Parking guidance technology has become a staple of airport parking management over the past decade. It can be difficult for travelers to find open spots in a sea of occupied parking spaces, and parking guidance technology helps overcome this common airport parking challenge by guiding drivers to available spaces.
The technology utilizes cameras or sensors to monitor parking spaces and determine which spaces are open and which are occupied. It then transmits that information to highly visible digital signs to help guide travelers directly to available parking spaces. When the driver enters the airport garage, the systems tell them how many spaces are available at that moment on each floor, allowing the driver to decide which floor to parking on. Then, when the driver gets to that floor, signs provide updated information about how many spaces are available. In larger garages, airports may situate signs on the ends of aisles to let drivers know how many spaces are available in that aisle. Some airports even include information on each floor about how many spaces are available on higher floors, which helps parkers decide whether to get off on that floor or proceed up.
Parking guidance technology is particularly well-suited for airport parking because travelers are often in a rush. A good parking guidance system can cut 20 minutes from the amount of time it takes to find a parking space. With the pressures of contemporary travel and airport security, those 20 minutes can make all the difference between catching a flight and missing it.
In the early days of parking guidance, airports often balked at the cost of installing the technology despite its value. Early single-space systems could cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars to install and maintain. Fortunately, breakthroughs in the development of parking guidance management software and intelligent camera technology have dramatically reduced the cost of airport parking guidance systems while also improving their accuracy and utility.
Intelligent Camera Technology
Intelligent Camera technology has transformed parking guidance. The technology platform leverages machine learning-based software to track, scan, and count vehicles to guarantee 99% or greater accuracy but at a fraction of the cost of single space guidance systems. The platform accurately monitors how many vehicles come and go into facilities and on individual floors and zones and analyzes the data to determine how many spaces are available in the area that’s being monitored. It then transmits that data to strategically located signs at garage entrances and on individual floors. With vision-based technology, machine learning software is continually optimized, improving and keeping up with the introduction of new types of vehicles.
The key to an intelligent camera guidance system—or any guidance system, for that matter—is the platform it’s running on. A smart parking guidance platform with smart API can dramatically improve the utility of a guidance system. In addition to measuring occupancy, it can also provide license plate recognition (LPR) technology; administer signage; and provide real-time data on how full a garage is, which sections tend to be most fully occupied, and which times and days tend to be busiest. The platform can even be set up to manage billing in frictionless systems without payment gates.
With an open API, the system can share data with the airport and seamlessly integrate the guidance platform with the airport’s parking management and security systems. Working together, the systems are exponentially more valuable than they would be individually.
And this is where airports can get much more out of their guidance systems. Most airport parking administrators don’t realize that they already have a lot of the hardware they need for parking in place in the form of LPR and security cameras. Since 9/11, every airport has added additional security cameras covering their parking decks. When these security camera systems are connected to a smart parking guidance platform, they can serve a dual role. In additional to providing security, they can also monitor whether parking spaces are available or occupied. That information can then be transmitted to the smart guidance platform and transmitted to signage at garage entrances and individual floor entrances to let drivers know how many spaces are available and where they can be found.
It’s a simple process to implement, and it allows airport parking administrators to expand coverage by utilizing both security cameras and intelligent parking guidance cameras. Or, if cost savings are the ultimate goal, existing security cameras can be dual-purposed and used as parking guidance cameras, reducing or eliminating the need to purchase parking guidance cameras. For airports that have avoided adding parking guidance because of the cost, this could be the perfect solution. Relying on existing security cameras and connecting to a smart parking portal can allow airports to add guidance for very little cost.
Getting Added Value from Intelligent Cameras
The process works in reverse too. Just as security cameras can be integrated into parking guidance systems, intelligent guidance cameras can also be integrated into security and LPR systems. This is particularly valuable when it comes to security. When intelligent guidance cameras are installed on parking floors and at entrances and exits, they can be connected to the airport’s security portal to provide added security in those areas. Not only can they be used for surveillance, but their recordings can be stored and used by law enforcement if there’s an accident or a crime is committed within view of the camera.
The cameras can also be used for license plate recognition. When guidance cameras are installed, they are always installed at entrances and exits to keep track of how many vehicles have entered and exited the facility. These same cameras can provide license plate recognition. There are two ways that LPR is valuable in airport parking settings. The most obvious is security. When a vehicle enters the garage or lot, the camera records the license plate and can run it against lists of restricted vehicles or vehicles associated with known criminals. When a car is flagged, enforcement can be notified and set in motion. In the post-9/11 age, this is an essential function that intelligent camera technology can contribute to.
Intelligent cameras can also help manage frictionless parking. With a frictionless system, when drivers pull up to the entrance of a garage or parking lot, LPR cameras note the vehicle’s license plate number and then the gate raises allowing the driver to enter. If the vehicle is associated with an existing account, the date and time of entry is noted. If the vehicle is not associated with an account, after the driver parks, they can use QR codes posted on signage throughout the parking facility or call a toll-free number to initiate the parking transaction. Then when they leave, cameras at exits again capture the license plate number and associate it with a parking transaction, automatically billing the driver for the parking session. The process is quick and easy, and for drivers who already have a payment account, it’s absolutely seamless and frictionless.
Many parking owners are taking the concept a step further and eliminating gates altogether, which provides a much more convenient parking experience. Going gateless can also save airports thousands of dollars by eliminating the need to buy, install, maintain, and repair parking gates. Intelligent guidance cameras can provide LPR while also recording entry and exiting for parking guidance systems.
Improving Parking, Saving Money
Parking guidance technology has improved dramatically in recent years with the introduction of intelligent camera technology and smart API platforms. Not only is it more accurate, but it costs a fraction of what old-fashioned single-space sensor systems cost. For airports that have been holding out because of the cost of parking guidance, the technology may now be in reach. And if airports integrate their existing security cameras with a smart parking API platform, they may be able to add parking guidance without having to buy any new hardware. That’s great news for any airport parking facility that can benefit from adding parking guidance.
And for airports that do install new parking guidance systems, the hardware they are installing may be able to pull double duty, serving as security and LPR cameras too. A lot has changed in the parking guidance world in recent years, and that’s great news for airports.
