For property managers and HOAs, unauthorized parking isn’t just a bother — it’s a persistent problem that can strain relationships in the HOA, impact safety, and reduce resident satisfaction. Whether it’s unregistered visitors taking up valuable parking spaces or residents ignoring assigned spots, every violation chips away at a property’s order and efficiency. So how do successful HOAs take control? The answer lies in a proactive strategy backed by smart parking signage, real-time HOA parking enforcement, and resident-facing parking management tools — all of which can be streamlined through platforms like ParqEx.

Why Unauthorized Parking Persists

• Guest parking spaces are used by unauthorized vehicles.
  
• Vehicles parked in fire lanes, accessible parking spaces, or reserved spots.
  
• There is no clear record of who parked where or when.
  
• Limited or outdated parking enforcement practices.
  

Without a parking management and enforcement system in place, these issues tend to snowball and create bigger headaches for HOAs and property managers. Fortunately, there are proven steps that ParqEx provides that have proven to be effective unauthorized vehicle solutions for HOA communities.

Steps to Eliminate Unauthorized Parking at HOAs

1. Invest in Custom Smart Parking Signage

Straightforward, clear, and informative parking signage is essential for HOA parking enforcement strategies.

• HOAs should install high-visibility parking signs at all entry points, common areas, and at each reserved parking zone, spot, or lane, to clarify parking locations.
  
• Parking enforcement signage should include towing language, violation penalties, and even QR codes for digital pass registration.
  
• HOAs must ensure signs meet legal requirements in your area for enforceability.
  

Did you know?: ParqEx offers end-to-end custom HOA signage services — from on-site surveys and design to fabrication and installation — ensuring your custom parking signage works as hard as you do.

2. Modernize HOA Parking Enforcement Strategy

Old-school parking enforcement measures are outdated and unreliable. Paper logs and visual inspections with chalk-to-tire tactics no longer cut it. Smart parking enforcement solutions are reliable, immediate, accurate, and impressively effective.

• Use mobile license plate recognition tools or app-based enforcement to instantly check if a car is authorized.
  
• Keep a detailed history of every scan or violation digitally for future reference.
  
• Assign enforcement roles to on-site staff or security teams without needing third-party towing right away.
  

Did you know?: With the ParqEx Enforcer App, staff can scan plates, verify permits, issue parking warnings, digitally send parking tickets, track violations, and track/receive payments — all from a smartphone. Take advantage of this license plate enforcement app and the ParqEx parking management system!

3. Empower HOA Residents with Self-Service Parking Tools

Getting residents involved in the process is key to long-term success and helps eliminate much of the administrative burden of parking management.

• Let HOA residents register their vehicles and request guest passes through a parking app.
  
• Send real-time alerts to owners when their vehicle is about to expire or violates a policy.
  
• Allow residents to flag suspicious or unauthorized vehicles directly through the app.
  

Did you know?: The ParqEx Resident Parking App gives tenants control over their own parking — while keeping management in the loop. Now that is what we call smart parking for condos!

4. Automatically Keep a Digital Parking Log

Keeping a detailed record of everyone who has parked on the property is vital for HOA safety and essential when enforcing parking, especially when parking enforcement measures lead to disputes over parking citations, fines, fees, or tows. 

• Maintain detailed records of resident, guest, and vendor vehicle activity within the HOA.
  
• Safeguard your HOA with access time-stamped data on all entries and exits for legal or internal needs.
  
• Keep a detailed eye on insights into usage trends that can inform future parking policy changes.
  

Did you know?: ParqEx’s platform records all parking activity by default, so you never have to worry about missing documentation.

Why HOAs and Property Managers Repeatedly Choose ParqEx

ParqEx is a one-stop shop for HOA parking enforcement needs. We create custom parking signage for HOAs. ParqEx has a robustly modernized enforcement system. We allow tenants and residents to manage their own parking. We help HOAs maintain an accurate log of all activity on the property, which simplifies enforcement and improves the experience for everyone. 

• ParqEx combines signage, enforcement, and tenant tools in one integrated system.
  
• Reduces unauthorized parking incidents by up to 90%
  
• Helps boost NOI (Net Operating Income) by maximizing space use
  
• Works with your company branding through white-labeling
  
• Requires no expensive gates or hardware to launch
  

Ready to Take Control of Your HOA’s Parking Enforcement?

