Development of a real-time model of the utilisation of short-term parking zones

摘要

The chance of getting a short-term parking space cannot be estimated reliably because of highsituational variation. As a result, parking search traffic amounts to 20% of total traffic in theinner districts of Vienna. Previous attempts to solve the problem through better information ofdrivers rely on accurate systems that navigate drives to the next parking space. They havefailed due to high cost for roadside sensors and are also controversial, because they indirectlypromote car use. More interesting is a service, which informs road users early about thesituation at the destination. It supports the use of alternative modes and reduces parkingsearch traffic at times, when the parking pressure exceeds the normal level due tounforeseeable circumstances. The real-time utilisation model being developed in CoMPASSprovides no exact information on single parking spaces, but an accurate picture and reliableprediction of the parking pressure at the destination. It uses 3 existing real-time data sources:(ⅰ) location data of mobile-phone parking; (ⅱ) occupancy of car parks in the vicinity; and (ⅲ)volumes of in- and outflowing traffic. The real-time utilisation model is validated by aparking space survey and developed as a prototype with online visualisation.