Drive-By Digital Chalking in Calgary

This article outlines the use of automated electronic chalking to monitor and enforce parking procedures. Using an electronic array mounted on a parking enforcement vehicle that includes visual recognition software coupled with license plate databases and GPS location, parking enforcement officers (PEO) have experienced dramatic improvements in terms of number of vehicles processed and tickets issued over conventional chalking. There are a number of systems available to issue tickets with this system. Among them, include the manual/traditional method upon identification by the system, an automated ticket print-out on-site, and, lastly, mailing tickets remotely once the information has been returned to the main parking enforcement office. The article also provides a brief case study from the Calgary Parking Authority, as they have recently implemented just such a system.