opened. In 2006, an upgrade to the Central Motorway Junction saw ramps open between the Northern Motorway and
4508-638: The National ANPR Data Centre, which can be accessed, analysed and used as evidence as part of investigations by UK law enforcement agencies . In 2012, the UK Parliament enacted the Protection of Freedoms Act which includes several provisions related to controlling and restricting the collection, storage, retention, and use of information about individuals. Under this Act, the Home Office published
4600-686: The Northern Motorway, the Northern Busway is closely associated with the motorway. The first section of the 6.2 km bus rapid transit lanes opened in January 2008, and runs along the eastern side of the motorway between Constellation busway station (near the Constellation Drive interchange) and Akoranga busway station (near the Esmonde Road interchange). An additional 2.5 km southbound bus lane, opened in 2009, runs from Akoranga station to
4692-533: The Northwestern Motorway, and the Northern Motorway and Grafton Gully. Beforehand, traffic travelling from the Northern Motorway to the Northwestern Motorway or Grafton Gully had to exit at Cook Street and travel through local city streets to connect to West Auckland or the Port of Auckland. ALPURT B2, the Northern Gateway Toll Road, opened on 25 January 2009 between Orewa and Puhoi. The Northern Gateway Toll Road
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#17328555021274784-597: The SICVe Vergilius. In addition to this average speed monitoring system, there are others Celeritas and T-Expeed v.2. Average speed cameras ( trajectcontrole ) are in place in the Netherlands since 2002. As of July 2009, 12 cameras were operational, mostly in the west of the country and along the A12 . Some of these are divided in several "sections" to allow for cars leaving and entering the motorway. A first experimental system
4876-428: The UK, and Kuwait. This works by tracking vehicles' travel time between two fixed points, and calculating the average speed. These cameras are claimed to have an advantage over traditional speed cameras in maintaining steady legal speeds over extended distances, rather than encouraging heavy braking on approach to specific camera locations and subsequent acceleration back to illegal speeds. In Italian highways there
4968-565: The United States had implemented Flock cameras, despite criticism from the ACLU and other civil rights organisations and concerns about whether the system actually reduces crime. Mobile ANPR use is widespread among US law enforcement agencies at the city, county, state and federal level. According to a 2012 report by the Police Executive Research Forum, approximately 71% of all US police departments use some form of ANPR. Mobile ANPR
5060-414: The alternative toll-free route north via Urban Route 31 (formerly State Highway 17 ). The Orewa interchange can also be used, but requires driving through local residential areas. South of the junction at Dairy Flat is the motorway's only service centre, which serves northbound traffic, and is the toll cash-payment point for northbound traffic. The motorway then descends steeply into the northern suburbs of
5152-536: The authority to order moving vehicles to stop, if a stolen car is found, the formal police is informed. Vehicle registration plates in Saudi Arabia use white background, but several vehicle types may have a different background. There are only 17 Arabic letters used on the registration plates. A challenge for plates recognition in Saudi Arabia is the size of the digits. Some plates use both Eastern Arabic numerals and
5244-430: The benefit of license plate reading in real time, when they can interdict immediately. Despite their effectiveness, there are noteworthy challenges related with mobile ANPRs. One of the biggest is that the processor and the cameras must work fast enough to accommodate relative speeds of more than 160 km/h (100 mph), a likely scenario in the case of oncoming traffic. This equipment must also be very efficient since
5336-437: The camera is at a lower level and the vehicle is at an angle approaching the camera, the shutter speed does not need to be so fast. Shutter speeds of 1 ⁄ 500 of a second can cope with traffic moving up to 65 km/h (40 mph) and 1 ⁄ 250 of a second up to 8 km/h (5 mph). License plate capture cameras can produce usable images from vehicles traveling at 190 km/h (120 mph). To maximize
5428-428: The camera to take the picture at any time of day or night. ANPR technology must take into account plate variations from place to place. Privacy issues have caused concerns about ANPR, such as government tracking citizens' movements, misidentification, high error rates, and increased government spending. Critics have described it as a form of mass surveillance . ANPR is sometimes known by various other terms: ANPR
