The Solution (Draft)

Easy Park a project to bind all of Sydney’s parking system into one strong brand. It’s designed to add-on to the current parking system and fill on all the holes of the otherwise strong system.

1. Objectives

-Provide the users with a user friendly interface to the system

-Unite all systems of parking (several different types of meters, for example, Pay and Display systems, Multi bay parking systems)

-Makes the users more knowledgeable about the system.

-Help users make better parking decisions

-Ease road congestion by keeping roads free of people looking for parking space.

2. The Backbone

Easy Park will, either independently or through means of third party research companies such as A.C. Nielsen, will build and maintain a up-to-date database of parking rates in all streets and store in it a central database. All the forms of media will use the central database to retrieve information about parking rates.

2.1 Parking Space Sensor

As a major installation program, each parking space will be equipped with a Passive InfraRed sensor (PIP sensor). The sensors will detect if a car is parked in a particular spot or not and will send live information to the central server.

2.2 User Registration

All customers of Easy Park was to first sign up and register in Easy Park website. There users are required to submit their credit card information or information regarding other modes of payment (Pay Pal Account Number, Direct Deposit bank details, Debit Card). All means of payment, In-Vehicle Navigation Unit, Website, and phone will use this information for the automated payment of the parking services.

3. User Interfaces

3.1 Printed Map

The printed map will be provided free of charge to anyone who wants it and will be available in convenience stores, supermarkets, cafes, several other public places. The map will show all kinds of parking spaces including on-street parking, car parks, loading zones, bus lanes and taxi zones. It will also show the day and night parking rates and car parks (including early bird parking). The map will be supported by advertisements from various companies including but not limited to private car parks.

The map will be reprinted every 6 months, and any significant changes in parking rates and location will be reflected in each new preprint.

3.2 Website

The website will be the main user interface for the information in the central server. It will be base for other all the other user interfaces.


3.2.1 Key Features

Create/ Modify user accounts
Find parking spaces
Find out parking rates
View a live map of parking spaces and rates
Put in your credit card details or details for other modes of payment for the remote automated payments for parking.
Buy additional parking time for on-street parking
View/retrieve/print your transaction/parking history.
Print out a itemized receipt.
Get tips on parking
Detailed literature on how the system works.
Download software for mobile phone

3.3 In-Vehicle Navigation Unit

The Easy Park GPS in-vehicle unit functions like any other available in the market but has a number of new features. It will available from lot of different electronic retail stores and also can be purchased online from Easy Park website.

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3.3.1 Key Features

GPS receiver which can find out the exact geographical location (coordinates) of anywhere point on earth.
Pre-included maps of major cities of Australia.
Voice-controlled commands.
Contains locations of car parks on-street parking, and its current rate. It can also display if the on street parking locations are free or currently in use. In case of car parks, the system will display the number of spaces available.
It will allow users to pay for the parking space directly from the GPS unit using users credit card and Wi-Fi internet technology.
It will record all the transactions and will available on the user’s account in the Easy Park system website. Users also will have the option to receive the receipts in their email from where they can print if necessary.

The parking spaces will be available in the map at all times. When the user decides to park, they simply select the preferred parking space and the system will show the user the best route to take. It will also “speak” the directions in audio format to the user enabling the user to keep his eyes on the road.

When the user has parked his car on a on-street parking spot, the GPS system will automatically recognize that the car has been parked and will show the context menu. The user is presented with the option of choosing the amount of time he wants to spend parking.

The user can add more parking time to his/her vehicle via phone SMS or the Easy Park website.

When the user comes back to the car ad starts moving, the GPS unit clocks out the parking time.

For car parks, which hasn’t got parking limits, the process is slightly different. When the GPS unit detects the car has been parked in the preferred parking space, the unit clocks in the start time. When the user comes back starts the car, the unit clocks out, calculates the total amount due and automatically charges it to the credit or debit card.

3.3.2 How it works?

The Easy Park car navigation system works two different network, the Global Positioning System (GPS) and the GPRS. The GPS system receives radio signals from GPS satellites and returns the exact position and heading of the vehicle. The pre-installed maps will locate the coordinates and visually represent the the position. The GPRS is a mobile data transfer technology which can transfer at the rate of 115 kbit/s, and easily transfers live text information in a matter of seconds. The GPRS network will transfer live parking information such as which on-street parking spaces are free and where are they located from the central database. GPRS technology will also allow the Navigation unit to perform a electronic credit card or other monetary transactions.


3.4 Phone Interface

The only requirement for the Easy Park phone interface is that the mobile phone handset should be 3G standard equipped with GPRS technology, which are common common these days. The phone interface functions similar to the way In-Vehicle Navigation system function. Once the users have registered in the website, they have access to Easy Park mobile phone application, available for different 3G mobile phone makes and models.

The phone interface allows users to pay for parking, find parking rates and locations and add additional hours to on-street parking without having the need to come down to the parking meter. It utilizes General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) to find out information and make payments. Apart from that, it can also be set to send SMS messages when expiration time for the parking is almost over to remind the user of the fact.