Smart Parking Monheim am Rhein
Sometimes, it’s easier to recognize the benefit of something once you can really picture it. So, here’s a fictional tour of the smart parking potential in Monheim am Rhein, a small city where we believe our tech can make a difference.
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This page is made by SONAH to demonstrate how our products could add value in real-life scenarios. They are not implemented projects nor is this page connected with the city of Monheim am Rhein administration; we simply chose to highlight Monheim due to its innovative reputation.
Monheim's Smart City Vision
Monheim am Rhein holds a significant place among popular urban centers in Germany. Despite being a smaller city, it has transformed into an ever smarter city through an ambitious program called Monheim Strategie 4.0. Through these initiatives, Monheim am Rhein is harnessing the potential of advanced digital infrastructure and sustainable practices to maximize efficiency and enhance the quality of life for its inhabitants.
What more could Monheim do?
At SONAH, we use camera-based sensors. This enables us to offer certain services - and multiple services at once - to cities. Here, we’d like to showcase how that can serve residential areas best, starting with a randomly chosen street as an example: Biesenstraße.
Biesenstraße is just a little way away from a busy street where traffic builds up regularly. I can’t tell you for sure what the air quality is - but any extra emissions produced in the following search are more than superfluous. Wherever there are businesses, high streets, and residential properties in one area, the parking situation will eventually be stretched. And of course, where parking capacity is stretched, parking search traffic, the number of cars on the streets, and the frustration of drivers all increase.
What's at stake in Monheim?
1
BETTER AIR QUALITY
2
SAFER STREETS
3
HAPPIER RESIDENTS
4
LESS PARKING TRAFFIC
Use Case 1: Single Parking Spot Detection
Our camera-based sensors are capable of detecting both marked and unmarked single spots at the same time. In these two snapshots of Biesenstraße, we can see both in close proximity to one another and - as is useful for our overhead sensors - directly near a lamp post. That solves two things: a high mounting point for optimum vision and a 24/7 power supply. It’s perhaps worth mentioning that even where the lamp posts are not able to be used as power supplies, batteries can fit well. Check out this URBAN LEGEND to hear about how the city of Wuppertal used this method.
We can also install solar-powered autarq systems. But no matter the system, the 24/7 power supply is needed in order to transfer live data via APIs to both operator and end-user frontends. More on that below.
Use Case 2: Multiple Parking Spot Detection
As well as single spot detection, we also offer counting systems. It’s the same sensor for both, so the points above are the same here regarding installation. But is it relevant in Biesenstraße?
Here’s the thing - there aren’t any public owned car parks here. For the few private car parks, this would definitely be an option and would contribute to clearing the streets. However, just by introducing counting systems elsewhere in the city (as well as an effective parking guidance system), it can make parking decision-making infinitely easier.
Knowing you won’t find a spot directly by the doctor’s office on Biesenstraße, you may decide to forgo that ten minute cruise around the neighborhood looking for somewhere, anywhere, and instead opt for a paid parking lot five minutes walk away. A simple solution for the driver, and the city benefits directly via payments and indirectly via the reduction in blocked roads, traffic, and parking violations.
Use Case 3: Parking Guidance Systems
As hinted at above, a lot of the benefits come from how live data is used. For parking lots/multi storey car parks, a parking guidance system can be LED/LCD signs that display information such as where or how many spots are to be found. With sensors like onground sensors, the occupancy of each single spot could be shown directly above it via a light signal.
Alternatively, digital parking guidance systems on mobile apps could be perfect for Biesenstraße. By setting up the API and transferring the live data to a citizen-facing platform, drivers can make informed decisions, reduce parking search time, and save on fuel (and thereby, emissions!).
Camera-based Sensors: Maintaining Privacy in a Residential Area
These are camera-based sensors - not CCTV cameras. They digitise parking spaces from above to generate live occupancy data, and, unless programmed to perform other tasks, that's it. No personal data collection.
How can the system be compliant with the GDPR?
STEP 1: The computers in the sensor get an image, blocking out all irrelevant parts first.
STEP 2: The detection process takes place in the computer of the sensor itself.
STEP 3: This means that no images are stored or sent to third party systems.
STEP 4: Occupancy data alone is communicated i.e. '90% of all parking spaces are occupied'.
No personal data is created, therefore NO personal data can be stored, processed or sent.
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