In rapidly growing cities, the number of automobile users is rising tremendously, thus increasing the need for more parking spaces. The growing number of cars on the road, along with the poor management of available parking spaces, creates parking-related issues. Fortunately, smart parking systems provide answers. As cities strive to become more technologically advanced, smart parking solutions are an essential component. Smart parking is an emerging business that is critical to the development of smart cities in the future as metropolitan areas continue to expand.
With the Smart Cities Mission, cities will be able to save time and money by using smart parking solutions, which will help them better serve their residents. The same measures will also help decrease traffic and improve the city functioning, making it more effective.
IoT
Internet of things (IoT)-based technologies are paving the way for better town planning and the creation of smart cities. City planners are looking at new technologies to help with city design and town planning such as viewing parking data, dynamic messaging and parking sensors. Many of the difficulties associated with parking in cities may be alleviated by using real-time parking data and making it available to as many people as possible. This technology can assist tourists in finding available parking spots and more.
The technology influencing smart parking in cities is not so much about parking as it is about providing information to cities and their services. While cameras, sensors and wireless data transmission are important in developing such a system, it is the data captured and given as well as how it is utilised that makes a solution. It works by transmitting real-time information to commuters and cars about available parking spots.
The growth of IoT has paved the way for mobile devices, wireless communication technologies, and mobile applications to be integrated. The availability of a free parking space with its associated location information, as well as fuel bunks and shopping malls, is transferred to a server through a GPS module, a microcontroller and wireless communication technology and retrieved via a mobile application. It meets the parking requirements of both the user and the owner of the parking space. The application includes features for reserving parking spaces, verifying a reserved user, determining the closest parking spaces based on the size of the vehicle, travelling to the parking spaces, and computing account information on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Infrared (IR) sensors are used to determine if a parking space is available. Radio frequency identification tags are used to verify users who book parking spaces for an hour, a day, a week, or a month.
In a bid to address the parking issues in the national capital Delhi, the government launched the “MyParkings” application, which enables people to book parking slots online in areas under the jurisdiction of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC). The app, developed by Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited, will help people track locations, find vacant spaces at each parking lot, and pay money online by using the SDMC smart card.
For several years, Gurugram’s commuters and residents have struggled due to a lack of dedicated parking places. Therefore, the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority is developing a plan to establish a sensor-based parking management and guidance system in order to alleviate the city’s parking difficulties. The authority is exploring suitable locations where such a strategy can be deployed. The system will be implemented via a public-private partnership (PPP), similar to the one currently in place in Lucknow and in the pipeline for Bareilly.
L&T Technology Services (LTTS) has also collaborated with Intel Corporation to build a smart parking system powered by artificial intelligence (AI). The solution is driven by Intel’s OpenVINO Toolkit distribution, which enables the execution of AI-inference models on Intel Xeon scalable processors and Intel Movidius VPUs. The method is sensor-free and is capable of covering thousands of parking spaces. Among the important features are the ability to provide a tailored experience to users through the app, the option to reserve parking spaces and monitor real-time occupancy, and the potential to provide parking insights to operators via AI-enabled surveillance and augmented video analytics.
Intelligent traffic management system
The intelligent traffic management system (ITMS) is used to instruct users. It helps improve safety, efficiency and coordination on roads. It is characterised as a sophisticated program that provides novel transportation and traffic management solutions. The ITMS provides the ideal platform for traffic management authorities to handle traffic-related challenges such as anticipating the optimal route, lowering the average waiting time, easing traffic congestion, reducing travel costs, and bringing down the level of air pollution. The system forecasts optimal routes using AI-based algorithms on traffic mobilisation patterns, vehicle classification, accident incidences, and precipitation levels.
Several cities, including Bhopal, Bhubaneswar and Nagpur, have taken measures to implement ITMS and adaptive traffic control systems to efficiently manage the traffic flow as part of the Smart Cities Mission. The first and most important stage in establishing a “smart city” is making it digitally oriented by incubating creative ideas, planning the use of information and communication technology (ICT), and adopting and integrating digital and electronic technology into the city’s overall smart city infrastructure.
Delta, a market leader in video wall solutions, has completed the installation of the Ultra Narrow Bezel LCD Video Wall at Kochi’s first ITMS. The initiative intends to assist Kochi Police in improving the city’s traffic flow by studying real-time traffic patterns and using the data to minimise congestion. The ITMS will promote seamless mobility in a location that has diverse modes of transport, such as metro rail and private buses.
The 94 km Mumbai-Pune Expressway will shortly be equipped with an intelligent (or highways) traffic management system. The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation floated a tender in 2019 to hire an agency to execute the system, but received no reply. The procedure was further decelerated by the Covid-19-induced lockdown. The lowest bidder has been chosen among the three competitors, and the contract will be awarded soon.
Madurai city is poised to get an ITMS, which would speed up vehicle flow on city roadways by minimising congestion and enhancing commuter safety. Two private organisations have been appointed to provide a report for this project – Tata Consultancy Services and Urban Transit Company. The system will largely serve the central business district, but will also cover some significant periphery locations such as the ring road. Once the system is in place, it will be relatively easy to modify green corridors to accommodate ambulances and fire engines.
In sum
In light of Covid-19, it has become imperative for public transport systems to adopt technology solutions that enable them to comply with physical distancing norms. For hotspots such as escalators and ticket counters at metro stations, 3D cameras provide unparalleled levels of people counts and dwell accuracy, although there are sometimes blind spots in their coverage as people move. Wi-Fi sensors offer unmatched tracking capabilities. The most reliable and cost-effective way to gain insights into occupancy and flow across stations and in trains is to combine the data from these multiple sensors on to one analytics platform. Passenger density analytics captures the degree of crowding in real time. The risk is assessed, based on physical distancing limits, crowd movement patterns and the size of the area being monitored. Threshold breaches trigger alarms and automated actions, like closing of turnstiles.