Prefectures of Trikala & Korinthos - Integrated Parking Systems
Service type:
Turn-key system
Background Information
This work consists of three separate projects obtained in collaboration with J&P Avax in a single bid. The projects were commissioned by the Prefectures of Trikala and Korinthos. J&P Avax, one the largest construction companies in Greece, undertook the construction of the buildings which house the parking-areas. EMPRISE was responsible for designing and building the associated parking systems.
Due to EMPRISE’s technological capability the prefecture of Trikala requested the incorporation of an integrated document management system (i-DMS) into the bid. The request was accepted and the contract augmented accordingly. Due to the distinct nature of the i-DMS and to avoid confusion, the i-DMS project is presented separately in the projects section under the title “Integrated Document Management System – Prefecture of Trikala”.
This case study is a good example of how EMPRISE’s modular services can be combined to provide a custom level of service. The integrated parking systems have been contracted via the “Turn-key systems” service, while the i-DMS falls under the category of “Bespoke systems”.
The parking at Trikala has a capacity of approximately 600 cars, while the one at Korinthos can accommodate around 100 vehicles.
Case Study
In order to design the parking systems the requirements of both sites were identified and analysed, and due to the similarity of their specifications it was possible to realise a single system, which fulfilled collectively all the specifications. By doing so, we ensured a shorter development time and a better value for our clients. The cost was reduced further by building the system’s backbone network using the Fast and Giga Ethernet technologies and implementing it over the TCP/IP protocol. Designing the system around these technologies minimised the cabling costs and eliminated the need for extra auxiliary equipment.
Two types of point-of-sale terminals were utilised, namely manned (cashier based) and automatic (unmanned) payment units. Both types are coupled to the parking’s logs, which are updated automatically, thereby forming a fully auditable system. Due to the system’s open architecture it is possible to define and apply variable charge policies. Additionally, the system has a provision for interoperability with accounting applications and can generate compatible files.
An anti-theft system was also incorporated based on the principle of automatic plate recognition and ticket matching. Each car’s plate is automatically read on entry and coupled to the tickets bar code in a one-to-one correspondence. If on exit the ticket does not match the car’s plate then the barrier does not open, digital video recording is initiated and the car park’s operator is alarmed.
The automatic plate recognition system is further utilised in vehicle tracking. It allows the prefectures’ authorities to automatically track their vehicle movements and to maintain a vehicle-log. Each time a vehicle with a tracking-authorised plate number crosses the parking area an entry/exit time-record is created and stored into the system’s database. The duration for which the vehicle was on the road is calculated automatically.
Additional features of the system include :
- user access policies to the system’s logs,
- multi-tear backup operations for guarantying data integrity,
- event based monitoring of the parking system,
- capacity check coupled to the variable message signs and the entrance barriers,
- emergency response (the entry and exit barriers open automatically and the variable message signs display appropriate messages)