5520-429: The census question. Of those at least 15 years old, 330,039 (24.7%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, 571,350 (42.7%) had a post-high school certificate or diploma, and 345,828 (25.9%) people exclusively held high school qualifications. The median income was $ 44,700, compared with $ 41,500 nationally. 194,880 people (14.6%) earned over $ 100,000 compared to 12.1% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15
5612-471: The chances of effective license plate capture, installers should carefully consider the positioning of the camera relative to the target capture area. Exceeding threshold angles of incidence between camera lens and license plate will greatly reduce the probability of obtaining usable images due to distortion. Manufacturers have developed tools to help eliminate errors from the physical installation of license plate capture cameras. Several State Police Forces, and
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#17328555021275704-601: The city limits (inbound and outbound). Cars listed on ' black lists ' (no insurance, stolen, etc.) generate an alarm in the dispatching room, so they can be intercepted by a patrol. As of early 2012, 1 million cars per week are automatically checked in this way. Federal, provincial, and municipal police services across Canada use automatic licence plate recognition software; they are also used on certain toll routes and by parking enforcement agencies. Laws governing usage of information thus obtained use of such devices are mandated through various provincial privacy acts. The technique
5796-407: The contrast of the image. In some countries, the characters on the plate are not reflective, giving a high level of contrast with the reflective background in any lighting conditions. A camera that makes use of active infrared imaging (with a normal colour filter over the lens and an infrared illuminator next to it) benefits greatly from this as the infrared waves are reflected back from the plate. This
5888-619: The end of 2015. Within the system, 160 portable traffic enforcement and data-gathering units and 365 permanent gantry installations were brought online with ANPR, speed detection, imaging and statistical capabilities. Since all the data points are connected to a centrally located ITS, each member of the consortium is able to separately utilize its range of administrative and enforcement activities, such as remote vehicle registration and insurance verification, speed, lane and traffic light enforcement and wanted or stolen vehicle interception among others. Several Hungarian auxiliary police units also use
5980-534: The existing four-lane viaduct. The viaduct, previously two lanes in each direction, was reconfigured to two pairs of southbound lanes; one pair accessing the Cook Street off-ramp and Port and Northwestern Motorway connections, the other connecting to the Southern Motorway. In addition to the tunnel a movable median barrier on the northbound section between the tunnel and the Harbour Bridge allows five northbound lanes to be used in peak traffic times. The southbound section
6072-416: The former North Shore City , the northern of Auckland's four former cities. Crawler lanes are provided for heavy vehicles between Oteha Valley Road and Greville Road. The Greville Road interchange was until 1999 the northern terminus, with the current northbound entrance and exit ramps following the old formation down to the roundabout intersection with Albany Highway. The motorway proceeds south-east through
6164-402: The increased skew of the plate. On some cars, tow bars may obscure one or two characters of the license plate. Bikes on bike racks can also obscure the number plate, though in some countries and jurisdictions, such as Victoria, Australia , "bike plates" are supposed to be fitted. Some small-scale systems allow for some errors in the license plate. When used for giving specific vehicles access to
6256-404: The last tolls were collected for the Harbour Bridge, making the entire Northern Motorway free of charge from 31 March 1984. In the 1980s, tidal flow was introduced on the Auckland Harbour Bridge to assist with peak flows on the Northern Motorway between the North Shore and central Auckland. The two central lanes were made reversible to allow a 5+3 split favouring the peak direction (southbound in
6348-467: The license plate. ANPR systems are generally deployed in one of two basic approaches: one allows for the entire process to be performed at the lane location in real-time, and the other transmits all the images from many lanes to a remote computer location and performs the OCR process there at some later point in time. When done at the lane site, the information captured of the plate alphanumeric, date-time, lane identification, and any other information required
6440-471: The morning, northbound in the evening) during peak hours, and 4+4 off-peak. The lanes were controlled by overhead signals, which some motorists on the Motorway ignored and were killed when they collided head-on with oncoming traffic - between 1 January 1989 and 27 November 1989, five people died as a result of collisions involving the so-called "suicide lanes". In 1990, a moveable barrier was installed to separate
