What Are the Best Applications for Smart Parking Systems?
More people in the world. More people living and working in cities. More families own one or more vehicles. These factors add to more vehicles seeking parking space in more congested areas. The solution, more and more often, is multi-level parking garages.
If you use or own such a facility, this article will greatly interest you. We’ll discuss how smart parking systems using ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras are making parking garages more profitable for their owners and easier to use for everyone. We’ll also explore other useful applications of the technology.
Adaptive Recognition is a European company developing and improving this technology since it was a new idea.
High-Capacity Parking Garages
Garages accommodating hundreds of vehicles must operate efficiently for several reasons:
- To be profitable for their owners
- To be economical and convenient for their users
- To avoid traffic congestion caused by cars waiting to enter the garage.
These facilities serve many users, from those who park for a few hours or a day to drivers with various types of contractual arrangements. Regardless of the parking garages’ overall traffic and purpose, their parking systems must adapt to all needs to provide all parkers with smooth and convenient entry, exit, and payment options.
License plate recognition cameras have become the ubiquitous solution for most large parking facilities. When an ANPR camera has read the vehicle’s license plate entering the garage, that information can be entered into or compared to databases representing any of the above users.
Other Creative Ways to Use Smart Parking System Technology
ANPR technology is a fundamental input for many purposes. We’ve seen how parking garages use it to streamline their operations. The data generated by plate-reading cameras can be entered into many systems similar to smart parking systems.
Plate-Reading Technology Linked to Numerous Functions in Dubai
The Burj Khalifa is currently the tallest building in the world, with a height of 829.8 meters (2,722.4 ft). It’s the centerpiece of a section of downtown Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), including many hotels, malls, and condominiums. The area has assisted Abu Dhabi, and the UAE, in diversifying from an oil-based economy to include a tourism element.
The area entertains almost 16,000,000 visitors every year, making security a serious concern for residents. All of the landmarks in the section are connected to the central security agency (SIRA, or Security Industry Regulatory Agency). Every vehicle entering the complex is recorded using the same technology as smart parking systems.
In addition to logging each vehicle in and out of hotels, etc., the system can help with as follows:
- Finding luggage lost in taxicabs
- Opening gates for vehicles authorized to enter hotels, malls, etc.
- Identifying unauthorized vehicles
- Locating stolen vehicles
- Maintaining a database of frequent visitors and preferred customers
All over the city of Dubai, Adaptive Recognition‘s high-tech ANPR cameras and its industry-leading ANPR software, Carmen®, provide vehicle access control at many facilities, including the airport and many malls. Dubai is an excellent example of how smart parking system technology can be used for multiple purposes.
Charging by Weight at a New Zealand Landfill
Wellington’s Southern Landfill and Recycle Centre hired Focus Digital Security Solutions to streamline operations at their landfill site. Focus Digital elected to use Adaptive Recognition’s SmartCAM ANPR camera, creating a technology very similar to a smart parking system we described earlier.
When a customer arrives at the site and drives onto a scale, the camera reads their license plate. The entering weight is recorded and linked to their plate number. After they’ve deposited their load of refuse, their car or truck is weighed again. The exit weight is linked to their plate number, and the weight difference is used to calculate the charge for what they deposited. Then the customer pays as they exit. Regular users can link a credit card or bank account information to their license plate and are automatically charged when leaving the site.
Laeso Ferry Loading/Unloading Terminals in Denmark
Laeso Island is in the North Sea, 19 km east of the Danish mainland. Its residents and visitors rely heavily on the Laeso Ferry Service, which operates from early morning to late night throughout the year.
The ferry schedule allows for only a 20-minute turnaround at each end of the voyage. With Laeso’s old system requiring online check-in and manually checking boarding passes, delays often accumulated throughout the day. Passengers were upset, ferry fuel consumption was unnecessarily high, and staff had to work overtime.
They eliminated almost all delays when installing an automated check-in arrangement similar to a smart parking system. An ANPR camera reads the license plates of boarding vehicles and enters them into a database. As they exit, another camera records the completion of the trip and generates an invoice or charges a credit card or bank account on file.
Happier customers. More efficient operation. Attendants go home to be with their families on time. It’s a win for everyone involved.
Smart parking systems and other offshoots of similar technology can benefit many businesses. The technology is flexible. Once an ANPR camera has read a license plate, the resulting data can be used for dozens of things; your imagination is the only limit to how this might benefit your business.
Adaptive Recognition has been a leading player in the plate-recognition business since 1991. Check out their website to see how you can put their experience to work for you. Each page has a contact button to discuss your challenge with their experts.
Read Dive is a leading technology blog focusing on different domains like Blockchain, AI, Chatbot, Fintech, Health Tech, Software Development and Testing. For guest blogging, please feel free to contact at readdive@gmail.com.