IoT Solution And The Future Of Parking Management

by Andrew RC Digital marketing executive

Smart parking is a useful IoT application that can make everyone's life better as it helps solve numerous problems that come along with traditional parking management methods. With traditional parking management methods, both space and time were exhausted in impractical measures.

Now, the parking management industry is gradually transitioning into smart parking solutions. This transition became vital as the parking industry was keen on reducing the parking footprint and unused landmass. By reducing the parking footprint, the landmass can be put to better use.

Here is a simple scenario of a traditional parking management system – There’s a crucial meeting and you arrive twenty minutes early at your destination. As long as you can find a parking spot, you'll have plenty of time.

However, the building's parking lot is completely full. You feverishly search the streets for a parking spot but are unable to locate one. You may try the building across the street's underground parking lot. As you approach, you are forced to come to a complete halt. There's a lot of traffic in front of you doing the same thing.

Finding a parking spot takes around a half-hour. You're sweating profusely and out of breath when you finally arrive at the office for the meeting. Everyone has already left, according to the receptionist. Your meeting has been canceled, and you are facing significant losses. This is a common problem faced by more than 40% of Americans every day.

Read through this blog by RentPark to understand how IoT integrated smart parking solutions can help make the parking management industry better.

Did you know that in the United States, the average driver wastes $345 each year, amounting to over $70 billion yearly? According to recent research, by 2050, up to 68% of the world's population would reside in major metropolitan centers. This may have a direct impact on how people park their cars in cities.

How Does the IoT Smart Parking Solution Work?

Major problems surrounding parking management can be solved by combining innovative smart parking technologies with IoT connectivity. The location of unoccupied parking spaces is determined by IoT sensors that have been installed via software for parking management. This IoT data is sent to a cloud server via a wireless link. All data from the parking lot is collected and analyzed in real-time, on the parking management software, to create a map of available spaces for people looking for a parking spot.

Drivers in need of a parking spot can use the real-time smart parking map of Airbnb for parking to find the nearest available spot. These spaces can be reserved using advanced technologies of the parking management software, which can also accept electronic payments from drivers.

IoT Smart Parking Detects Free Parking Space

Ultrasonic waves are used by IoT sensors, on the software for parking management, to determine the distance to anything. If the parking spot is occupied, each sensor is embedded in the parking area surface and detects the distance to the vehicle's underside. However, there are three possible detection conditions that apply.

1. Space is Occupied: The sensor detects a distance of 10 to 50 centimeters between an object.

2. Space is free: The sensor detects a distance of more than 50 cm to an object.

3. Space is dirty: The sensor detects a distance of less than 10 cm to an object.

If the state is "dirty," the sensor may be blocked or covered by something, necessitating a check of the device. The parking management software, which uses AWS IoT and AWS Lambda, displays free spaces in green, occupied spaces in red, and sensor problems in yellow for a driver.

Future of Parking Management

Smart parking system deployment is predicted to increase in the future because the technology is incredibly useful and improves daily living. The Airbnb for parking can be enhanced with the following advanced capabilities to make it a highly versatile management tool.

· Management of parking demand and space optimization.

· Parking guidance tailored to your preferences.

· Reservation systems for parking.

· Parking pricing that changes in real-time and policy optimization.

· Parking zones, taxes, and overstay offenses are all detected.

Augmented reality technology could generate a mapping function overlay on top of real photographs acquired by a smartphone for large-scale parking lots using the software for parking management. Outdoor and indoor navigation systems based on augmented reality can provide drivers with a virtual path to their parked cars.

Another innovation of parking management software uses visual image processing to capture a vehicle's license number so that Optical Character Recognition technology can recognize it. The Airbnb for parking then automatically opens the parking lot gate and directs the car to a suitable parking space.

Conclusion

Smart parking systems appear to have a bright future ahead of them. IoT, AI, Machine Learning, and Augmented Reality–the same technologies that are driving digital transformation for organizations under the “Industry 4.0” term–are at the heart of this solution. Parking 4.0 will boost parking system efficiency by addressing urbanization concerns by using these advances.

Whether you want to launch your own smart parking solution or upgrade your existing parking business to a smart parking management system, RentPark provides you with the best and fully integrated parking management software.