IoT Parking System

As population growth continues to create new challenges for urban areas, many cities are turning to smart parking solutions with Internet of Things (IoT) sensors to solve one of the most frustrating aspects of city life: finding a place to park.

An IoT parking system uses smart technology to determine where available parking spots are, and communicates that information to drivers through mobile parking apps, digital signage or the navigational system inside their car.

An IoT parking system uses technologies such infrared, optical, radar, LiDAR or magnetometer sensors that can sense the presence or absence of vehicles in a particular parking spot. Other technologies for determining parking availability include video cameras and algorithms based on data from crowdsourced information, parking payment data and cellular location data.

Once data is collected from IoT parking system sensors, it must be transmitted quickly and without delay via a high-performance network connection. Data analytics platforms aggregate the data and analyze it in real time, identifying open spots and communicating with the interfaces that drivers use to see where parking spots are available. Data about parked cars with expired meters may be made available to parking officials, enabling more efficient and effective enforcement of parking regulations. Smart traffic systems can take advantage of parking data to help manage parking and traffic flow more successfully. And city planners may use the data along with historical records to better understand parking demand and to plan for future infrastructure.

Benefits of an IoT parking system

IoT parking system technology offers significant benefits for drivers and cities alike. Smart city parking alleviates driver frustration – drivers can spend less time commuting and more time working or enjoying leisure time in the city.

For cities, smart parking IoT technology offers a wide range of benefits:

• Happier citizens, tourists, businesses and employers. Whether it’s smart parking meters, smart garages or airport smart parking, IoT parking technology is highly popular with drivers, helping cities draw more tourist dollars and helping businesses draw more prospective employees.
• Greater parking revenue. IoT parking systems can help increase parking income by:
  • Enhancing enforcement – smart parking systems can automatically alert enforcement officials of violations or imminent violations, increasing revenue from parking tickets. 
  • Implementing dynamic pricing – IoT parking systems enable cities to charge higher rates at certain times of day or at certain locations that are in greater demand. 
  • Easier compliance – smart parking systems make it easier to pay, leading more drivers to comply with parking fees.
• Reduced traffic congestion. By minimizing or eliminating the number of cars circling blocks looking for traffic, IoT parking systems help alleviate congestion and allow emergency service and public transit vehicles to have greater access to city streets.
• More foot traffic for local business. When they know they can park easily on city streets, more drivers will frequent businesses in the city rather than heading for the suburbs.

Spectrum Enterprise: infrastructure for IoT parking systems 

Spectrum Enterprise, a leading provider of connectivity solutions for enterprises and governments, provides the network infrastructure and connectivity foundation that cities require to implement IoT parking system technology. With more than 840,000 miles of fiber network nationwide, Spectrum is already providing infrastructure for smart cities in many communities. And with plans to invest another $25 billion in infrastructure before 2021, Spectrum is ready to provide the capacity and capabilities needed to bring new smart technologies online.

To support the infrastructure needs of a smart parking system, Spectrum Enterprise provides:

• A two-way, fully interactive digital network.
• Symmetrical connection speeds up to 100 Gbps for enterprise clients and local governments.
• Gigabit connection speeds for businesses and homes.
• One of the country’s largest LTE networks in Spectrum Mobile.
• Thousands of WiFi hotspots that will soon incorporate technology to deliver wireless connection speeds of up to 1Gbps.

Learn more about Spectrum Smart Cities at www.spectrumsmartcities.com.