6532-420: The motorway's construction and widening, large sections of Smiths Bush, a remnant kahikatea and taraire forest, were destroyed. Access to the bridge was at first motorway limited, with all ramps facing towards the Harbour Bridge. Tolls for the bridge were collected manually, with cars initially paying 2/6 (two shillings and sixpence) to cross the bridge (equivalent to about $ 5.50 in 2017 dollars ). In 1962,
6624-399: The plates would be passing the camera's field of view. Further scaled-down components at lower price points led to a record number of deployments by law enforcement agencies globally. Smaller cameras with the ability to read license plates at higher speeds, along with smaller, more durable processors that fit in the trunks of police vehicles, allowed law enforcement officers to patrol daily with
6716-454: The power source is the vehicle electrical system, and equipment must have minimal space requirements. Relative speed is only one issue that affects the camera's ability to read a license plate. Algorithms must be able to compensate for all the variables that can affect the ANPR's ability to produce an accurate read, such as time of day, weather and angles between the cameras and the license plates. A system's illumination wavelengths can also have
6808-580: The process, an area in its southeastern corner was transferred to the neighbouring Waikato region. Since then, the Auckland Council has introduced a system of local boards to divide the region for local government. On the mainland, the region extends from the mouth of the Kaipara Harbour in the north across the southern stretches of the Northland Peninsula , through the Waitākere Ranges and
6900-476: The road turns sharply to head eastwards towards the Auckland city centre . An interchange with Fanshawe Street allows access to the northern end of the city centre, and also allows lanes to be dropped ahead of the narrow four-lane Victoria Park Viaduct . The motorway then turns south-east across the Victoria Park Viaduct, and travels down the western side of the city centre, with an exit at Cook Street for
6992-408: The software requires for identifying a license plate: The complexity of each of these subsections of the program determines the accuracy of the system. During the third phase (normalization), some systems use edge detection techniques to increase the picture difference between the letters and the plate backing. A median filter may also be used to reduce the visual noise on the image. There are
7084-678: The southern end of the city centre. The motorway emerges at the top of the Central Motorway Junction ("Spaghetti Junction") and terminates at the Northwestern Motorway , becoming the Southern Motorway . Tolls for the Northern Gateway Toll Road are collected electronically, using an automated toll plaza just north of the Grand Drive interchange. The automated toll plaza uses automatic number-plate recognition to identify
7176-407: The speed of the vehicles being recorded, varying level of ambient light, headlight glare and harsh environmental conditions. Most dedicated license plate capture cameras will incorporate infrared illumination in order to solve the problems of lighting and plate reflectivity. Many countries now use license plates that are retroreflective . This returns the light back to the source and thus improves
7268-463: The suburbs of the North Shore, with interchanges at Upper Harbour Highway, Tristram Avenue, Northcote Road and Esmonde Road allowing access to the suburbs. The Upper Harbour Highway interchange is the northern terminus of the Western Ring Route , which provides an alternative north–south motorway route around Auckland. At Esmonde Road, the motorway turns south-west to follow the northern shore of
7360-619: The toll plaza (near the present Stafford Road exit) with vehicles wishing to cross the bridge for the first time. Initially, the Auckland Harbour Bridge Authority owned and operated the motorway between Fanshawe Street and the toll plaza, while the National Roads Board (the predecessor to the New Zealand Transport Agency) operated the remainder of the motorway from the toll plaza to Northcote Road. During
7452-540: The traffic flows. The expressway between Sunset Road and Greville Road was upgraded and became a part of the Northern Motorway in 1994. A new interchange was created at Upper Harbour Highway and Constellation Drive to replace the Sunset Road intersection. The late 1990s saw the construction of the first stages of the Albany to Puhoi Realignment (ALPURT) – a 27 km extension of the Northern Motorway, bypassing Albany Hill and
