The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) releases a standards guide for driver license and identification card design. The 2020 AAMVA DL/ID Card Design Standard outlines the specifications for the Mandatory PDF417 Bar Code in Annex D. Nearly all jurisdictions across North America use this standard for their driver license and identification cards.
This library isn't intended to "scan" these barcodes, but rather parse the data file coming from a barcode scanning tool (like zxing-cpp or pdf417decoder). After it has been parsed and the data elements decoded into human readable properties, the card profile can be displayed to a user or used by other applications.
>>> from aamva.barcode import parse_barcode_string
>>> barcode_string = "@\n\x1e\rANSI 636000100102DL00410278ZV03190008DLDAQT64235789\nDCSSAMPLE\nDDEN\nDACMICHAEL\nDDFN\nDADJOHN\nDDGN\nDCUJR\nDCAD\nDCBK\nDCDPH\nDBD06062019\nDBB06061986\nDBA12102024\nDBC1\nDAU068 in\nDAYBRO\nDAG2300 WEST BROAD STREET\nDAIRICHMOND\nDAJVA\nDAK232690000 \nDCF2424244747474786102204\nDCGUSA\nDCK123456789\nDDAF\nDDB06062018\nDDC06062020\nDDD1\rZVZVA01\r"
# Example output string from PDF417 barcode scanning tool
>>> barcode_file = parse_barcode_string(barcode_string)
# Parse the barcode string to extract the subfiles and elements
>>> barcode_file
# BarcodeFile(header=FileHeader(issuer_id=636000, aamva_version=10, number_of_entries=2, jurisdiction_version=1), subfiles=(Subfile(subfile_type='DL', elements={'DAQ': 'T64235789', 'DCS': 'SAMPLE', 'DDE': 'N', 'DAC': 'MICHAEL', 'DDF': 'N', 'DAD': 'JOHN', 'DDG': 'N', 'DCU': 'JR', 'DCA': 'D', 'DCB': 'K', 'DCD': 'PH', 'DBD': '06062019', 'DBB': '06061986', 'DBA': '12102024', 'DBC': '1', 'DAU': '068 in', 'DAY': 'BRO', 'DAG': '2300 WEST BROAD STREET', 'DAI': 'RICHMOND', 'DAJ': 'VA', 'DAK': '232690000 ', 'DCF': '2424244747474786102204', 'DCG': 'USA', 'DCK': '123456789', 'DDA': 'F', 'DDB': '06062018', 'DDC': '06062020', 'DDD': '1'}), Subfile(subfile_type='ZV', elements={'ZVA': '01'})))Currently in v0.5-beta the library can take the barcode string (captured from a barcode scanning tool) and break it down into it's various file parts. These parts are the file header, subfiles, and subfile elements.
The subfile elements are where the profile properties are stored. This is information like first name, last name, birthday, etc. Profile property names like customer_family_name are too large for the limited space of the barcode, so all property names have to be encoded with a three letter name, like DCS. The AAMVA Standard lists the decoded names for each property in Annex D.
In addition to encoding the property names, many properties have different encoding methods for their values. For example gender is represented by an integer. 1 = male, 2 = female, 9 = not specified.
The next step in the development process is to decode each of the subfile element into human readable propeties.
Below are some resources that made creating this library possible.
- AAMVA 2020 DL/ID Card Design Standard (aamva.org) - PDF
- Annex D - Mandatory PDF417 Bar Code
- Note: The encoding schema in Annex I (Optional Comact Encoding) is not yet implemented.
- AAMVA D20 Data Dictionary 7.0 (aamva.org) - PDF
- A.9.2 Driver Eye Color
- A.9.3 Driver Hair Color
- A.9.8 Driver Race and Ethnicity
- List of Issuer Identification Numbers (IIN) (aamva.org) - HTML
- Some older standards can be found here (docs.scandit.com) - HTML
MIT License
Copyright © 2024 Benjamin P.C. Hovinga
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.