NEW TECHNOLOGY (REVIEW) ARTICLE 2:
VACANT PARKING SPACE LOCATION
Introduction
Nowadays, one of the most frustrating things about parking in car parks is the general lack of information available to the customer entering the car park about the location of vacant spaces.
Those of us who park in multi-storey car parks on busy days know the drill: drive in, look for a space on Level 1, join the queue of cars doing the same thing, follow them up to Level 2, repeat, break away on Level 3, go straight to Level 4, drive around twice.....
Perhaps twenty minutes may have passed, twenty minutes for which we will pay at the exit barrier. We are not happy, and make a mental note to try another car park next weekend.
Those of us who run multi-storey car parks, on the other hand, have to bring in extra staff to direct the frustrated drivers, deal with the complaints of customers...
From Spain comes a new electronic system - Logic Park - developed by CODIC that:
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displays the precise location of vacant parking spaces to car parkers, and
- at the same time gives the car park manager (or other member of staff) complete control of parking operations.
It sounds so simple, but it is very effective.
The driver is directed, via luminous information panels, which are updated in real time, to a parking level with vacant spaces, and once on that level, to a space with a green light above it. Spaces already taken have a red light above them, so he or she can see exactly where the vacant spaces are.
By minimising the time taken to find a parking space, the customer is in fact paying only while the vehicle is parked.
To quote Steve Ridley, CODIC’s Export Sales Manager, “ A better service gives more value for money and justifies the tariff in the customer’s eyes.” He says that this system “maximises the logistics of the car park”, resulting in fewer staff, and increased rotation of spaces.
It is easy to instal, requiring basic tools and a minimum of manpower. The deployment of the system has been developed around the use of a commercial modular trunking system with internal power conductors.
The parts…..
Sensors, located over every parking space, use ultrasound to detect whether or not a space is available. Each detector is coded with a unique identification number, allowing the system to link the information it receives with each individual parking space and display it on-screen in the control centre. The light is green if the space is un-occupied, red if occupied.
- A luminous indicator on each sensor, clearly visible from the other end of the car park, if within the driver's line of sight, indicates to the user if the space is free, occupied or reserved (the latter has two lights, green+red).
- The electronic information panels are deployed in such a way that they are visible right from the entrance of the car park. All the panels are controlled automatically from the central computer but can be manually overridden to block off floors, reserve areas etc..
- Directional vehicle counters, installed in the floor, are "deployed strategically throughout the car park to input circulation data into the system." Even the ticket dispensing machines may be linked into the system to control the issuing of tickets when the car park is full.
- Specially designed software is used for its electronic system. The control centre consists of a PC running the software, tailored to the individual car park’s requirements.
On the control center monitor, there are diagrammatic representations of the different areas of the car park, and the software facilitates detailed statistical analysis of, for example, occupancy levels, or length of stay The operator can observe the status of the car park in real time, allowing him/her to resolve, block or re-direct the traffic as needed.
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Footnote: The makers of this system have been producing and supplying it now for some years, and offer it in Spain and throughout Europe. More recently, AGK Limited have installed a similar system in the new Dundrum Town Centre, where it has worked extremely well.
Reviewed by AK. The original article appeared in the IPA newsletter in September 2002