Cracking down on unauthorized parking doesn’t require expensive new parking infrastructure or the need to tow every single offending vehicle. Nobody wants that! With the proper enforcement tools and a strategic, smart parking solution-oriented approach, your HOA can transform your parking management into a smooth, efficient, and resident-friendly system, all while ensuring all parking rules and policies are being followed. 

Let ParqEx show you how. Get a personalized demo today and see how ParqEx is a parking solution for property managers and HOAs!

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Speed is crucial for maintaining order and safety in property management and enforcement, but accuracy is most important. Regarding parking enforcement, everyone wants to avoid a wrongful vehicle tow. Over the years, ParqEx’s robust Enforcer App has been at the forefront of property and parking enforcement technology for all property management and enforcement companies. Now, ParqEx is introducing a game-changing new feature: the approval-based enforcement feature built within the Enforcer App and the Enforcement Platform. This approval-based workflow enhances the supervision and management of select enforcement actions that enforcement companies seek approval for, such as vehicle boots and tows. The new approval-based enforcement feature by ParqEx helps ensure that property management, property owners, and HOA boards have complete control over towing and booting decisions if they wish. Read on to learn more about this game-changing feature!

The ParqEx Admin Dashboard

The ParqEx Enforcement platform is at the heart of this new approval-based enforcement feature. Our Enforcer App already provides enforcement officers with a centralized, robust platform that helps oversee the entire property while offering several enforcement action options within the app. For property ownership, management, and HOA boards, the user-friendly admin dashboard becomes an even more powerful tool for viewing a detailed list of all approval requests issued by their enforcement companies. ParqEx clients can see each detailed approval request, which includes all notes and any additional pertinent information needed on a case-by-case basis provided by enforcement agents.

Avoiding Costly Mistakes

One of the most important and apparent advantages of this feature’s new approach is its ability to avoid errors. A wrongful tow is one of the biggest headaches and grievances associated with parking. Incorrectly towing or even booting a car always leads to unnecessary expenses for vehicle owners, property owners, and enforcement companies. It wastes time and money for everyone, and our approval-based enforcement feature is the perfect solution to avoid these costly mistakes and delays. By requiring approval from property owners, management, or HOA board members, this new feature ensures that the ParqEx Enforcer App continues to minimize the risk of mistakes as each decision is reviewed and validated by the property.

Enhanced Accountability and Transparency

Gaining detailed records within the ParqEx admin dashboard, incoming directly from the Enforcer App, helps provide property owners and HOA board members with a thoroughly transparent understanding of the vehicle’s history and all enforcement actions ever taken upon this car. This complete transparency helps foster trust between property owners and their enforcement agents while ensuring accountability. Thanks to the detailed notes and vehicle history shared between enforcement companies, property owners, management, and HOA boards, any issues, errors, or discrepancies can be quickly addressed, and any unnecessary enforcement action can be avoided.

That’s a Wrap!

Despite being a seemingly minor feature, ParqEx’s new approval-based enforcement feature is a significant progressive step that assists enforcement companies and the properties they enforce. This new property management and enforcement technology feature enhances accountability and transparency, helps avoid costly errors, strengthens the relationship between enforcement agencies and property owners, and delivers all this through its streamlined admin dashboard. 
This new approval-based enforcement feature by ParqEx is live and ready for all properties to use! If you have any questions or need additional features, contact ParqEx. We look forward to hearing from you.

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Finding parking in towns has proven difficult no matter where you are in the country. The allure of cute towns, no matter their size and main downtown streets, is still ever-present, and people continue struggling to find parking.

Beach towns may have it worse than any other type of town nationwide. And the trouble of finding parking does not just touch a few tourists and visitors seeking parking at the beachfront. It affects those looking for parking and town & city officials trying to enforce parking. Moreover, it impacts HOAs, property owners, property management, and business owners struggling with unauthorized parking on their properties. So, it begs the question of how to address increasing parking concerns in beach towns.

Property owners, business owners, HOA board members, and city officials: if you’re seeking answers regarding addressing increasing parking concerns in beach towns and your communities, continue reading. We intend to provide solutions to the daily dilemmas your towns face.

