Creating License Plate Tracking Software

[Patch]

How much of an issue would it be for competent person to build a program on a existing company's computer  system to do this:

The company wants to track several thousands of license plate numbers, from various states, to see how many days a particlar plate number has used the  company's business, on a 12 month basis. 

Example; plate # 12345 - NV camped 10 days in May, 15 days in April, and 5 days in August.  The plate number would be entered October,  and the computer would bring up those previous days/dates the owner camped on the business property. 

Thanks in advance. 

[iacas]

It's a pretty easy database. You could build a web interface for it in a day or so.

[Valleygolfer]

Do you need it to read the plate as well? That part might be challenging

[Patch]

No,  just punch in a plate number and see what previous activity on that number comes up. 

Thanks iacas, I will pass that info on to the supt. 

Now that I think about it, that progam probably already exists in another division. That might make the interface easier. 

At any rate, thanks for the info. 

[nevets88]

4 hours ago, Patch said:

How much of an issue would it be for competent person to build a program on a existing company's computer  system to do this:

The company wants to track several thousands of license plate numbers, from various states, to see how many days a particlar plate number has used the  company's business, on a 12 month basis. 

Example; plate # 12345 - NV camped 10 days in May, 15 days in April, and 5 days in August.  The plate number would be entered October,  and the computer would bring up those previous days/dates the owner camped on the business property. 

Thanks in advance. 

Depends on your definition of competent, because that's in the eye of the beholder. Web, mobile or desktop app, this is pretty simple, if the biz rules aren't much more than that, a first year uni student could whip up something working in a day. there's probably already a template out there you could modify, don't have to start from scratch.

[Abu3baid]

I would probably think that it would take longer than a couple days to do.. even a simple data base wouldn't be that simple depending on how many users and what you want it to do.

I built an access application to manage a payment process and it took me nearly 3 months before rolling out the initial version.  

You basically have to consider several things.

1.  Point of entry / design

2.  Maintaining the data base

3.  Reporting / querying 

4.  Audit of program

So, would you have multiple points of entry?  Putting enough controls to make sure that no idiot can enter bogus data, authorizations ect.

Heck, it might take a couple days to just sit down with you and finalize the requirements.

[ZappyAd]

I would also ask the question if there are any laws in your state / country relating to whether it is ok to store and track that type of information.  What happens for instance if the system gets hacked and that data were to be made public?  Are there any additional liabilities that the business could be exposed to as a result of holding that data?

It always strikes me that in software development it is easy to get a bit all jurassic park in that people think about if they could rather than if they should.  At the very least the security side of holding that data is worth thinking about ( and might take more than a couple of days to get right).

[Hacker James]

I've done similar data bases using Microsoft Access. You can design querries that span several different lists, logs, data, using external and internal "look up" functions. When I was still selling real estate, I developed programs that would automatically send specialized letters to all the parties involved, buyers and sellers cost/net sheets, various types of government, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, loans and prequalification.  The same data base would also be used to create mailing lists, labels,e.t.c. 

[Lihu]

19 hours ago, Valleygolfer said:

Do you need it to read the plate as well? That part might be challenging

True, and having GPS/Radio or whatever other means to track the entry and everything would take a lot of testing.

Not sure they are having robots track things or not though? Sounds like they are having live officers entering data, and they just want to keep track of it.

 

1 hour ago, Abu3baid said:

I would probably think that it would take longer than a couple days to do.. even a simple data base wouldn't be that simple depending on how many users and what you want it to do.

I built an access application to manage a payment process and it took me nearly 3 months before rolling out the initial version.  

You basically have to consider several things.

1.  Point of entry / design

2.  Maintaining the data base

3.  Reporting / querying 

4.  Audit of program

So, would you have multiple points of entry?  Putting enough controls to make sure that no idiot can enter bogus data, authorizations ect.

Heck, it might take a couple days to just sit down with you and finalize the requirements.

A database like mysql, is not that hard to build up and are open source (free). The data entry is the part that might mess things up. If someone enters the incorrect information or whatever.

Pull down screens would insure consistent categories, but every time a new entry is added you would need to update the entire database. However, it doesn't sound like that much data, so updates could be pretty quick anyway.

 

22 hours ago, Patch said:

How much of an issue would it be for competent person to build a program on a existing company's computer  system to do this:

The company wants to track several thousands of license plate numbers, from various states, to see how many days a particlar plate number has used the  company's business, on a 12 month basis. 

Example; plate # 12345 - NV camped 10 days in May, 15 days in April, and 5 days in August.  The plate number would be entered October,  and the computer would bring up those previous days/dates the owner camped on the business property. 

