Our step-by-step guide on how to use digital tire chalking in the Roker Patrol mobile app.
Tire-chalking needs to be set up by an admin on the location settings, and therefore will be applied to all plates entered or scanned on the location.
Step 1
Set Up Tire Chalking
In the Roker Enforcement web app (back-end), log in and head over to Settings > Location. Click the Edit button on the location you'd like to add Tire Chalking to.
Expand the Advanced setting and you'll see the image below.
Select the LPR Tire Chalking checkbox - this enables users to use the built-in LPR software to scan plates and create chalking sessions automatically.
LPR Allowance Timing (In minutes): this is the total length of time a vehicle will be allowed to park. This means for a 5 minute timing, when this plate is scanned on the mobile app, a parking session of 5 minutes will be created and will be active for that plate for the next 5 minutes.
Reset Plate Option: this is the length of time or the daily time after the plate was first scanned for that plate to be allowed to be scanned again. Options are:
Reset Plate (in hours): taken X amount of hours after the date/time of the first scan. This can allow multiple tire chalking sessions in one day (ie, based on the settings in the screenshot below, a plate may park once approximately every hour, but is only allowed to park for 5 minutes at a time)
Reset Plate (in time): our more common option; the exact time every day that tire chalkings reset and plates are allowed to be scanned once more. For this option, it doesn't matter at what point during the day the first scan was done on a plate, all vehicles will be allowed to park again at that time.
Hit Save.
Step 2
Login to the mobile app
Ensure you're using the most recent version of the mobile app (you can check by searching Roker Patrol on the Google Play Store; if there is an update available, down and install). If you made any changes to the Location Settings in step 1 and you're still logged in, log out and back into the app to apply those changes
Step 3
Select Your Location
From the dropdown list, select your location. At this point you have two options; launch the scanner to start enforcing with LPR, or manually enforcing. To manually enforce, go onto step 4. To enforce using LPR, skip to step 5.
Step 4
Manually Enforce
In the search bar at the top, enter in the license plate number. There may be 2 scenarios:
- A blue, green, yellow or red pops up with the plate info: this means there is currently an active session and there is no need to create a chalking session.
- A grey box with a "Submit Digital Chalking" button pops up.
If you're prompted to submit a digital chalking, go ahead and do so. There are two outcomes; if the plate has not been previously chalking within the reset time, you'll be left on the location results screen and can continue to enforce. If you are taken to the License Plate Details screen and there is no data for that location under the Permit Parking or Active Parking Sessions boxes, this plate was previously chalked, is still within the reset time and can be issued a violation.
Step 5
Enforce Using LPR
Click the Launch Scanner button. This will open the built-in LPR software and you can begin scanning plates immediately. If a plate scans and you see a "Digital Chalking Created" popup, this means that the plate has not been previously chalking within the reset time, and has created a session.
If you scan a plate and are taken to the Plate Details Screen, and there are no other active sessions or permits for that plate and location, this means the plate was previously scanned within the reset time and you can then issue a violation or ticket.
If a plate has an active session whether that is a paid session, an active permit or if they still have an active tire chalking session, you will see "Plate Whitelisted" at the top of the screen and will remain on the scanner to continue to scan. No actions will need to be taken at that point.
Editing a misread plate: all plates read by LPR open to a confirmation screen. You can hit the green checkbox if it's correct, or edit the plate directly by clicking on the plate characters then hitting the green checkbox when correct.
Step 6
Enforce Offline
The Roker Patrol app also works if your device or the app is offline. First ensure that you open the location while online, then go into Offline mode (Settings > Offline Mode). Continue through the steps as described above. All tire chalking sessions created will be cached on your device until you are able to jump online again at which time they will be pushed automatically to the Roker database. This does mean these sessions will not be available to other patrollers or the back-end admin until you come back online.
When in Offline mode, Roker also cannot update the active parking sessions list, so note that the longer you're offline, the more chances you may be missing some active sessions being created.