The Situation

Who doesn’t love the beach? Apart from the few who cannot stand the feel of the sand, most would say it is a gorgeous landscape that they wish they could see more of. And a lot of people are doing just that! They are either visiting or moving to beach towns in swarms! Beach towns nationwide benefit from this influx of tenants and tourists. Their economy as a town grows, their rental properties are booked, and local businesses thrive. But despite all the benefits, it comes with its fair share of challenges, including parking.

The Problem

Regarding parking, the question of how to address increasing parking concerns in beach towns is a topic that has kept coming up over the past several months. So much so that many city and town officials and hired consultations nationwide plan to present their findings within the year. What is the recurring problem that many beach towns are facing? Let’s get to it!

The problem comes down to supply and demand. With more people visiting beach towns and even more moving to these locations, more vehicles are also seeing the streets of these towns. With a “stagnant” number of parking spots, people need help finding parking. Without enough parking, many people resort to parking in places they are not authorized to. These spots include reserved parking in HOAs, schools, business parking lots, banks, guest parking, loading zones, handicapped parking, EV charging parking spots, etc.

Now, it is not just the visitors violating parking rules! Workers who cannot find parking because there is no available parking near work infringe on rules, residents and tenants whose reserved parking spots have another vehicle parking in it will break the rules, and delivery vehicles will most undoubtedly double park people in when their loading zones are being improperly used, and of course, yes, visitors seeking daily or hourly parking will violate parking rules as well. So it begs the question, what can beach towns do to address these increasing parking concerns?

The Solution

ParqEx proposes a smart parking property technology solution that answers the question for people searching for parking, property management, HOAs, property owners, business owners, commercial real estate owners, enforcement officers and companies, and city & town officials!

The first smart parking solution we suggest is our Marketplace technology. Our Private Parking Marketplace enables individuals, business owners, and property managers to list their underutilized parking spots for rent on our online marketplace. By listing your spots on our database, parkers can find them on our Parking App and reserve their spot ahead of time to avoid the headache of finding a spot on the day of. Additionally, our marketplace tech helps bust the myth of not enough parking! There is enough parking, but some are hidden behind gates and garage doors.

The second smart parking solution ParqEx suggests is our Access + Access Control technology. With ParqEx’s Access + App, property owners, managers, and condo associations can improve the security of their buildings. With this technology on-site, only approved vehicles can gain access to the property via our app. All authorized individuals need to do is approach the gate or garage door and use our app, and the door will open. As can be seen, this eliminates the hassle and security issues of unauthorized parkers on properties.

The third smart parking solution that addresses beach towns’ parking concerns is our Access Control Premium License Plate Recognition technology. Like our Access + app, approved drivers can access the building’s parking facility simply by driving up to our LPR access point with their registered car. Our LPR technology increases security while eliminating the need for phones, apps, fobs, keypads, kiosks, or gate attendees. Like our Access + system, LPR also rids the headache of unauthorized parkers on the property.

Lastly, our fourth smart parking solution that is key to resolving increasing parking concerns in beach towns is the ParqEx Enforcer App. With our Enforcer App, enforcement officers, town and city officials, HOAs, and property management can easily verify every vehicle on the premises with the app. The app allows enforcement officers to quickly see who is not supposed to be parked on the property and then issue parking tickets, violations, and citations within the app. Recently, we decided we wanted to simplify enforcement even more. Now, our Enforcer app has a revenue collections module built within, allowing all parking fees, tickets, and offenses to be paid immediately in the app.

