27 Oct Part 2: FOR THE LOVE OF THE CAR (& A DECENT CAR PARK TO PUT IT IN!)
In Part 1 we explored the nation’s love affair with the car – yes, with 18.8* million cars registered Australia, a number that is steadily increasing 2.1%* every year, car parking is a topic that is here to stay!
Despite the popularity of the automobile, parking has seen little innovation since the advent of the multi-story. Digital car park signs are a long-overdue advancement.
The Future of Carparking Digital Signage
Most large multi-stories nowadays use digital counters to display the number of spaces available in a car park. This is an important concept but the technology remains under-deployed and under-developed. While these primitive digital car park signs inform drivers how many spaces are available, they fail to indicate where these spaces are. Furthermore, being told there are 50 spaces currently free is of limited use without the context of the car park’s overall size, and how many other cars are ahead of you looking for a space.
More sophisticated car park signs merge with wayfinding technology to direct cars to available spaces. See this example on the right at Monash University, where digital wayfinding signage assists with traffic flow by letting you know how many car spaces are available in the direction you are driving by simply follow the coloured dots …
Even if spaces are evenly spread across a multi-story, entering cars can be guided to different levels in order to optimise traffic flow. To overcome the problem of entering a car park where you are told there are say 20 spaces free but, unknown to you, 30 other cars looking, a traffic light system might be deployed. Sensors recording cars entering and leaving a car park, together with data on parking trends throughout the day, can be used to give a more accurate representation of space availability.
Value Add Car Parking Digital Signage
Rather than just showing space availability, digital car park signs are starting to be used to provide other relevant information for car park users. A company car park, for example, might deploy LED signs to display weather and traffic reports to employees leaving work. Drivers returning to their cars will be able to check the conditions of their drive home on their way out of the car park. These warnings will be appreciated by employees and also help them use their lunch hours more efficiently too, avoiding returning late to the office due to unforeseen traffic.
In car parks located at airports or stations, transport data is another beneficial use of outdoor digital signage. Airport car parks in particular can be vast and remote with bus shuttle systems required to take travellers to their terminal. Gold Coast Airport on the right, has refined their user/passenger wayfinding through clear directional car park availability signage.
Updatability is Key to Dynamic Digital Signage
Parking fee prices are a pet hate of many drivers – having to get out of their car to search for the nearest pay and display machine is annoying! Digital car park signs, alongside space availability and transport information, can specify parking fee prices. Being able to check pricing as you enter a car park can save drivers, especially those in a hurry, this frustrating double trip to the pay machine.
Cautionary messaging Helps Keep Drivers Safe & Secure
An invaluable application of LED car park signs is cautionary messaging. Using these displays as billboards to prompt drivers with message content like ‘Don’t drink and drive’ or ‘Have you locked your car?’ has a positive effect on lowering crime. The former denouncement is enhanced by digital signage’s capability to display video. The most effective anti-drink driving
campaigns are those that visually and emotionally show its consequences. Deploying the graphic content in videos you might see on TV to drivers leaving or returning to their cars before or after an evening out would greatly aid prevention. Likewise, emphasising through media content that a car park operates CCTV would go a long way to deter theft.
Taking the Next Step
If you’re looking for a dynamic digital signage solution that enhances drivers parking experience talk to us today. Contact Tim at +61 8 9274 5151 or email tim@yapdigital.com.au.
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