Please review my installation plan

[badgenes]

I've read through the LPR threads on the forum and have drawn up this plan to place overview and cameras for LPR on my building. The goal of the placement of the Z12Es is to capture plates entering and exiting the property day and night.
Attached is a Google Maps view of my building with indicated placement of overview (blue) and LPR (green) cameras. I am new to LPR and have concern about offset angles if I place these at the top of the building. Any advice offered would b e much appreciated.

 

[Ri22o]

The higher you are, the further away you want to be to flatten out the angle. Both of my cams are maxed out on zoom and are 10-12' off of the ground with this shot being about 150' away. 55' with 30' elevation is going to be a pretty steep angle.



Not knowing the typical flow of traffic and where cars actually exit the lot through the openings, I would propose these locations. The short one on the left will be difficult. You could always run a temp cable to test the FOV and downward angle before committing to the install.

 

[looney2ns]

Always test a proposed location with a temporary mounted cam of choice prior to final install.
I agree, 30' high will probably cause you heartburn.
If you expect to get a face id from the other cams, keep them no more than 8ft high.

 

[Ri22o]

I also don't know why I have it in my head that this building is an adult bookstore.

 

[badgenes]

I also don't know why I have it in my head that this building is an adult bookstore.

LOL No it is a medical clinic. But there is an adult store 1/4 mile away down the highway...Truly wish the city would enforce decency laws regarding their sign...

 

[badgenes]

Always test a proposed location with a temporary mounted cam of choice prior to final install.
I agree, 30' high will probably cause you heartburn.
If you expect to get a face id from the other cams, keep them no more than 8ft high.

Thank you for the advice, especially on the overview cams.

 

[badgenes]

The higher you are, the further away you want to be to flatten out the angle. Both of my cams are maxed out on zoom and are 10-12' off of the ground with this shot being about 150' away. 55' with 30' elevation is going to be a pretty steep angle.

View attachment 162280

Not knowing the typical flow of traffic and where cars actually exit the lot through the openings, I would propose these locations. The short one on the left will be difficult. You could always run a temp cable to test the FOV and downward angle before committing to the install.

View attachment 162279

Thank you for the advice on the LPR. For clarification your red lines are moves of the nearest cameras?

If you think top of building is too high, which I was concerned about, given the angles what would you recommend for the LPRs?

 

[Ri22o]

Thank you for the advice on the LPR. For clarification your red lines are moves of the nearest cameras?

If you think top of building is too high, which I was concerned about, given the angles what would you recommend for the LPRs?

The red lines are for the LPRs. I would basically look to install both of them on the corner of the building. I can give my opinion on the rest, if you'd like. I would need to know a better use case for what you are attempting to see with them, though.

You might try this calculator to help give a better visualization of angle vs install height. If you could get them to 20', that would be better than 30'. 15' would be even better. I would say the same for the -ZEs. lower would be better.

Lens Calculator

www.jvsg.com

 

[badgenes]

The red lines are for the LPRs. I would basically look to install both of them on the corner of the building. I can give my opinion on the rest, if you'd like. I would need to know a better use case for what you are attempting to see with them, though.

You might try this calculator to help give a better visualization of angle vs install height. If you could get them to 20', that would be better than 30'. 15' would be even better. I would say the same for the -ZEs. lower would be better.

Lens Calculator

www.jvsg.com

OK I will check that calculator when I get home. Thank you for the clarification.

To the purpose: Capture of license plates entering and leaving the parking lot (there can be a lot of traffic as it is on a highway leaving the potential for quick "theft runs" through the lot a concern) as well as capturing any persons breaking into or damaging vehicles in the lot. Secondarily capturing foot traffic around the front door is a goal however given that the building juts out in front above the entrance I'm leaning towards placing another cam right above the entry offset to the right (as viewed from above). I am considering a camera with a siren by the door anyway to avoid the need to run low voltage from the NVR to a horn to ward off late night visitors.

Truly the footage will be used in the event of break in or damage so not interested in full time collection of plates to a database, just need to know that if we need to see who came out of what car with what plate in the event a police report needs to be filed. If that is too vague, let me know.

Finally, I had initially leaned towards 15 feet MAX mounting of LPR and overview cameras but realized roof mounting would make my life easier. I had a feeling that was a non-starter and very much appreciate your input.

 

[looney2ns]

Read this: The Importance of Focal Length over MP in camera selection | IP Cam Talk
And this: Wiki

 

[samplenhold]

If you are talking about angle from the standpoint of being too high, so the angle is between the cam and the ground, I do not think you need to worry. The angle issue has to do with foreshortening. Making the letters on the plate blend into each other. See this shot from a second story window above my driveway. Cam is not focused for LPR, but you can see that the plate numbers are not foreshortened at all really. Can you get up on the roof and use a DSLR camera to run some tests? If you do not have one of those, use your smartphone.



Now there might be an issue with not getting IR bounce back at night that could be a problem.

As above folks have said, test it out first before running cable.

 

[badgenes]

Lens Calculator

www.jvsg.com

Thanks! I'm bookmarking this calculator link!