The solution per group

1. How can people searching for parking in beach towns do so quickly and easily?
   • For those seeking parking in beach towns, download our ParqEx mobile parking app. With our Marketplace platform, all available parking spaces that sit relatively unused within gated communities, open surface lots, street parking spots, or even businesses are made available to you! So, instead of struggling to find a spot and then risking it by parking illegally, reserve a spot in advance on our app.
2. How can property management, HOAs, and property owners fix all parking grievances and headaches on their beach town properties?
   • Our solutions will bring numerous benefits to your property. First, listing your available spots on our Marketplace will add revenue to your property. This allows transient renters to pay you for parking and frees up traffic in and around the beach town. Secondly, by utilizing our Access + or Access + Premium LPR technology, unauthorized parkers can no longer gain access to your property, thus eliminating the hassle of residents and tenants not being able to park in their reserved spots. Thirdly, by utilizing our Enforcer app, any parking violation can be issued immediately within the app.
3. How can business owners handle unauthorized parkers in their business’s parking lot?
   • You, too, can add income to your business by listing your unused parking spots on our platform. Instead of people parking illegally in your parking lots, list your available spots on our Marketplace & utilize our Enforcer app to ensure that only vehicles with active ParqEx parking reservations are parked on your property. For those who park without these reservations, immediately take action on enforcement.
4. How can city & town officials tackle all the parking concerns in their beach towns?
   • ParqEx’s smart parking solutions can help you answer how to address increasing parking concerns in beach towns. Our tech can help you ensure that parking payment is collected all around your town, can help you stay on top of parking enforcement, can help reduce security risks of unauthorized parking, and can help drastically reduce the long lines and congestion your beach town seems to face daily due to a lack of available parking. A solid parking operations setup is needed for a beach town to operate smoothly. Learn more here!

Beach towns, don’t let your lackluster parking operations forever discourage you! Sure, it may seem like your town is lacking in terms of parking. But we are here to tell you that the parking dilemma will diminish once many unused private parking spaces are unlocked and available to those seeking a spot. Moreover, by increasing the enforcement of all parking regulations in the city and at privately owned properties, there will be fewer parking offenses and unauthorized vehicles! Book a demo with us today & we will give you a detailed explanation of how to address increasing parking concerns in beach towns & show how our solutions have been the answer to many towns like yours.

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When investors, managers, HOA boards, and owners consider ParqEx for their properties, they do their due diligence— and rightfully so! So we thought we’d get the ball rolling for you and provide our Top 10 ParqEx Articles for Real Estate. So for those property owners & property managers seeking to do their homework on ParqEx’s property technology, this article is for you!

1) The Value of ParqEx’s Marketplace

Everyone has experienced the pain and inconvenience of looking for a parking spot. Unfortunately, some of these locations are too costly and inaccessible to people seeking parking. Due to this parking dilemma, urban planning groups continue to carve out real estate. With ParqEx’s Marketplace, users and owners can find or list private parking spaces. In addition, our platform enables non-commercial parking owners to rent their underutilized private parking spaces to transient renters. Real estate entities, builders & developers, and anyone looking for parking: continue reading to understand the Value of ParqEx’s Marketplace and how it can benefit you.

2) The Benefits of Guest Parking using ParqEx GuestParq

Guest parking is a much sought-after amenity, but it has never been an easy task for property owners & managers. It can be a hassle for visitors to find parking, a security nightmare, a headache for residents, and even the cause for wrong vehicles being towed. ParqEx’s GuestParq simplifies the parking process for residents and their guests! So, real estate owners and property managers—are you looking for ways to eliminate unnecessary stress regarding guest parking? Keep on reading!

3) The Convenience of The ParqEx Enforcer App

Effective parking enforcement at properties is necessary for the smooth running of any property operation, tenant satisfaction, and retention. Unfortunately, no matter the type of property, parking security and violations are two of the biggest complaints and hassles for management, residents, and tenants alike. Historically, properties with parking run into unauthorized vehicles resulting in frustrated tenants. Moreover, they also have seen higher crime rates in the parking areas that lack adequate enforcement technology & processes, resulting in frustrated tenants/residents, higher operating costs, and lost revenue. Property Management, enforcement officers, and owners: ParqEx has developed the most complete and simple tool to catch all parking violations, improve security, and stop losing paying customers. Learn more!

4) More Than Just Parking – ParqEx’s Access Control

Gone are the days of using fobs, key cards, keys, guest passes, etc. With its reliable access control system, ParqEx’s Access + Premium Touchless can open any door, from pedestrian doors, main entrances, elevators, meeting rooms, common areas, office sensitive areas, and receptions, with just a few taps of a smartphone. Based on research, we know that accessibility through secure mobile devices is the name of the game. Advancements in technology continue to prove that the future of safe access is in mobile credentials, which we have been pioneering for years. Real-estate owners and investors are looking for ways to future-proof your property’s technology and increase its security; read on.

