Finding a parking space is like a treasure hunt. Lots of aggravation for a few moments of joy.
Parking is a challenge for city officials, too. How do you maximize both parking revenues and driver convenience?
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Is there a better way to mark parking spots without installing meters? How can drivers be charged automatically for parking? How can cities struggling with tight budgets afford such new services?
A combination of new technologies offers a better way.
Background
Parking meters are effective but expensive to install and operate. Enforcement and ticket collection adds to the cost and aggravation.
CloudParcuses machine vision, IoT and mobile apps to deliver a better approach—and without parking meters. With its system, drivers locate parking spots faster using a mobile app. They are billed automatically for just the time they are parked. And companies make only a minimal investment thanks to CloudParc’s innovative business model.
Convenience for drivers. More revenues for municipalities. Could this be the beginning of a beautiful friendship?
skilledanalysts.com The need
Parking management is complex. An ideal solution has to meet the needs of drivers, municipal authorities and local residents. Here are the basic requirements:
- Reduce the investment needed to install parking meters and occupancy sensors
- Make it easy for drivers to find vacant parking spots
- Automate the billing and collection process for parking fees
- Provide dynamic pricing to maximize parking revenues and reduce congestion
- Provide a means to quickly create new parking spots to meet changing parking demands
- Improve urban planning through insights on parking occupancy by location and time
- Be able to allocate parking spots with a higher priority for disabled drivers
CloudParc Solution design
1. Marking parking spots
CloudParc marks parking spots without parking meters. It uses high-resolution, connected cameras installed on electric or light poles to manage multiple parking spots. The cameras use machine vision to monitor parking spots, who parked there and how long cars are parked.
2. Tracking parking inventory
The status of parking spots is captured in CloudParc’s smart-city, cloud-based monitoring system. The inventory of parking spots is continuously updated as cars vacate parking spots. Drivers locate empty parking spots through a mobile app. Future versions of the CloudParc service could give priority to disabled drivers searching for available spots.
3. Identifying parkers
Cars parking are identified with license plate recognition (LPR) software. Machine vision tracks how long a car has been parked. Using information linked to their license plates, drivers are charged directly and only for the time they are parked.
4. Dynamic pricing
Parking rates can be adjusted based on the time, on the day and if an event is taking place. This helps municipalities increase parking revenues while reducing congestion by encouraging drivers to use nearby spots that cost less.
5. Improved urban planning
Parking availability, usage and trends are analyzed to determine where more parking spots are needed. Dynamic pricing for parking is simplified. Pollution from drivers searching for parking is reduced.
Solution components
The system runs on Amazon Web Services and usesAxis and Panasonic cameras to monitor parking spots and vehicles.
Funding new services
Municipalities often find it hard to afford new public services. CloudParc uses public–private partnerships (PPP) to fund their offering. Its basic parking management service is free to the municipality. CloudParc receives a portion of the incremental parking revenue generated. This enables cities to increase parking spots and revenues with minimal investment.
“The CloudParc platform enables cities to optimize one of its most precious resources—the space allocated to parking. Using modern urban science techniques like machine vision and machine learning, they not only improve utilization, but they also reduce congestion and create an ideal platform for public-private partnerships,” saysMark Gorenberg, managing director at Zetta Venture Partners.
TheMiami Parking Authority and the Charleston Urban Renewal Authority (CURA) are among the municipalities evaluating CloudParc.
There is no sure thing in treasure hunting—or parking. CloudParc improves your odds, though, while helping city budgets at the same time.
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