Page 51 - College Planning & Management, July/August 2017

also serve as a powerful virtual parking system, making it easier to manage parking behaviors to achieve campus planning goals.
The University of Central Missouri (UCM) provides an example of how sensors can be used to support on-campus businesses, while at the same time better manage valuable parking spaces. UCM was one of the first American institutions to implement a “Shop & Go” program that establishes dedicated short-term parking zones for visitors wishing to make quick shopping runs. The 53 Shop & Go spaces are located adjacent
to an on-campus mixed-use facility that provides upper-class housing, a university store and retail establishments, including a Starbucks and a pizza business. The spaces offer free short- term parking so patrons can conveniently park close to their destinations, conduct their business and return to their ve- hicles. The ticketless system permits one-hour parking, which promotes frequent turnover of spaces.
The Shop & Go system is managed by single-space wireless parking sensors and a proprietary software system to monitor the spaces. The ground-based sensors detect the presence of a vehicle and record the amount of time the vehicle has remained parked. If a car overstays the permitted time limit, the system generates an overstay list which is accessible by the enforcement officer via any web-compatible mobile device, letting the officer know which parking space contains the offending vehicle and exactly what that vehicle’s status is. The officer can then take the appropriate steps: issuing a warning, writing a ticket or arrang- ing for the vehicle to be towed.
“This is the first program of it’s kind at an American univer- sity,” says IPsens’ Tuxen. “But it’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to utilizing sensor and other technologies in creative ways to promote campus planning goals.”
Open-Source Software
As exciting as the current parking technology landscape is, the future holds even more promise. From the connected car to self- driving vehicles, the next generation of transportation technology will reshape the way parking is managed.
One of the most exciting impending trends will be the advent of open-source software to manage parking technologies and systems. Traditionally, when universities have purchased parking equipment, they have been at the mercy of the software that comes with it. Often they find that the equipment they bought with all the bells and whistles doesn’t work as well as it should because the software isn’t up to par. It’s an issue that is common across indus- tries: companies that are great at developing hardware often aren’t as good at developing software, and vice versa.
That’s why open-source parking technology will be so exciting. With open-source technology, equipment providers allow third- party developers to create software that will make their equipment work better for individual installations. Open-source parking
technology can be particularly beneficial for universities, which often have access to the brightest programming minds. Software packages can be developed to meet all of the unique parking needs of an individual campus.
“University parking departments won’t be constrained any longer by software that was designed to manage airport parking or downtown parking for a large city,” says Tuxen, a long-time advocate of open source parking technology. “With open sourc- ing everyone wins: universities get better equipment; equipment providers benefit because their tools work better; and software developers also obviously win.”
Exciting Times
These are exciting times for parking administrators. Technol- ogy has transformed the campus parking experience, and with the constant pace of innovation we can expect even more exciting advancements in the not-too-distant future. CPM
Bill Smith is a public relations consultant serving the parking industry, as well as a contributing editor to Parking Professional magazine. He can be reached at bsmith@smith-phillips.com.
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