Journey time monitoring by ANPR, and the implications of larger scale systems

The provision of real-time journey time monitoring systems (JTMS) through automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) has been in existence for some time in a number of schemes. This paper looks at how this technology is now being used on a much wider scale, and this in turn is driving changes to the technology and the methods of deployment and operation. The paper uses the real-life example of the Traffic Control Centre project network, as well as drawing on the experience of schemes in Europe and the USA. In addition it looks at urban JTMS systems, with two UK projects linking journey time data to UTMC databases. The paper goes on to look at the future, and what changes there might be in future systems to further improve performance, and drive down cost.