Show HN: EastALPR for iOS – Easy Automated License Plate Reader

I agree, the most obvious use case is a scanner setup at an entry gate. Another use case is when on patrol, manually scanning cars that are in a parking lot this goes surprisingly fast when you put your phone on a bike mount.

It does require an iPhone as the camera, and works best with folks who have an extra phone. The idea is this would be cheaper than buying and installing an Axis Camera and associated software. Or it is at least a quicker way to find out if bothering with a more advanced system would be worthwhile.

As far as outside a manned entry gate, I believe this could work in a ruggedized case, where the phone is case is physically mounted to a public township 'welcome' sign and powered.

One interesting aspect of this product is that it can cache scans offline until internet is available again. So a spare phone can be left, say in a ruggedized case, and hidden, listening for a wi-fi network you've previously set up access to. (i.e. a hotspot on your normal device.)

Then when you walk up to the capture device, the phone will connect and the scans will process.