5) The Advantages of LPR

Technology and artificial intelligence have allowed us to push through boundaries and imagine greater possibilities than ever before. With these advancements, the parking industry has also drastically changed to facilitate parking, prioritize safety, and give property management a sense of security they didn’t know existed. For example, with technological strides in parking management and real estate technology, License Plate Reading (LPR) tech, which uses advanced cameras to read and validate the sequence of numbers and letters on a car’s license plate, has reached a point where it’s being put to use in hundreds of cities nationwide. Property owners & management: if you are seeking ways to heighten your property’s security, learn more about the advantages of ParqEx’s LPR system.

6) Benefits of ParqEx White Label Parking Solutions

Every company is looking for ways to get ahead of its competition while maintaining a high ROI. Consequently, white labeling is a highly desired solution. We provide two options to integrate ParqEx White Label Parking solutions into preexisting apps or technology platforms; punch-out integration or API integration. Punchout integration uses a web view, embedding it into the client’s native mobile app. API integration works in the sense that your platform can call ParqEx API. Options such as live vs. test environments, authentication, and more are available depending on the type of integration. Property owners, read up on all the benefits ParqEx’s White Labeling solution will provide you.

7) The Parking Solution for Builders & Developers

Have you ever renovated a building and been inundated with issues? Of course, the answer is going to be yes. But have you ever remodeled a building and had reoccurring problems revolving around parking at the property? Through our proprietary technology, privately-owned parking spaces that generally sit empty (especially during construction) are quickly unlocked and available for transient renters and parkers. With our technology on-site, there will be an undoubted increase in revenue, drastically improved operations with our IoT technology, and an added sense of security knowing who is on your property at all hours of the day. Builders & developers: read our article on how our property technology can help your job site function smoothly, all while bringing in another revenue stream!

8) The Leading HOA Parking Enforcement Solution

An overwhelming resounding challenge among many HOAs surrounds parking. Two of the biggest hassles for board members are the parking security at the property and many parking violations. But, of course, safety is top-of-mind for any property. So, an ever-increasing trend is that HOAs seek effective parking enforcement solutions to avoid parking violations, frustrated residents, higher operating costs, and a loss in revenue. HOA boards: ParqEx is the leading HOA parking enforcement solution, providing convenient solutions to catch parking violations, increase property security, and end complaints from residents regarding parking enforcement. Learn more & enjoy the article.

9) Advantages of Parking Property Management Software

Managing any property has its fair share of challenges. But, for almost all, generating revenue is the biggest challenge. Thankfully, various property management software is available to help clear these challenges. And to take it even one step further, ParqEx offers parking property management software that eliminates all these challenges. Property management, ParqEx provides comprehensive parking property management software that benefits your management team and tenants. Read on to learn how.

10) Mobile iOS and Android app with License Plate Recognition for Enforcement

LPR technology has revolutionized the parking industry across the board. It has provided a new level of efficiency for parking operators, resulting in cost savings and improving safety concerns that have daunted the parkers forever. Property owners, property management, and HOA boards: read this short article on how ParqEx’s app with license plate recognition for enforcement helps improve your property’s operational efficiency and security.

We hope you enjoyed our Top 10 ParqEx Articles for Real Estate. There is certainly a lot of information jam-packed into these articles. Please book a demo with us so we can address any questions that have arisen & see how we can benefit your property.

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As rapid innovation continues with IoT technologies, the results of their combined use are yet to be fully understood. The reverberations of the shift, though, will be felt as an after effect of the sweeping change, the transformation from outdated legacy systems, modes, methods, and tools – to innovative online software solutions in the cloud.

Smart cities are being developed by many individual companies using separate systems that communicate with each other. 

Market Analysis and Knowledgeable Research

One of the most challenging and logistically confusing daily tasks is parking. Traveling around in cities or unfamiliar neighborhoods, drivers are wasting valuable time and money trying to find the ideal parking spot. At the same time, the home parking garage is still a piece of equipment that has yet to fully be integrated into the digital home.

Whether you’re booking your spare bedroom or an entire investment property, where your guest’s park can make a big difference. Garage space provides a protected and homey welcome, but you don’t just want to leave your garage door hanging open until your guests arrive or make them call you to open it.  Multifamily residents currently rely on a non guaranteed reservations for a spot within their garage or guest parking is not even available at the community. Residents also find having to exchange a fob or provide a parking sticker as a means of validation. IoT technology is working together through the innovative cloud and mobile solutions, in order to solve complex logistical issues. The agility and flexibility being offered by the cloud are far preferable to, exclusively, on-premise logistical solutions. 

