OPENPARK

Developed a computer vision based parking occupancy detection system using Python and OpenCV to monitor the availability of parking spaces from a live video feed. The application processes each frame in real time, isolates predefined parking regions, and determines whether a space is occupied by analyzing pixel intensity after image preprocessing.

THE PIPELINE.

Image Morphology Sequence

  1. STEP 01 Grayscale Conversion: Simplifies frame processing by converting RGB video feeds into single-channel intensity maps.
  2. STEP 02 Gaussian Blur: Eliminates high-frequency noise and slight camera sensor jitter to stabilize region analysis.
  3. STEP 03 Adaptive Thresholding: Binarizes the image based on local pixel neighborhoods, maintaining robust edge isolation under changing shadows and solar angles.
  4. STEP 04 Median Filtering: Filters out small pepper noise artifacts (dust, leaves, pavement textures) from the thresholded binary frame.
  5. STEP 05 Dilation: Expands binarized white pixel blocks to consolidate separated edges of vehicles for consistent threshold analysis.

The detection pipeline combines these steps to reduce environmental noise and improve system robustness under varying lighting conditions.

Parking slots are mapped using manually defined pixel coordinates. The system extracts each slot region, calculates the number of non-zero (white) pixels in the thresholded slot block, and compares this value to a calibrated threshold. If the density of thresholded pixels exceeds the limit, the space is classified as occupied; otherwise, it is flagged as vacant.

The user interface overlays live occupancy status (red bounding boxes for occupied slots, green for vacant) directly onto the video stream and displays the total number of available spaces dynamically in real time.

ENGINEERING TAKEAWAYS.

The project focuses on efficient image processing techniques, real-time analysis, and practical deployment of computer vision for intelligent parking management. It strengthened my understanding of multiple core concepts:

01 OpenCV Core Module Architecture
02 Frame-Based Real-Time Video Processing
03 Image Morphology & Kernel Operations
04 Local/Global Thresholding Techniques
05 Region of Interest (ROI) Mapping
06 Performance Optimization for Continuous Detection