Smart City Parking

Smart city parking solutions are helping urban areas address a number of critical issues related to parking and traffic management. By providing drivers with real-time information about where to find open parking spots, smart parking technology can help eliminate driver frustration, reduce congestion, lessen vehicle emissions and increase parking revenue.

Smart city parking technology relies on a collection of sensors, cameras and Internet of Things (IoT) devices to identify open parking spaces. Sensors typically use magnetometer, optical, radar, LiDAR or infrared technology to sense the presence of vehicles. Smart parking solutions can also use predictive data analytics, payment information, crowdsourced information, cellular location data and other information to increase the accuracy of reporting.

For drivers, information about parking availability can be communicated through mobile apps (which can also handle cashless payment) and through the infotainment system in their vehicle.

Potential benefits of smart city parking

In addition to helping drivers find parking more easily, the many benefits of smart city parking include:

• Increased economic vitality – easier parking allows citizens and visitors to frequent local businesses more easily.
• Improved air quality – fewer vehicles circling city blocks looking for parking helps reduce vehicle emissions.
• Improved traffic management – in addition to less congestion, smart city parking enables emergency support vehicles to make their way through the city more easily.
• Enhanced reputation – from smart parking meters to smart garages and airport smart parking, a smart parking system projects a positive image which may help cities attract tourists and employers attract workers.
• Increased revenue – faster parking turnover, enhanced enforcement and dynamic pricing all add to potential revenue gains.

Building the infrastructure smart city parking requires

An IoT parking system requires network infrastructure and connectivity that can transfer massive amounts of data in real-time while securing smart city infrastructure from potential breaches and cyberattacks. Smart city networks also require a variety of connectivity options, including wired, wireless and cellular to enable smart city parking technology to communicate data management platforms.

Spectrum Enterprise, a leading provider of connectivity solutions for America’s largest businesses, serves as a trusted partner to smart cities throughout the U.S. With a fiber network infrastructure that exceeds more than 840,000 miles, Spectrum offers connection speeds up to 100 Gbps to support smart city parking and other smart initiatives for local governments.

Spectrum Enterprise also offers:

• Thousands of WiFi hotspots that will soon incorporate technology for 1 Gbps connection speeds.
• One of the nation’s largest LTE cellular networks.
• Gigabit connections for businesses and homes within the Spectrum Enterprise service area.

With Spectrum Enterprise, smart cities have access to the technology infrastructure on which to build a wide variety of smart solutions today and tomorrow.

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