7544-660: The undesccribed Mokohinau gecko , insect species such as the Little Barrier giant wētā , and bird species known to roost exclusively in the Auckland Region, such as the New Zealand storm petrel . Many endemic species are found exclusively within the Waitākere Ranges , on Great Barrier Island , Little Barrier Island and the Mokohinau Islands . Auckland Region covers 4,941.16 km (1,907.79 sq mi) and had an estimated population of 1,798,300 as of June 2024, with
7636-506: The vehicle: the number plate is optically read and details checked against the New Zealand Transport Agency's (NZTA) database, any pre-payment made or account open for that particular vehicle. Additional sensors detect the size of the vehicle, to help prevent misreads of registration plates and to notice plate swaps between cars and trucks. If the computer system needs assistance in recognising plates or for any other reason, data
7728-567: Was 35.9 years (compared with 38.1 years nationally). There were 318,843 people (19.2%) aged under 15 years, 346,938 (20.9%) aged 15 to 29, 770,949 (46.5%) aged 30 to 64, and 219,750 (13.3%) aged 65 or older. People could identify as more than one ethnicity. The results were 49.8% European ( Pākehā ); 12.3% Māori ; 16.6% Pasifika ; 31.3% Asian ; 2.7% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders (MELAA); and 1.8% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander". English
7820-540: Was also widened to five lanes, this being permanent. A 34 km four-lane motorway or expressway from the current terminus of the Northern Motorway at Puhoi to north to Wellsford was one of the seven " Roads of National Significance " announced in March 2009. The contract for the section from Puhoi to Warkworth was awarded in November 2016 under a public-private partnership and was opened in June 2023. Although not technically part of
7912-518: Was confirmed that speeding tickets could potentially be avoided from the ' SPECS ' cameras by changing lanes and the RAC Foundation feared that people may play "Russian Roulette" changing from one lane to another to lessen their odds of being caught; however, in 2007 the system was upgraded for multi-lane use and in 2008 the manufacturer described the "myth" as "categorically untrue". There exists evidence that implementation of systems such as SPECS has
8004-612: Was in violation of German law. These systems were provided by Jenoptik Robot GmbH, and called TraffiCapture. In 2012 a state consortium was formed among the Hungarian Ministry of Interior, the National Police Headquarters and the Central Commission of Public Administration and Electronic Services with the aim to install and operate a unified intelligent transportation system ( ITS ) with nationwide coverage by
8096-693: Was invented in 1976 at the Police Scientific Development Branch in Britain. Prototype systems were working by 1979, and contracts were awarded to produce industrial systems, first at EMI Electronics, and then at Computer Recognition Systems (CRS, now part of Jenoptik ) in Wokingham , UK. Early trial systems were deployed on the A1 road and at the Dartford Tunnel . The first arrest through detection of
8188-557: Was spoken by 92.3%, Māori language by 2.6%, Samoan by 4.5% and other languages by 29.4%. No language could be spoken by 2.3% (e.g. too young to talk). New Zealand Sign Language was known by 0.4%. The percentage of people born overseas was 42.5, compared with 28.8% nationally. Religious affiliations were 34.9% Christian , 5.4% Hindu , 2.9% Islam , 0.9% Māori religious beliefs , 1.9% Buddhist , 0.3% New Age , 0.2% Jewish , and 2.6% other religions. People who answered that they had no religion were 44.8%, and 6.2% of people did not answer
8280-576: Was tested on a short stretch of the A2 in 1997 and was deemed a big success by the police, reducing overspeeding to 0.66%, compared to 5 to 6% when regular speed cameras were used at the same location. The first permanent average speed cameras were installed on the A13 in 2002, shortly after the speed limit was reduced to 80 km/h (50 mph) to limit noise and air pollution in the area. In 2007, average speed cameras resulted in 1.7 million fines for overspeeding out of
8372-436: Was that 712,110 (53.2%) people were employed full-time, 161,946 (12.1%) were part-time, and 43,947 (3.3%) were unemployed. The eponymous city (urban area) of Auckland has a population of 1,531,400 as of June 2024, making up 85.2% of the region's population. Other urban areas in the Auckland region include: Automatic number-plate recognition Automatic number-plate recognition ( ANPR ; see also other names below)
8464-481: Was the first automated toll road in New Zealand, and the first under the authority of the NZ Transport Agency . At the same time, ALPURT B1 was upgraded to motorway standard to complete the Northern Motorway from central Auckland to Puhoi. The Victoria Park Tunnel project was completed in early 2012 having been opened earlier in the year. Three northbound lanes were constructed in a cut-and-cover tunnel next to
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