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What if they created the 57 line project, and spent $86 million to improve OpenALPR?
I think this is a good case for why all government software should be open source. How many police departments around the world are spending absurd amounts of money for this technology? It would make much more sense both cost and productivity wise to have one big project that anyone can improve on instead of multiple inferior projects. Not to mention that all of this is paid for with taxpayer money, so it is reasonab…
Please join my campaign at http://www.oss4gov.org/manifesto - this is exactly why we want all government software to be open source (Shameless plug)
Two problems: 1. You've shown the success of OpenALPR isn't perfect, but I'm sure the closed source alternative isn't perfect either. It might be better, but is it $86 million better? 2. If we spent $86 million on developing OpenALPR, it would be an incredible product that everyone could use, without paying so much to the overhead of an executive structure.
I'm pretty sure you could make it realtime with more than 10x improvement: Scan a thinner section of the video because the sky/ground is useless, and process every 10th frame.
This requires a vehicle to be right in front of the (police) car. Not very practical as most of the license plates you get to scan will be in other locations of the video - you know, since the car in front of you may be there the next 10 minutes whereas cars drive past you and are parked to the side all the time.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Please join my campaign at http://www.oss4gov.org/manifesto - this is exactly why we want all government software to be open source (Shameless plug)
i think there's some gov't contractors that survive off these inefficiencies. They will fight tooth and nail against OSS in gov't, and since they are often more connected, it's quite likely they can win.
I personally don't have a problem with open source software and use it extensively outside of work. However, the big problem with it is technical support. If you are a government organization and the OSS you are using has a bug, who do you contact to get it hotfixed ASAP or find you workarounds?
That's one of the biggest advantages of commercial software: it is often sold with support contracts that entitle customers to certain levels of support, which can be critical to get things fixed and minimize downtime.
I know there are companies that focus on supporting OSS deployments, but from what I have seen in my own niche, they charge a ton of money that often surpasses what the equivalent commercial package would cost.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
i think there's some gov't contractors that survive off these inefficiencies. They will fight tooth and nail against OSS in gov't, and since they are often more connected, it's quite likely they can win.
Full disclosure: I'm one such contractor. We work with small and local government. Cities and counties mostly. I personally don't have a problem with open source software and use it extensively outside of work. However, the big problem with it is technical support. If you are a government organization and the OSS you are using has a bug, who do you contact to get it hotfixed ASAP or find you workarounds? That's one o…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
i think there's some gov't contractors that survive off these inefficiencies. They will fight tooth and nail against OSS in gov't, and since they are often more connected, it's quite likely they can win.
Full disclosure: I'm one such contractor. We work with small and local government. Cities and counties mostly. I personally don't have a problem with open source software and use it extensively outside of work. However, the big problem with it is technical support. If you are a government organization and the OSS you are using has a bug, who do you contact to get it hotfixed ASAP or find you workarounds? That's one o…
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>If you are a government organization and the OSS you are using has a bug, who do you contact to get it hotfixed ASAP or find you workarounds?
You, or someone like you, presumably?
What if they created the 57 line project, and spent $86 million to improve OpenALPR?