Handheld Training

• Handheld Training
• Handheld Operation Log
• Plate Capture Using Handheld

Handheld Training

The Handheld Training module provides comprehensive multimedia resources, including a slide presentation and a video training playlist, to educate enforcement staff on using the OPS-COM handheld application. Its primary purpose is to help administrators and new field personnel quickly onboard, understand core functionalities, and standardize enforcement operations. This article is intended for OPS-COM administrators and field enforcement staff.

Setup and Configuration

There is no technical backend setup required to utilize these training materials.

Admin Side: Administrators should simply ensure that new enforcement staff have access to a reliable internet connection to stream the presentation and video content, and provide them with a physical handheld device configured for a test environment if possible.

User Side: No setup is required. Trainees can simply navigate to this page to view the embedded resources.

Using this Feature

Administrators and trainees interact directly with the embedded media players on this page to complete their initial onboarding or to refresh their knowledge of the handheld application.

Viewing the Slides Presentation

1. Locate the embedded Slides Presentation player on the page.

2. Click the Next (right arrow) and Previous (left arrow) buttons on the player control bar to navigate through the slides.

3. Review the core concepts, visual diagrams, and workflow instructions detailed in each slide.

Watching the Training Videos

1. Locate the Videos Linked in the Presentation section on the page.

2. Click the Play button on the embedded YouTube player to begin the Handheld Training playlist (which includes foundational videos such as the OPSCOM Handheld Menu Options guide).

3. Click the Playlist icon (typically located in the top right corner of the video player) to view and skip between different videos in the training series.

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Best Practices and Considerations

• Follow along with a test device: We highly recommend having a handheld device logged into a staging or test environment while reviewing this training. This allows new users to safely practice navigating menus, capturing plates, and issuing mock violations alongside the videos without affecting live production data.

• Review all materials comprehensively: Ensure staff review both the slides and the entire video playlist. The slides provide excellent theoretical and policy-based grounding, while the videos demonstrate the practical, real-time application of the software in the field.

Legacy Application Note: These specific training materials are geared toward the legacy Android enforcement app. If your organization has upgraded to the newer mobile application, the interface and exact button placements shown in these videos may differ slightly from your current software.

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Related Videos

Handheld Training playlist 

Handheld Operation Log

The Handheld Operation Log feature allows the mobile device to record and store data regarding the operations and functions performed on the enforcement unit. Its primary purpose is to help identify and troubleshoot technical issues by providing detailed diagnostic information directly to the support team. This article is intended for OPS-COM administrators and field enforcement personnel using the legacy Android application.

Setup and Configuration

The operation logging feature runs automatically in the background of the handheld application and requires no specialized backend configuration.

Admin Side: No manual setup is required on the device to begin logging. Officers simply need to ensure the handheld device is connected to a network and synchronizing regularly to allow for automatic log uploads.

Using this Feature

When technical issues arise, OPS-COM Support personnel may request that you manually send a log file to them. Administrators and field staff can send, view, or extract these logs using the following methods.

Sending the Log Manually

1. Log in to the legacy Android application.

2. Tap Replication Status from the main menu.

3. Tap the Menu icon (three vertical dots) located at the top right of the replication status screen.

   • Note: If you do not see the three dots on the screen, your specific tablet may utilize a physical hardware "overflow" button (typically located near the physical home and back buttons). Tap this hardware button to open the context settings.

4. Tap Send Log to Tomahawk to transmit the diagnostic data to the support team.

Viewing Logs via the About Panel

If you need to quickly review the recent log entries without sending them:

1. Navigate to the main menu.

2. Tap About to view the application details and review the log file directly on the device screen.

Extracting Logs via USB

If the device is completely offline and cannot transmit the log via the application, it can be extracted manually.

1. Connect the handheld device to a computer using a USB cable or a wireless file transfer application.

2. Navigate the internal storage to locate the OPS-COM application folder.

3. Copy the specific log file to your computer.

4. Attach the copied file to an email and send it directly to your support representative.

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Best Practices and Considerations

• Coordinate with support: Only manually push logs or extract them via USB when explicitly requested by OPS-COM support personnel. Unsolicited log files without an associated support ticket may not be reviewed.

• Maintain device connectivity: Ensure field devices are brought online and synchronized regularly. Regular synchronization prevents the local storage from filling up and ensures support has access to recent data if an issue occurs.

Automatic Log Uploads Log files are natively designed to automatically upload to the OPS-COM server for review once they are more than one day old. For example, logs created on Monday will automatically upload to the server on Tuesday around midnight, assuming the handheld is online and performs a successful synchronization at some point after the 24-hour mark.

Plate Capture Using Handheld

The Plate Capture Using Handheld functionality utilizes the device camera and License Plate Recognition (LPR) software to quickly identify vehicles in the field. Its primary purpose is to ensure highly accurate plate reads by educating users on proper camera framing, distance, and the use of on-screen guide boxes. This article is intended for OPS-COM administrators and field enforcement personnel using the Android application.

Setup and Configuration

The optical character recognition functionality is built directly into the mobile application and relies primarily on proper physical technique rather than software configuration.

Admin Side: 

1. Open the OPS-COM parking enforcement app on your handheld device.

2. Grant any requested operating system permissions to allow the application to access your device's camera.

3. Tap Search Vehicles from the main menu to access the capture screen.

Using this Feature

Enforcement personnel use the on-screen viewfinder to align the license plate, allowing the image processor to extract the alphanumeric characters.

Framing and Capturing a Plate

1. Tap the camera icon to open the viewfinder.

2. Position the device so the license plate is visible within the on-screen bounding boxes.

3. Keep the device steady until the system successfully captures the plate and returns to the Plate Read screen.

4. Tap the captured thumbnail image of the plate to open the full context image.

Visual Cues & Status Indicators

The viewfinder provides two outlined boxes to help determine if minor physical adjustments are needed to properly line up a plate:

• Red Box: Indicates the maximum scanning area. If the physical plate extends outside of this red area, it will not be read by the system.

• Blue Box: Indicates the optimal target area. It is highly advisable to keep the entire plate inside this blue box to ensure the LPR engine processes it correctly.

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Best Practices and Considerations

• Include the plate edges and background: Do not capture the plate too tightly. It is better to include the entire plate plus some of the vehicle's background. If the physical edges of the plate are excluded from the picture, the LPR engine struggles to distinguish the actual plate number from secondary text (such as province or state names) and may return an incorrect read.

• Exclude complex vanity logos: Focus the view specifically on the plate numbers. If scanning a vanity plate with heavy graphics, position the camera to exclude the logo from the blue bounding box if it consistently confuses the image processor.

• Review context images to correct hardware offsets: Tap the thumbnail to view the full context image if your reads are consistently failing. With some device hardware, the plate may look perfectly centered in the live viewfinder, but the actual processed shot comes out off-center. The context image displays a date-stamped, red bounding box representing exactly where the system processed the image, allowing you to manually adjust your physical centering technique.

Step back and try again: Do not be afraid to back away from the vehicle if the scanner is struggling. We often exaggerate the distance and pull back quite a bit to yield better results. The image processor can accurately read plates even when they appear surprisingly small within the viewfinder.