IoT technology is working together through the innovative cloud and mobile solutions, in order to create business opportunities and solve complex logistical issues. The agility and flexibility being offered by the cloud are far preferable to, exclusively, on-premises logistical solutions.

Sights On The Future of Real Estate Tech

The IoT is always involved when speaking about smart anything, and almost all technology is smart at this point. Smart parking garages are using monitoring devices to detect vacant spaces, then automatically sharing the data to their own systems and any specified partners.

For instance, the parking garage business may want to automate real-time updates of vacancies to the city’s tourist guide mobile app, or event centers’ apps might want their customers to have access to available spaces.

This isn’t to say that all hardware, paper, and analog systems will be completely eliminated, rather, they’ll be reduced and minimized. SaaS, PaaS, and emerging subscription software are allowing SMBs to streamline, expand, and improve the quality of their work and production – this is hard to ignore. Technology is promising to be the best solution for overcrowded city streets, in the U.S. and worldwide.

Competition in this space has generated an increased awareness from the real estate owners and the providers of these technology stressing their importance for growth. The Future of Real Estate Tech continues to push VC’s and startups in this space for a multitude of reasons. No one has found the key to Pandora’s box at this given junction, leaving the door open for challengers to propel the groundwork needed for the sector’s continued growth and development.

Property Management and Residents Look For Education

The real estate community is using technology in ways that make sense for residents. The advantages and opportunities that innovative cloud and mobile technologies offer are promising to solve parking woes and boost the local economy at the same time. Before, solving parking woes would have meant building more parking spaces, which means cities and/or businesses had to spend money, therefore making taxpayers and consumers pay for it.

The IoT, in relation to smart cities, is the technology and online systems being used to create innovative solutions and solve complex logistical issues, such as parking. For instance, parking spot sensors are being used by parking garages and city governments, in order to inform drivers of vacancies (and owners of non-compliance) and navigate them to the spot – all through their smartphones. Technology and the IoT have even shown to play a positive factor on individual health.

Essentially, what makes IoT technology so powerful is its ability to communicate and integrate with other systems and technological solutions within a city or community. Using cloud and mobile computing technology, combined with the nearly universal rate of smartphone usage, the IoT is creating innovative solutions not possible before. Closing a garage door from across the world through a mobile app is a good example.

Listen To The IoT Parking Expert

Katie Williams recognizes the lack of movement and innovation within the real estate realm. IoT within the private parking/ multifamily properties are newly discovered and emerging – there is a need to revolutionize and disrupt the current trends and inefficiencies with smart real estate technologies and smarter parking.

Katie realizes there is an underutilization of parking assets in the Chicago and surrounding markets. This is evident by poorly managed private garages offering ease of resident-guest experience or lack thereof. She looks to educate multifamily owners, residents, and property managers on the hidden value of their parking and how IoT technologies serve as a tool for the space. They provide an additional amenity in a space that is always searching for the next best thing, with a value-add to aid in boosting their ROI and bottom lines.

Please reach out to Katie if you would like additional information on how these IoT solutions can help your property today!

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Cities like Chicago are getting smarter, and not just in a metaphorical sense. Urban areas are becoming increasingly connected, with the express aim of making life easier for both residents and anyone working downtown.

With its Smart City Initiatives, Chicago has been at the forefront of a trend that has swept the nation and even got an official endorsement and federal funding from the White House last year. But what does that mean for you? Among many other things, these initiatives may have a significant impact on your neighborhood parking spots.

Chicago’s Smart City Initiative

Last year, the office Mayor Rahm Emanuel stated his goal to make Chicago “the most data-driven government in the world.” The goal is to use WiFi spots to report data back to the city and improve efficiency as a result. For example, sensors can keep park lawns from drying out, improve air quality, and more.

Smart City Initiatives are on their way across the globe, with cities like London, Barcelona, and Singapore leading the race to ultimate connectivity. Chicago is a relatively late entrant to the race, but has already established itself alongside them as a leader thanks to the initiative that the city calls “Array of Things.” Here’s how our government describes the project:

The Array of Things (AoT) is an urban sensing project, a network of interactive, modular sensor boxes that will be installed around Chicago to collect real-time data on the city’s environment, infrastructure, and activity for research and public use. AoT will essentially serve as a “fitness tracker” for the city, measuring factors that impact livability in Chicago such as climate, air quality and noise.

