I tell myself before I go to sleep... Neil Finn wrote these words in 1981 on that great album Waiata, which I have recently rediscovered. Aptly the B side was “Holy Smoke”. So, what has this got to do with ParkScience and the weird and wonderful world of parking you ask. It had me thinking about my early days in parking, moving to Sydney in the heady days of 1988 before FBT, Parking Levies and...

One of the most interesting carparks we have worked on recently is the redevelopment of the existing Warrick Lane, Blacktown open air carpark into a mixed use commercial and public open space transformational project with Blacktown Council taking on the role as Master Developer. Development will be staged with Council providing the initial infrastructure, including a 473 bay 4 level underground...

It was a little like a John le Carre novel – George Smiley meeting his old nemesis Karla after the end of the Cold War. As to who is who, I will leave it up to you to decide. I met David Knight (Group General Manager Secure) recently in Brisbane to catch up after learning he was leaving Secure Parking, having started some 33 years ago. He was employed by Garth Matthews and expertly trained in all...

Westpac are in negotiations with BaseUp for the implementation of their cloud-based technology for Westpac staff parking.The updated BaseUp system utilises a geo fenced area immediately adjacent to the entry or exit reader that allows a smart device to communicate to the reader to activate the gate, without a customer having to press a button on their app to open the gate. Essentially...

Warehouse conversions are commonplace around the globe for residential and commercial property – but this must be a first. Around the corner from my hotel in Amsterdam was a canal conversion – that’s right – a canal that is being converted into a carpark! The De Pijp district was built in the late nineteenth century with narrow streets and no cars. Whilst the Dutch love their bikes (and no carbon...

This is a new term describing the transformation of the property industry – not just parking. Proptech is the convergence of property and technology. It is about leveraging new technology into the property ecosystem. Click on the link below (subscription required) if you have not read the recent article by Folkestone's Adrian Harrington in The Australian on prop tech and how it is changing the...

Artificial Intelligence and parking? This was not even a blip on the radar five years ago. AI are in a similar field to ParkNow with a variety of white labelled products for smart devices and in car displays. They have a substantial presence in Germany with a proven product. However, the product that caught my eye was for on street parking or open-air parking lots. A single sensor...

Winner 2018 Innovation Award IntertrafficIn conjunction with BMW, ParkNow showcases a smart parking solution that directs drivers to off street parking stations (and can book a space) as well as showing availability of the most likely on street spaces based on historical and real time traffic flow data. BMW cars integrate it into their in-dash displays. Great technology and another example of where...

ParkScience attended the premier event for parking and traffic nerds in Amsterdam in April – braving 5-degree weather to see where the industry is headed. It is a massive event with almost 900 companies from 49 countries exhibiting, and over the four event days a record of 32,317 visitors from 138 countries worldwide attended. Over 75% of attendees were international visitors.