Parking guidance and information

Parking guidance and information (PGI) systems, or car park guidance systems, present drivers with dynamic information on parking within controlled areas. The systems combine traffic monitoring, communication, processing and variable message sign technologies to provide the service.

Modern parking lots utilize a variety of technologies to help motorists find unoccupied parking spaces, car location when returning to the vehicle and improve their experience. This includes adaptive lighting sensors and parking space led indicators (red for occupied, green for available and blue is reserved for the disabled; above every parking space), and indoor positioning system (IPS).

PGI systems are a product of the worldwide initiative for the development of intelligent transportation system in urban areas. PGI systems can assist in the development of safe, efficient and environmentally friendly transportation network.

PGI systems are designed to aid in the search for vacant parking spaces by directing drivers to car parks where occupancy levels are low. The objective is to reduce search time, which in turn reduces congestion on the surrounding roads for other traffic with related benefits to air pollution with the ultimate aim of enhancement of the urban area.

A Parking Guidance System (PGS) have different elements:

Detectors can use different technologies, such as:

LED indicators. Some manufacturers use LED indicators per space, while others either don't provide any or use one LED indicator for few spaces. The purpose of an LED indicator is to provide guidance to parkers up to the last empty space.

The Zone control unit (ZCU) (aka Node Controller), is the middle layer of parking ultrasonic detector, which is to manage a group of ultrasonic detectors, detects then loops the information of the detectors and send the relevant information to a higher element or directly to central controller. One zone / node controller can support between 16 and 100 detectors depending on the manufacturer of Parking Guidance System.

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Wikipedia