> My uncle is a cop in DC and he says >90% of the hits on plates are for the same number but a different state. Is there any work in identifying the state a license plate is from?
As is so often the case, it seems like it'd be easier to move ourselves to the machine, by including the state information in the code. If a code can only belong to one state, this problem just can't arise.
It's possible but not necessary. License plates already feature non-overlap -- a standard California plate is 2AAA222, while a New Mexico plate is AAA222. Neither template can be confused for the other.
> a standard California plate is 2AAA222, while a New Mexico plate is AAA222.
And the New Mexico AAA222 pattern is currently shared with Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, one of the optional Michigan designs, Mississippi, one of the Montana designs, some Nebraska plates, North Carolina, the Northern Mariana Islands, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Vermont, and the US Virgin Islands.
To be fair, only NC, OK, and PR share NMs use of a dash between the alpha and numeric portion.
Virginia used to issue in that pattern, with a dash between. Then they ran out and added a 4th digit. However, there are plenty of VA plates still around with the old pattern.
As is so often the case, it seems like it'd be easier to move ourselves to the machine, by including the state information in the code. If a code can only belong to one state, this problem just can't arise.