Pisa, Italy and Bonn, Germany, June 24, 2014 –The lengthy search for a free parking spot could be a thing of the past in the Italian city of Pisa, following the launch of a smart city pilot project to test an intelligent parking system and analyse historical traffic data via a big data service. The system should help motorists in Pisa to find a free parking space more easily than before, as well as pay for it via their smart phone.
The city of Pisa has joined forces with Deutsche Telekom and its partner firm Kiunsys to install the new smart city service on Piazza Carrara, located directly on the banks of the river Arno. Sensors on the floor of each parking spot detect whether they are free or occupied. Several data units collect the information and send it over the mobile network to the city’s server infrastructure. The information is then displayed on indication panels which guide drivers to a free space. The solution is also integrated in Pisa’s existing Tap&Park app which drivers can choose to download to take them directly to a free parking space and even pay for it via the app.
“The new parking system integrates seamlessly into our intelligent transport system (ITS),” says the Mayor of Pisa, Marco Filippeschi. “It eases the flow of traffic and helps to cut CO2 emissions.”
Pisa has been working rigorously for many years to implement a smart mobility policy as part of its Sustainable Energy Action Plan. Filippeschi underscores its importance, saying: “The pilot project is a big stride for Pisa towards improving its traffic situation over the long term. Indeed, drivers looking for a parking space make up some 30% of inner-city traffic. So the easier it is for them to find a spot, the less traffic there will be.” Pisa is not only one of the main tourist destinations of Italy, but also an important university and public services city with three universities, an important hospital at European level and the main airport of Tuscany. Pisa attracts around 90.000 vehicles per day on its roads.
“We firmly believe that the right way to becoming a smart city is to have open standards and take a collaborative approach,” says Jürgen Hase, Vice President, Machine-to-Machine at Deutsche Telekom. “That’s why we are particularly pleased to be part of this joint project with our partner company Kiunsys and the City of Pisa – a leading member of the European ITS standardisation network POSSE.”
Pisa has already been using a range of modules from Deutsche Telekom’s partner company Kiunsys for several years. These include the Tap&Park app for mobile payment of parking charges, 30,000 RFID parking badges – known as “PisaPass” – and INeS Cloud management software. “The modular solution can digitally map all processes relating to parking facility management and traffic in the city,” says Tiziano Di Sciullo, Sales Manager at Kiunsys.
As a result, Pisa has already been collecting traffic-related data over the past few years which will now be analysed as part of the pilot project. The partners hope to gain a deeper insight into how the traffic infrastructure is used, which will benefit traffic planning in future.
