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> -c <country_code>, --country <country_code> Country code to identify (either us for USA or eu for Europe). Default=us Europe is not a country, it

> -c <country_code>, --country <country_code> Country code to identify (either us for USA or eu for Europe). Default=us Europe is not a country, it's a continent with multiples countries, each one with its own scheme for creating license plates. Can't test it right now, but if you look for a Swiss, Belgian and French (old and new) license plate you'll see they have nothing in common.

unwind 11y ago
That's just ... weird. I wonder how the developers, who reasonably have spent quite a while looking at and thinking about license plates, can make such an error. It would of course have helped if they had provided more documentation regarding what the software considers to be the differences between US and European plates that makes it able to cope with all of Europe as a single mode, but not with US' plates.
- atomwaffel 11y ago
  From what they write in their live demo[1], it's about the dimensions of the plate rather than what's on them: > OpenALPR supports both North American style (12 inches by 6 inches) and European style (52 cm by 11 cm) license plates. That makes a bit more sense. Then again, the "Country" field there gives a choice of North American, European, Australia, Great Britain, Singapore, Korea. I wonder if accuracy couldn't be improved quite a bit if they included heuristics for individual countries. For instance, German licence plates should be really easy to read thanks to their "forgery-impeding typeface"[2] which has uniquely distinctive features for each letter. It's also not guaranteed that all European licence plates have those dimensions. Motorcycles and tractors for instance have taller, narrower plates, and cars where regular plates wouldn't fit (like imported or antique cars) can get special plates as well. And then of course there's Switzerland which has wildly different dimensions and has changed its mind every few years[3]. [1] http://www.openalpr.com/demo-image.html http://www.openalpr.com/demo-image.html [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FE-Schrift https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FE-Schrift [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Switzerland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of...
robzyb 11y ago
"The common EU format of having a blue section on the extreme left with EU circle of stars and the country code was introduced by Council Regulation (EC) No 2411/98 of 3 November 1998[1] and entered into force on the 11 November 1998." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_the_European_Union https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of... Maybe not all countries adopt the EU standard, but it makes sense that there is an "eu" mode.
- andyjohnson0 11y ago
  Here in the UK it is fairly common for vehicle plates not to have the blue EU section. The window next to me overlooks an office carpark, and of the twelve vehicles with visible plates only three have the EU section. The rest are plain, unadorned plates. Edit: UK plates may also have a "national emblem" [1] instead of the EU logo. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_the_United_Kingdom,_Crown_dependencies_and_overseas_territories#National_emblems_within_Great_Britain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of...
- lhaussknecht 11y ago
  Yes, that are common plates. But there are also special ones. Look at the personalized plates in austria.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Austria https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of...
  - robzyb 11y ago
    As an Australian living in Japan all of those plates look remarkably similar. It wouldn't surprise me if all of them were covered under the 'eu' directive. Of course, my point was simply that there IS an EU rule, and therefore it makes sense to simply have an 'eu' mode that acts upon the rule even if it doesn't cover all EU plates.
    - lhaussknecht 11y ago
      My experience with other (commercial) NPR is, that it's better to narrow down your expected search results to those countries you are looking for. The whole EU would be too wide...

unwind 11y ago

That's just ... weird. I wonder how the developers, who reasonably have spent quite a while looking at and thinking about license plates, can make such an error. It would of course have helped if they had provided more documentation regarding what the software considers to be the differences between US and European plates that makes it able to cope with all of Europe as a single mode, but not with US' plates.

atomwaffel 11y ago
From what they write in their live demo[1], it's about the dimensions of the plate rather than what's on them: > OpenALPR supports both North American style (12 inches by 6 inches) and European style (52 cm by 11 cm) license plates. That makes a bit more sense. Then again, the "Country" field there gives a choice of North American, European, Australia, Great Britain, Singapore, Korea. I wonder if accuracy couldn't be improved quite a bit if they included heuristics for individual countries. For instance, German licence plates should be really easy to read thanks to their "forgery-impeding typeface"[2] which has uniquely distinctive features for each letter. It's also not guaranteed that all European licence plates have those dimensions. Motorcycles and tractors for instance have taller, narrower plates, and cars where regular plates wouldn't fit (like imported or antique cars) can get special plates as well. And then of course there's Switzerland which has wildly different dimensions and has changed its mind every few years[3]. [1] http://www.openalpr.com/demo-image.html http://www.openalpr.com/demo-image.html [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FE-Schrift https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FE-Schrift [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Switzerland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of...

robzyb 11y ago

"The common EU format of having a blue section on the extreme left with EU circle of stars and the country code was introduced by Council Regulation (EC) No 2411/98 of 3 November 1998[1] and entered into force on the 11 November 1998." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_the_European_Union https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of... Maybe not all countries adopt the EU standard, but it makes sense that there is an "eu" mode.

andyjohnson0 11y ago
Here in the UK it is fairly common for vehicle plates not to have the blue EU section. The window next to me overlooks an office carpark, and of the twelve vehicles with visible plates only three have the EU section. The rest are plain, unadorned plates. Edit: UK plates may also have a "national emblem" [1] instead of the EU logo. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_the_United_Kingdom,_Crown_dependencies_and_overseas_territories#National_emblems_within_Great_Britain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of...
lhaussknecht 11y ago
Yes, that are common plates. But there are also special ones. Look at the personalized plates in austria.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Austria https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of...
- robzyb 11y ago
  As an Australian living in Japan all of those plates look remarkably similar. It wouldn't surprise me if all of them were covered under the 'eu' directive. Of course, my point was simply that there IS an EU rule, and therefore it makes sense to simply have an 'eu' mode that acts upon the rule even if it doesn't cover all EU plates.
  - lhaussknecht 11y ago
    My experience with other (commercial) NPR is, that it's better to narrow down your expected search results to those countries you are looking for. The whole EU would be too wide...