Adding and configuring parking zones

To manage physical parking lots in Security Center using AutoVu™ Free-Flow, you must first define parking zones and assign Sharp cameras as entrance or exit cameras.

To add a new parking zone:

1. From the Config Tool home page, click the Area view task.
2. In the entity tree, click the area you want to add the parking zone to.
3. Click Add an entity () and select Parking zone.
   A new parking zone is added under the area.

To configure the parking zone:

1. In the Identity tab, rename your parking rule and add a Description and Logical ID (optional).
2. Click the Properties tab of parking zone.
3. From the LPR Manager drop-down list, select the LPR Manager to which the parking zone is assigned.
   WARNING: If you delete an LPR Manager, all parking zones that are assigned to it are also deleted and all related parking data is lost.

   NOTE: Only the Sharp cameras associated with the selected LPR Manager are available to monitor the parking zone.
4. In the LPR cameras section, click Add an item (). Select the Sharp cameras that are installed in the parking zone, and click OK.
5. For each Sharp camera that is monitoring the parking zone, you must specify whether the monitored lane is an exit, an entrance, or whether the lane serves as both an entrance and an exit.
   

   Define the lane direction using the following parameter:

   Lane direction:

   • Entrance:

     The Sharp camera is monitoring a parking lot entrance lane.
   • Exit:

     The Sharp camera is monitoring a parking lot exit lane.
   • Entrance and exit:

     A Sharp camera can detect whether a vehicle is moving toward it or away from it. As a result, if vehicles have both a front and rear license plate, you can use a single Sharp camera to monitor a lane that is used as both an entrance and an exit to a parking zone.
6. For each Sharp camera that is monitoring the parking zone, you must specify the direction that traffic is moving in relation to the camera.

   Define the relative motion using the following parameter:

   Relative motion: A Sharp camera can detect whether a vehicle is moving toward it or away from it. Using this information, the parking zone can ignore vehicles traveling in a certain direction.

   IMPORTANT: Only filter by relative motion if necessary. If you position the camera so that only one lane is visible, and the lane has only one direction of travel, you do not need to use the relative motion feature. For more information on defining a region of interest, see the Sharp Administrator Guide.

   The following options are available if you select a lane direction of Entrance or Exit.

   • Ignored:

     Use this option if only one lane is visible in the context image with only one direction of travel.
   • Approaching:

     If the camera might detect vehicles moving in both directions, use this setting to only register vehicles if they are moving toward the camera or if the direction of travel cannot be detected.
   • Moving away:

     If the camera might detect vehicles moving in both directions, use this setting to only register vehicles if they are moving away from the camera or if the direction of travel cannot be detected.

   The following options are available if you select a lane direction of Entrance and exit.

   • Approach to enter:

     Use this option if one camera is used to detect both entering and exiting vehicles and if vehicles approach the camera as they enter the parking lot.
   • Approach to exit:

     Use this option if one camera is used to detect both entering and exiting vehicles and if vehicles approach the camera as they exit the parking lot.
7. In the Definition section, configure the following parameters for the parking lot:
   • Capacity:

     The number of physical parking spaces in the parking lot.

     NOTE: The parking zone capacity works in conjunction with the Capacity threshold setting of the LPR Manager. When the capacity threshold is reached, a capacity threshold reached event is generated.
   • Maximum session time:

     This is the period of time before a vehicle's parking session is considered to have exceeded the limit of stay in the parking zone. After this point, it is assumed that the vehicle's plate was not read at the exit and that the vehicle is no longer in the parking zone. The vehicle no longer appears in parking session reports created in the Security Desk Parking sessions task.

   • Parking rule:

     Select a parking rule to apply to the parking zone.

     To jump to a parking rule's configuration page, select the rule, and click .

8. In the Enforcement section, define the following parameters for the parking lot:
   • Violation hotlist:

     Select a hotlist to be populated with the information of vehicles whose parking sessions have reached a state of Violation. The selected hotlist is updated every minute and can be used to enforce violations using a Genetec Patroller™ vehicle.
9. Click Apply.