The World of Parking

As consumers and entrepreneurs continue to see the nascent potential of the business of parking; more and more services are springing up to address the matter. Whether you are looking for hourly, daily, weekly or monthly alternatives, the plethora of space available can sometimes be complicated to find, let alone reserve and pay for it. That is not so much the case today as it was before the advent of the sophisticated technology available today.

Today’s technologies have made finding parking so much simpler and virtually hassle free. And that will only get simpler and more efficient in the immediate future as new technologies are introduced and perfected. One of the great motivators for new and innovative parking services is the staggering size of the marketplace. Billions of dollars are spent annually paying for parking. It is estimated there could be as many as two billion commercial parking spaces in North America.

What’s Happening in the World of Parking Today?

  • Innovative parking solutions have captured the attention of government at all levels and the automotive industry in particular.
  • Applications and services such as www.parkingspots.com are becoming more refined and user-friendly as a method for drivers to locate available parking spaces.
  • Parking applications are starting to be embedded in automobile navigation systems.
  • Mobile applications are quickly becoming the norm for interaction with customers.
  • Parking will be a significant element in terms of how we manage transportation in the future.
  • Big business is waking up to the opportunity to provide parking service to drivers.
  • The environmental impact of drivers seeking parking spots is significant in terms of carbon dioxide produced and fuel needlessly consumed.

What’s Happening in the World of Tomorrow?

  • Intelligent parking systems are poised to make parking much easier.
  • Sensors embedded in the pavement or parking meters with optical detectors will indicate that a car has pulled into the space, the device sends out a radio-frequency signal to a data collector. From there, information about open spots can be sent to parking administrators, electronic billboards or drivers’ smartphones.
  • Stacked parking is already here but expect a lot more as developers around the world scramble to find adequate amounts of land to accommodate parking requirements.
  • Automated parking systems (APS) such as the puzzler parking system (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIeceaLrQDk) and the rotary parking system (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC48qZ2TIZM) are being introduced.
  • Real-time information systems will combine traffic information and GPS technology to get drivers to available parking spots in the least amount of time. This is also referred to as a ‘parking patch’.
  • Radio frequency identification tags (RFID) are being developed for areas such as parking permits so parking wardens can check validity or working in conjunction with smart phone apps to give drivers real time information about available parking spaces.