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As a team for our System Development course, we researched and analyzed the feasibility of installing 1,800 parking sensors in Pittsburgh. The purpose of this project was to apply our course topics on: identifying stakeholders, determining use-cases, designing a system architecture, diagramming the implementation with UML and calculating the ROI. For the full report click here.
The Problem
Parking is a hassle. It takes on average about 8 to 13 minutes to find a place to park even after you've arrived at your destination. Pittsburgh currently has implemented a real-time parking availability system for parking garages in specific areas. Despite the launch of ParkPGH, which supports garages located in the Cultural District, Central Business District and North Shore of Pittsburgh, the system currently lacks the functionality to provide users with more accurate information about all possible parking availability. That's the challenge we want to take on.
Our Solution
We propose to first install sensors in approximately 1,800 parking spaces, both garage and street parking, in the Cultural District area. The installation of these sensors will allow drivers to browse for parking locations before leaving for their destinations and to navigate to the specific garage, parking lot or street parking location. They will be receiving more accurate results which guarantees drivers will find a parking space because the route planning will adjust according to the sensors' updates of available spaces.
In addition, the Parking Authority of Pittsburgh and parking garage administrators will be able to update changes to hourly rates as well as parking regulations. This added flexibility will improve the management of all their parking real-estate.