Thanks in advance. 

Shouldn't be too hard to do something simple, but on the other hand will a simple solution fulfill the actual requirements?

I've seen stuff balloon up when people actually try to implement such a thing many times before. Someone asks for something simple, then it turns into a lot more than they originally requested. . .

[Abu3baid]

17 minutes ago, Hacker James said:

I've done similar data bases using Microsoft Access. You can design querries that span several different lists, logs, data, using external and internal "look up" functions. When I was still selling real estate, I developed programs that would automatically send specialized letters to all the parties involved, buyers and sellers cost/net sheets, various types of government, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, loans and prequalification.  The same data base would also be used to create mailing lists, labels,e.t.c. 

Nice.. Right now I'm not that big of a fan of the email programing in access.  I especially hated how some coding for the 2003 version wouldn't work for them 2010 version specifically since I was using outlook to send the emails.. but anyway, yeah it could be set up to auto send weekly reports, and or specific data when prompted... did I say I love access? Excel on steroids I call it!

14 minutes ago, Lihu said:

True, and having GPS/Radio or whatever other means to track the entry and everything would take a lot of testing.

Not sure they are having robots track things or not though?

 

A database like mysql, is not that hard to build up. The data entry is the part that might mess things up. If someone enters the incorrect information or whatever.

Pull down screens would insure consistent categories, but every time a new entry is added you would need to update the entire database. It doesn't sound like that much data, so updates could be pretty quick anyway.

 

Shouldn't be too hard to do something simple, but on the other hand will a simple solution fulfill the actual requirements?

I've seen stuff balloon up when people actually try to implement such a thing many times before. Someone asks for something simple, then it turns into a lot more than they originally requested. . .

I'm not concerned with data base, but from the sound of it it's not like the guy are tracking 1 car.. sounds like a campground type of business that is spread across multi locations (could be wrong).. so, with out guessing I know from experience the entry point and data collection are always key components and it take time and effort to finalize how it will be entered and how to control it.

The data manipulation after is easy I agree.  Although it will still take more time to figure out the access controls ect.. building forms for users to access data ect.. it's one thing to be build a data base for your self, but once it becomes an "application" it takes me days just to like the look I want to present to others lol!

Sounds like a fun project if you ask me..

 

Edit:  @Lihu great point about how it always sounds simple in the beginning.. usually it's an innocents request that turns out to be months of back and fourths before anything is rolled out ;)

p.s. that's probably one of the not so good things about me being on both sides of the aisle. Someone comes to me for something small, and by the time I'm done questioning them it usually turns out they want an ERP :)  

 

[Hacker James]

prior to Access, I used Symantec Q&A, which is more or less an old DOS type program but I liked it because it could modified to work with a hand-held, programmable calculator,I think I had an HP-12 or something. Nowadays with tablets, smart phones, and lap tops, it would be considered a dinosaur.

[newtogolf]

MySql and PHP or Python makes this a pretty basic task that shouldn't take more than a few days.   I think you need to think more through the functionality of how the software will work.  

• How many license plates would need to be entered per hour?   How long will users have visible access to the plates?  If you have a high volume of cars I'd suggest a video camera be mounted so that data entry accuracy can be reviewed.  
• What other information other than license plate do you want to capture?
• Since the license plate capture is hand entered I'd require double key entry and disable copy, cut and paste to ensure mistakes do not occur.  
• How many people will need access to the software and database concurrently?  
• What type of reports will you need?    Who is the target for those reports?
• How long will you keep the data?  This dictates database size.
• Will the terminal be on a standalone PC or will it be networked?

Finally as others have stated, check your local laws as most states allow you to track license plates numbers but some  prohibit you linking that information to personal information like name and address.  

[Gunther]

I would opt out if I had the option, which I suspect would have to be offered.

[newtogolf]

12 minutes ago, Gunther said:

I would opt out if I had the option, which I suspect would have to be offered.

You likely wouldn't know they are capturing this data.  It is already happening at Walmart, shopping malls and some other businesses.  

[nevets88]

Jury-rig something like this. Why limit yourself to a computer? Use a smartphone/mobile device.

[Lihu]

21 hours ago, Abu3baid said:

Edit:  @Lihu great point about how it always sounds simple in the beginning.. usually it's an innocents request that turns out to be months of back and fourths before anything is rolled out ;)

p.s. that's probably one of the not so good things about me being on both sides of the aisle. Someone comes to me for something small, and by the time I'm done questioning them it usually turns out they want an ERP :)  

 

Yeah, almost every project I work on starts off really simple and "quick".

I can certainly imagine this project turning into a PROJECT.