Parking control

Municipality of Eindhoven

Using an image recognition algorithm, quickly and easily check whether parked cars have the right to be parked in zones with paid or permit parking.

Last change on 11th of March 2025, at 12:29 (CET) | Publication Standard 1.0

• Publication category: Impactful algorithms
• Impact assessment: DPIA
• Status: In use

General information

Theme

Traffic

Begin date

03-2021

Contact information

https://www.eindhoven.nl/bestuur-en-beleid/contact/contact-met-de-gemeente

Link to publication website

https://www.eindhoven.nl/stad-en-wonen/veiligheid/cameratoezicht-in-eindhoven

Responsible use

Goal and impact

The aim is that everyone pays nicely for parking and that there are enough free parking spaces to keep the city accessible and reachable. The impact is that more cars can be checked against the current parking policy. This gives an extra incentive to comply with parking standards and increases the chance of being caught in case of violations.

Considerations

The image recognition algorithm makes verification quick and easy. The algorithm collects only the license plates and anonymised images of the situation at the scene for objection cases. The collection of this data is proportionate to the purpose. The collected license plates and images are not used for other purposes such as other traffic matters or detection.

Human intervention

An enforcer checks on the spot if there really is no payment and assesses the situation. If there is no special situation, a parking fine follows.

Risk management

The main risk is that the system misrecognises a license plate number and someone who does not deserve it is fined. This can happen if a character on the license plate is wrongly recognised. By checking the enforcer, this should be prevented.

Legal basis

Parking policies (paid parking and parking permits) regulate the parking behaviour of residents and visitors in the city's designated zones. In practice, there are 2 forms:

1. Paid parking in designated areas.
2. An issued/paid permit to park in designated places.

This is laid down in Articles 225, 234 and 235 of the Municipalities Act and the Municipal Parking Taxes Decree.

Impact assessment

Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA)

Operations

Data

The scan car collects only data necessary for checking the right to park: license plates and photos of the immediate surroundings of parked cars.

If you have paid for parking or have a permit, the data (license plate number and photos) are deleted immediately. If not, we keep the data for sending the fine and dealing with any objection. The data will not be used for anything else and deleted after the objection period expires. The algorithm used detects non-relevant license plates and persons in the photos and makes them unrecognisable.

Technical design

The following is a functional explanation of how the algorithm works and the process in which it is used:

1. The scan car drives through the street on public roads in areas where parking is allowed only if paid for or one has a parking permit
2. Different types of cameras on the scan car (infrared, colour and panoramic cameras) automatically scan the license plates of all cars located in the area to be enforced
3. A GEO position is linked to each license plate
4. The scanned data is securely transmitted to Brickyard's back office
5. The algorithm uses a geographic map provided by the municipality containing all relevant parking information to check whether the geo-position of the license plate is in a given parking area
6. The data is filtered by the system and then the parking rights database (National Parking Register) is queried
7. If the license plate is not in there, a parking controller goes to the parked car and assesses the situation on the spot. If there are no details, the enforcer confirms that a fine (this is officially called post-parking tax assessment) will be sent to the owner of the car.

External provider

Brickyard BV