Technology Maximizes Efficiency

The description of the AoT as the city’s ‘fitness tracker’ is particularly descriptive in how it communicates the project as maximizing efficiency through technology. Anyone who wears a Fitbit knows just how important simply tracking your daily activities can be. You may not have been aware of how many steps you take during the day, but if you do, you will forego the elevator for the steps at the end of the day just to reach your daily goal.

The Internet of Things has become more common and is expected to continue rising in importance drastically in the near future. More and more, common household items are being connected to the internet to maximize efficiency. It’s no longer a surprise or science fiction to see stories about refrigerators ordering new food automatically on your behalf through smart connectivity.

By 2020, researchers estimate that $1.7 trillion dollars in consumer spending will be directly connected to internet-enabled household devices. Perhaps even more relevant for the purposes of this article, 90% of cars will be connected to the internet in the same time frame.

The Internet of Things as a City Connector

Take the IoT concept and apply it to larger urban areas, and you have Chicago’s Smart City Initiative (or Array of Things, depending on what you prefer to call it). The core concept is identical: the more connected you are to the environment around you, the more your life will improve and the more efficient you can be.

The success of that endeavor, of course, requires civic participation. As the City of Chicago outlines,

As smart cities embrace and deploy innovative technology embedded in public spaces, residents voices need to be represented. To prevent disconnect between residents and their city’s technology, broad engagement is key — not only to inform residents of innovations, but to take inventory of public concerns and questions associated with them.

This Smart City Initiative, then, is more than just an abstract concept deployed by the local government without direct impact on its residents. Instead, it’s a comprehensive project that depends on and benefits from constituency input. With that information, the Array of Things transforms into a powerful tool to improve your life and work. And that benefit is perhaps nowhere more obvious than in the ways in which parking connects to the project.

How Smart Parking Plays into Smart Cities

Whether you live or work in Chicago, you know how problematic parking can be. It is either expensive or impossible to find. The parking spots are there, and some of their owners may even be desperate to give them up to anyone who asks. But without a way to connect the spots to the drivers who seek them out, major inefficiencies remain.

That’s where parking connected IoT enters the equation. More specifically, the recent initiative to turn Chicago into one of the world’s smartest city could be a godsend for your parking needs. As we’ve outlined in a previous post,

If we had a way to predict where people would need and want to be in the near future, we could add living spaces as well as parking spaces in the places they will be needed most… With the right data and predictive systems, (we) would have the ability to relieve parking issues by adding parking solutions in the neighborhoods and other parts of cities that need them most.

Much like food-ordering refrigerators, this scenario is not necessarily science fiction anymore. Already, the Internet of Things is reducing parking woes in the city of Chicago. Rather than having to rely on intuition and past knowledge in finding a parking spot, apps like ParqEx can provide you with real-time updates on vacancies to minimize the time it takes to search for a spot.

As far back as 2012, experts on the subject predicted that the Internet of Things might find its most beneficial application in solving the parking problems for many of America’s downtown areas. As no less than 30% of all drivers in downtown areas are simply looking for parking, imagine the benefits of a solution that gets drivers off the street, reducing both pollution and traffic congestion at the same time.

The most frustrating part of that statistic may be the fact that these parking spots are actually available. Drivers just don’t know how to find them, leaving their owners without revenue and the cars on the street.

The key to success in changing that problem consists of two variables: visibility and timeliness. Parking situations can change in a second, meaning that any potential solution has to communicate availability instantly and reliably. That, in addition to a platform that allows parking spot owners to share their vacancies and drivers to find them, is crucial to reducing the number of people simply looking for parking spots.

Turning Chicago into a Smart City, in this case, will also improve the automated efficiency with which anyone looking to go downtown can look for (and find) a parking spot where they need it, and without paying a fortune. In other words, this Smart City Initiative will have benefits for literally anyone entering or driving around the city with a car.

And that’s why we’re so excited about the Array of Things currently transforming the city of Chicago. Executed correctly, it will not just improve the efficiency with which our local government can manage the city, but also improve livability for each of its residents. To learn more about our contributions to that cause, and how ParqEx is using the Internet of Things to improve your ability to find a parking spot, contact us.

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