ParkinGain: Toward a smart parking application with value-added services integration

Drivers cruising for parking are an important cause of traffic congestion in cities. Smart parking applications that make easier the parking search task can help to reduce this traffic and its associated environmental burden. This paper presents the conceptual modeling phase of ParkinGain, a smart parking application that helps drivers to find and reserve parking spots based on their current needs, using their car HMI system or their smartphone. In addition, the application allows the driver to extend the parking time if needed. Since the cost of deploying smart parking technologies is not negligible, the integration of other value-added services such as digital coupons of nearby merchants can help to subsidize the associated costs related to the adoption of these technologies in parking facilities. Our application is designed to integrate these services, allowing to create a smart parking ecosystem that can also be beneficial to other `non-parking' related parties such as the aforementioned merchants.

I. Introduction

The last European Parking Association (EPA) report estimates a total of 230 million of parking spaces in the EPA countries [1]. In addition, the United States parking spaces are estimated to be 800 million [2]. However, finding a parking spot is still a challenging task in most metropolitan areas. According to [3] drivers spend an average of 20 minutes searching a parking space. This time can increase to 40 minutes in European cities such as Madrid [4]. The generated traffic resulting from this parking search affects to the environment, increasing the emissions of CO₂ [5]. If we take into account the growth projections of the world's population (9 billion by 2044) [6], city parking and its environmental impact are almost certainly going to get worse.