Lot Vulture – Turn existing RTSP cameras into live parking occupancy maps

Lot Vulture has launched a software platform that converts existing RTSP, ONVIF, or snapshot IP cameras into real-time parking occupancy maps, using on-device computer vision to avoid the $200–$500 per-spot cost of in-ground magnetic sensors. The system, available as a Windows installer or Docker container, offers live dashboards, historical scrubbing, hysteresis-based alerting, and supports cameras from Hikvision, Dahua, Axis, Hanwha, and Ubiquiti.

Lot Vulture turns any existing IP or RTSP camera into an automated, real-time parking lot intelligence system. Circling the lot so you don't have to , Lot Vulture performs on-device computer vision inference directly on your camera feeds—delivering live space-level occupancy maps, historical scrubbing timelines, customizable alerts, and deep parking utilization analytics without requiring expensive physical in-ground sensors. | Challenge with Traditional Solutions | How Lot Vulture Solves It | |---|---| In-Ground Magnetic Sensors $200–$500/spot : Expensive to core-drill, battery-dependent, and frequently destroyed by snowplows and asphalt repaving. | Uses Existing Cameras: Turn standard CCTV, RTSP, or snapshot IP cameras into smart parking sensors with zero pavement alteration. | Proprietary Sensor Hardware & Vendor Lock-In: Requires purchasing expensive proprietary single-vendor cameras or per-space overhead light indicators. | Camera & Hardware Agnostic: Works with any standard RTSP, ONVIF, or snapshot IP camera from any manufacturer Hikvision, Dahua, Axis, Hanwha, Ubiquiti, etc. . | Noisy AI & False Flickers: Minor lighting shifts or tree shadows cause constant "space full / space free" notification spam. | Dual-Threshold Hysteresis: Sticky state transitions ensure rock-solid, flicker-free dashboard data. | Manual Lot Audits: Attendants driving golf carts with clipboards or radios providing only delayed, periodic estimates. | Live Digital Dashboard & Historical Timeline: Real-time occupancy map, second-by-second scrubbing, and automated alerting. | - 📍 Interactive Visual Space Editor: Define exact parking spots in seconds with a high-precision polygon canvas powered by Vue-Konva. Supports angled, parallel, and tight-row parking configurations. - ⚡ High-Performance Edge AI Engine: Powered by vulturevision C++ ONNX Runtime with native DirectML on Windows and CUDA on Linux with automatic CPU fallback. - 🔭 Visual Scrubbing History Timeline: Scrub through every minute of the day with second-by-second precision. Click any space to see exact visual snapshots of state transitions. - ⚙️ Smart Sensitivity Hysteresis Logic : Dual-threshold certainty eliminates status bouncing during dusk, rain, snow, or transient occlusions. - 🔔 Multi-Channel Alerting Subsystem: Trigger Webhooks, MQTT messages ideal for Home Assistant & smart signage , or Emails on lot capacity thresholds, single space transitions, or camera health events. - 🔄 Human-in-the-Loop "Improve AI" Feedback: Operators can flag and correct misdetections directly from the UI to continuously feed the training pipeline. - 🛡️ Role-Based Multi-User Access: Granular roles for operators, managers, and view-only analytics dashboards. Download the latest standalone installer LotVulture Setup .exe from the Releases page. - Packages the complete web dashboard, C++ DirectML runtime, and background Windows service daemon. - No WSL, Docker, or external dependencies required. - Launch the app or open http://localhost:8000 in your browser. Run the official container with GPU acceleration: docker run -d \ --name lotvulture \ --restart unless-stopped \ -p 8000:8000 \ --gpus all \ -v lotvulture-data:/var/lib/lotvulture \ ghcr.io/lotvulture/lotvulture:latest If running on a system without an NVIDIA GPU, omit --gpus all — Lot Vulture will automatically utilize optimized CPU inference. Access the dashboard at http://localhost:8000 . version: '3.8' services: lotvulture: image: ghcr.io/lotvulture/lotvulture:latest container name: lotvulture restart: unless-stopped ports: - "8000:8000" environment: - VULTURE LV HOME=/var/lib/lotvulture volumes: - lotvulture-data:/var/lib/lotvulture deploy: resources: reservations: devices: - driver: nvidia count: all capabilities: gpu Run with: docker compose up -d Connect Your Cameras: Add RTSP stream URLs or snapshot endpoints in the Cameras view. Draw Parking Zones: Use the visual canvas editor to map the four corners of each space. Automate & Monitor: Real-time occupancy states stream immediately over WebSockets to your live dashboard. Trigger Actions: Stream lot availability to digital LED road signs via MQTT, notify staff when capacity hits 95%, or log audit history. Lot Vulture is source-available with a commercial tier: | Feature | Community Edition | Commercial License | |---|---|---| Inference Model | Bundled Standard Model | High-Accuracy Commercial Model | Visual Space Editor & Live Dashboard | ✅ Included | ✅ Included | Visual History Timeline & Scrubbing | ✅ Included | ✅ Included | Webhooks & MQTT Alerts | ✅ Included | ✅ Included | GPU Acceleration CUDA / DirectML | ✅ Included | ✅ Included | Commercial Monitoring Services | ✅ Permitted with baseline model | ✅ Permitted with licensed seats | Cloud Telemetry & Continuous Retraining | — | ✅ Included | Priority Support & Multi-Camera Scaling | Community | Dedicated | To activate a commercial license or start a free 14-day trial, navigate to the License & Billing tab in your dashboard. Want on-demand parking space detection in your own application without managing on-prem infrastructure? Use the Lot Vulture Developer Cloud API $0.02 / image : curl -X POST "https://api.lotvulture.com/v1/detect" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR API KEY" \ -F "image=@parking lot.jpg" \ -F 'rois= 120,340 , 250,340 , 260,490 , 110,490 ' Architecture deep dive, local environment setup, and C++ engine compilation. Developer Guide /lotvulture/lotvulture/blob/master/docs/DEVELOPMENT.md :Running unit, integration, and performance tests. Testing Guide /lotvulture/lotvulture/blob/master/docs/TESTING.md :Guidelines for community contributions and pull requests. Contribution Guidelines /lotvulture/lotvulture/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md : Copyright c 2026 Lot Vulture, LLC. All rights reserved. This software is licensed under the Lot Vulture Source License 1.0.0 Adapted from PolyForm Shield License 1.0.0 . Permitted Use: Broad permission to run, modify, and utilize the software internally and for commercial monitoring services. Noncompete Condition: You may not use the software to build, distribute, or sell a competing product or managed service, nor distribute modified vision engines designed to bypass licensing. Commercial Model: High-accuracy commercial neural network weights and cloud attestation assets are licensed separately under the Commercial Terms of Service /lotvulture/lotvulture/blob/master/LICENSE.md definitions . Lot Vulture — Making parking smarter, one spot at a time. Website https://lotvulture.com • Report an Issue https://github.com/lotvulture/lotvulture/issues