Choosing the Right Fit for the Parking Facility- Basic Components of a Smart Parking Facility
Digital parking or smart parking is the new age era of parking for any type of application from residential to commercial and every size in between eyes in between. The parking industry has changed a lot since technology since technology came to the forefront.. Traditionally these parking systems were built with software that couldn’t connect to any other systems and only exchange data in real time. This has become a very stone age practice that needs to be updated in order to meet the demands of a more modern society.
The invention of the smartphone was the driving force to enable parking facilities to integrate more technology and 2 do all aspects of our daily lives. In fact the United States is one of the largest smartphone markets in the world. According to a 2017 survey, over 68% of the US population used of smartphoneAnd other smartphone users, millions downloaded apps one to their phone in order to make their lives much easier. Over the past few years, the largest driving force has been the covid 19 pandemic where social distancing has been a must for safety and security. Because of the covid 19 pandemic, Users have begun to use their own individual cars to travel to their destinations instead of public transportation, and more users have become more reliant on their smartphones or tablets in order to communicate, order food, and now even parking.
In order to keep with The Times, a parking facility needs to be more modern. In order to do that an operator needs to have installed a parking inventory tracking system that is made up of several components such as a parking management server, IoT hardware platforms like sensors and cameras, and a mobile app that can be used on a smartphone or tablet.
Parking Management Servers
An additional parking facility, the parking management server over isn’t it server overseas and monitors all the parking spaces within that facility. That includes tracking the parking spot availability, predicting the availability in real time, and managing ticketing and billing for parking users. This server uses a prediction module using ai technology such as neural networks in order to predict parking occupancy in different areas of the city based on data within that region. This server aids in overall user accessibility and convenience, as users can see in real time parking space availability and make plans accordingly in order to keep with their schedules for work, errands, or pleasure.
IoT Hardware
In order for a digital parking facility to work, the operator needs to install iot hardware that is platform based with sensors or cameras to detect the presence or absence of a vehicle. This Hardware is able to connect to parking structures in the server and transmits the data to the software in order to give real time updates and fees for users. It is important when selecting IOT hardware, that the operator uses cameras and sensors that are best with their budget, goals, and overall traffic. Other IOT hardware includes license plate readers and signage.
Mobile app
The use of a mobile app is essential and the efficient operation of a digital or smart parking facility. A mobile app aids the driver and assists in finding an available space quickly and easily by giving clear and simple directions that they can follow. This allows a real time view of available and taken parking spots through a simple and comprehensive interface that allows a parking space reservation and automatically tracks billing based on data on entering and leaving the parking space. This mobile app uses a cloud based platform in order to communicate with both the software and hardware of the parking facility. It is important that all of these things are linked and compatible with one another.
Location based technology
In order to improve the parking experience an operator should use location based technology within the parking management app. This can include technology such as geoffensing and iBeacons. A Geofence feature that’s implemented within the app can give automatic alerts on how many spots are available in a lot to the user of the application driving into the area. I-Beacons are Bluetooth enabled devices that can detect an app user in the vicinity of a parking lot area and notify that user about available parking spots. This aids in planning and overall convenience and efficiency of the parking facility.
Smart parking is making a major push in the parking industry as the clientele makes advances towards more technology inclusiveness. ParkingBadge with their expert staff can help make the switch to a more technology inclusive facility.
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