Best Practices for Camera Installation

This guide outlines best practices for installing cameras in automotive service bays, queue, and showroom to ensure reliable vehicle and visitor detection and accurate analytics. Proper camera placement is critical for:

• Maintaining a clear, unobstructed view of each vehicle.
• Ensuring no overlap between bays in dual-bay setups.
• Using a top-down viewing angle to capture the full vehicle, including tire positions.

 

Bay Coverage

• A single camera can monitor either one or two service bays.
• When covering two bays, both bays must be fully visible in the camera’s field of view without any overlap or occlusion. Each vehicle should be entirely distinguishable and not partially blocked by another.
• The camera must not be placed from the side when monitoring two bays; a front-facing, top-down view is essential to avoid interference between vehicles.

Good Coverage: Both service bays are fully visible with no overlap, allowing each vehicle to be clearly distinguished.

Bad Coverage: In this scenario, overlap may occur between this bay and the adjacent bay.

 

Framing Requirements

• Mount the camera above the service bay, angled downward.
• Ensure the entire vehicle is visible from front bumper to rear bumper, including the tires.

Good Coverage: The full vehicle is visible in frame. The camera angle is steep enough to capture the entire vehicle from above while still keeping the license plate readable.

Bad Coverage: The camera angle cuts off key vehicle details, including the wheels and license plate.

Queue Coverage

• Mount the camera 12-15 ft high, centered over the coverage area.
• Full lane visible with 3–4 car lengths of queue depth.
• The entry point should appear at the top of frame, with the exit point into the bays at the bottom of frame.
• There must be no obstructions in the foreground that could block vehicle detection.

Good Coverage: The full lane is visible from entry to exit, with the camera centered above and no foreground obstructions blocking the view.

Bad Coverage: The camera is positioned from the side, placing entry on the left and exit on the right of frame rather than top to bottom.

Showroom Coverage

• The entire waiting area must be fully visible with no obstructions that could hide or eclipse a person.
• Each person in the space should be easily distinguishable from others.
• The point of entry and exit must be clearly in view.
• The camera angle should be front-facing and not entirely top-down.

Good Coverage: The waiting area is fully visible, the entry point is in frame, and each person can be clearly distinguished without obstruction.

Bad Coverage: The camera is poorly positioned, cutting off the waiting area and obscuring individuals in the space.