Parking Availability at the University of Wollongong
The University of Wollongong has recently launched a web page showing the current number of available parking spaces, and their locations on the university campus. This is an extension of the project which PCI was engaged to carry out with the University to design and install dynamic signage throughout the campus advising parkers of which […]
Google launches app to help find parking
Just this week, Google has joined the parking app bandwagon by announcing that they are launching an application to help users find parking using location-based technology. We have already reported on location-based applications a couple of times over the past two weeks (see Parking embraces new parking technology and Other wireless parking applications). See also […]
Other wireless parking applications
This week we have come across two other applications that our readers may be interested in. The first comes from The City of Eugene, in Oregon, US, where a small, free application called “Epark” was developed, which shows all available parking options, both on-street, and off-street, managed by the City administration. It provides information on […]
Wireless parking in San Francisco
Last week’s post on wireless parking applications and technology generated an interesting response from our followers. Many examples led us back to San Francisco’s SFPark project (read our original post ‘San Francisco Parking Sensors’ here). The project is based on Donald Shoup’s theories of market-priced parking rates, with the rates being constantly adjusted to suit […]
Parking embraces new mobile technology
PCI has recently noticed the emergence of several new mobile, location-based and social media applications designed to benefit the car parker. In some cases, these applications are designed to manage the parking demand – such as the San Francisco smart parking system – giving users the option to use one’s mobile phone to add time to […]
Car sharing feedback and information
We recently posted our blog article on Car Sharing to a few LinkedIn discussion groups in order to obtain feedback on what is going on in other parts of the world in terms of car sharing. We received strong response and a lot of interesting information was provided by professionals in various parts of the […]
Car sharing takes off in Australia
According to an article in the Australian Financial Review on June 1, several companies that offer car sharing and renting in Australia have seen the usage of car sharing services increase significantly in the past twelve months. Convenience and cost are the main driving factors for people joining car sharing companies, as well as consumers’ […]
New Zealand asks FBI to help nail hackers
PCI recently wrote about the theft of credit card details from payment machines at the Downtown Car Park in central Auckland in November (see previous blog posts ‘Auckland Downtown credit card scam and PCI compliance ’ and ‘Another reason to be PCI compliant’). The victims of the scam, which had gone undetected for some time, […]
San Francisco parking sensors
The San Francisco trial of a wireless smart-parking sensor system is now underway, allowing users to tap into a centralised network with either a computer or smart phone to find available parking spaces. For the driver, the benefit of the smart parking system is not just the increased efficiency in finding free parking spaces. If […]
Lane Cove car park to install license plate recognition technology
The Market Square car park, situated in the Sydney suburb of Lane Cove, is set to become the first ticketless parking station in Australia, with the introduction of license-plate recogniton technology, when it opens in June. The system works by taking pictures of each vehicle’s number plate and recording the time as it enters the […]
City of Victoria implements Pay by Space on-street parking system
This week, Parking Consultants International spoke with Ismo Husu, from the Parking Services department of the City of Victoria, in British Columbia, Canada. The City of Victoria has recently installed a new on-street parking system, based on a pay-by-space principle. Ismo explained to us: “The users can keep their receipt that gives the expiry time. […]
On-street parking sensors in Port Macquarie and San Francisco
The Port Macquarie-Hastings Council has recently announced the introduction of on-street parking sensors, which electronically monitor how long the vehicles are parked in the bays and alert rangers when they over-stay time limits. The sensors are planned to be introduced for a 12-week trial under 50 parking spaces in the Port Central Shopping Centre area, […]
Auckland Downtown credit card scam and PCI compliance
Parking Today’s technology editor, Pete Goldin, posted this week about PCI compliance – the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.The PCI Data Security Standard is a multifaceted security standard that includes requirements for security management, policies, procedures, network architecture, software design and other critical protective measures. You can read more about the twelve core requirements […]
Apple and Yahoo working on parking technology
Over the past two weeks, we have noticed that first Yahoo, and then Apple, have filed patents for technology to track the availability of parking spaces. The Yahoo patent is based on a design that attaches sensors to individual parking lots, transmitting data that is tracked in real-time on Yahoo Maps. Interestingly, Apple also filed […]
Book your car park days before you fly!
New Zealand’s Wellington Airport has just introduced an online car park booking service, offering customers the ability to pre-book their space long before arriving at the airport. The benefits for the customer include not just knowing that their car space is reserved, but also that a discount is available, supporting corporate travelers seeking the ‘best […]
Parking World magazine – October issue
The October issue of Parking World magazine is now out, and focuses on Airport Parking and Technology. There are a few mentions of PCI in this month’s issue, including the announcement of Kathy Ross’ appointment to PCI, and Cristina Lynn’s article about Sydney’s traffic challenge in the future, called Traffic Congestion – Sydney’s Paradigm Paralysis. […]
Finding new solutions to renting out parking space
We have come across several articles recently regarding techniques that people are adopting to source alternative car parking options, or find new customers for their existing assets. The Sunday Telegraph published an article recently about renting out vacant property space, both for storage and parking. The article, “Cash in your spare space”, reports that returns […]
Car park ads three times less effective than shopping centre ads?
A report published by the Survey Sampling Institute research firm, on behalf of outdoor advertising company Eye, called Mall ads more effective, has found that ads placed in shopping centres were considerably more effective than those placed in car parks. They found the shopping centre ads to be three times more memorable, four times more […]
Drive-by chalkings
For anyone who currently takes the parking risk on a regular basis – watch out! A new drive-by spy camera, which electronically scans the position of parked cars is being trialed in Australia. Mounted to a vehicle driven by a parking ranger, it scans parked cars at two separate intervals, noting the colour, shape, size […]