Summary & Reader's Response : Draft 3

In the article “IoT based Smart Parking Systems for Smart Cities”, hIOTron(n.d.), claims that effective management of parking space will prevent traffic congestion. Smart parking utilizes sensors installed on lots to detect lot availability. Occupants can book the lot in advance while receiving real time accessibility and when the sensors confirm a vacant lot, the car will be parked automatically. For an IoT solution, it must make it easy to transfer field data to the cloud at low cost and increased ROI which is a challenge because there might be real upfront costs as in-ground sensors can incur additional cost for two parking systems. Smart parking authentication is done using an RFID tag and data collected is reserved in the cloud. The app would find a vacant lot and send the location to the user after registration is completed. Optimal parking is achieved with minimal time and effort while enhancing the user’s experience.  A smart parking system helps to reduce carbon emission as well as reduce traffic congestion. While the initial cost can be high, the advantages outweighed them.

Firstly, smart parking has benefitted the drivers by reducing the need to find a parking slot. With the implementation of smart parking, users can pre book the parking slot with an App which reduces the need for occupants to drive around to look for a slot. According to Gautam (2018), one city that has benefitted greatly from smart parking technology is San Francisco. After the technology has been implemented in the city, the time taken to find a parking space reduced by 43%, miles were driven to get to a parking space dropped by 30% and greenhouse gas emissions dropped by 30%. With the implementation, users can save time, save expenses initially incurred by driving around causing more fuels needed by the car and the city’s carbon emission would be reduced as well.

Secondly, with the smart parking technology, it helps to reduce the stress on drivers to look for a parking slot. According to Wimble-Groves (2018), an article polled 25,000 drivers, with the results suggesting Londoners have the highest parking-related stress levels. Of all the capital’s drivers surveyed, 36 per cent said they get anxious about parking. Almost a quarter said they postponed or abandoned journeys altogether because they panicked they would not find an available space near where they live. The survey has proven that parking in large cities causes anxiety and stress which is extremely bad for one’s mental health. However, with the technology, drivers do not have to worry about not having a lot to park as they will be able to check the available lots prior to reaching the carpark.

Lastly, with a smart parking system, users no longer have to make payment manually where they have to insert their cashcards into the gantry. Payment of the parking bill is automated where the amount is directly deducted from the user’s bank account and a notification through SMS is sent to the user’s mobile. According to Prasanna et al., (2018), when the vehicle is unparked from the parking slot, the bill amount for the parking is calculated based on the entry and exit time of the vehicle and is automatically deducted. With this function, users can save time by not having the need to wait for the cars ahead of them when making payment at the gantry and they do not have to worry about not having sufficient money in their cashcards.

In conclusion, there are many advantages to smart parking systems from minimizing the time needed to find a parking lot to reducing traffic and greenhouse gas emissions. The only challenge of smart parking is the cost which however is not an issue in Singapore as Singapore is an urbanized city with adequate funds. 

 

Reference

 

hIOTron. (n.d.). IoT based Smart Parking Systems for Smart Cities. https://www.hiotron.com/smart-parking/

Gautam, S. (2018, October 11). Benefits of Smart Parking Series: How Smart Parking Reduces Traffic. https://blog.getmyparking.com/2018/10/11/benefits-of-smart-parking-series-how-smart-parking-reduces-traffic/

Wimble-Groves, J. (2018, March 11). Car Park Anxiety: It’s A Real Thing. https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/jo-wimblegroves/car-park-anxiety-its-a-re_b_15267800.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANf99RqYdk9tMRYULwZPwWi3jr2S4gV9pG8eAhOsee8USU85zB90IQd9j12PHqZGoRepKEmWi1vBvarFYQbDbaGGPeelass0L2C1VpmxNe1X4ja5MC2ssXlWeFXcawp7JihCs3iUbk_sFBPyGju5E5ltUPFZvgz0JNFl6qTwr_8K

P. Likith Prasanna, N. Nagarjuna, K. Karthik, H. D. Kallinatha and R. P. Nandakumara. (2018, 27 February). A Smart Parking System using Internet of Things with Automated Payment System for Smart Cities. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9012565/authors#authors

 


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