What if transforming your city starts with parking?
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Traffic, pollution, the frustration of not finding a parking space, the chaos in front of a hospital or the reserved parking space occupied by the wrong person… These are small everyday problems that, added together, have a brutal impact on our urban health, on emissions, on accessibility… and on our quality of life.
We’ve all been there: going round and round in circles looking for a parking space. That feeling of desperation that makes you wonder if you really needed to leave the house. But what if parking was so smart that it tells you in real-time where there is a free space, saves CO₂ and even alerts you by cell phone?
From Libelium, we want to invite you to see what parking really is: a powerful tool to change your city.
The best part: the technology is ready, we just need brave people to activate it.
3 solutions for 3 parking challenges
Case 1: PRM places are not for everyone (although many believe it)
Why it matters:
People with reduced mobility need to park nearby. But they often find that “someone just parked for five minutes” has taken their space. And what’s worse, sometimes even with a fake card. This is where urban accessibility comes into play as a right, not a luxury. Speaking of SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities) is also speaking of dignity.
Some data of interest: the penalty for parking improperly in a handicapped zone in Spain is 200 euros.
What we did in Huesca (Spain):
Huesca City Council decided to stop playing hide-and-seek with offenders and digitized 190 PRM parking spaces with Libelium sensors. People registered in the municipal app can see free spaces from their cell phones. The information is also available to the police, so they can go “on their own” to the parking spaces to see if they are actually occupied by authorized vehicles or not.
To borrow the disability card? Maybe yes. To lend your cell phone with your registered app? Not so much.
Result: more spaces available for those who really need them.
Case 2: The electric car is great, but... where do I charge it?
Why it matters:
Electric mobility is one of the pillars of urban decarbonization. Libelium is convinced of this, which is why we are part of the Future: Fast Forward tractor project.
However, a very mundane obstacle remains: what if there is no free charging point? Here, we come into SDG 7 (Affordable and clean energy) and 13 (Climate action). And also into something more practical: the efficiency of each charging station.
What we did at Elmec Informatica (Italy):
They designed a smart system where each electric vehicle charging station can be used by up to 3 employees per day. The key? Libelium Smart Parking sensors + FIFO logic. When the car finishes charging, the employee receives an SMS and releases the spot for the next one. All are connected by LoRaWAN and powered by solar energy, of course.
More efficiency, fewer turns, and more people using electric cars without drama.
Case 3: A parking lot on the beach
Why it matters:
The ideal is to go to the beach and any tourist spot on foot or by public transport, but there are people who cannot always afford that luxury. Parents loaded with strollers, people with reduced mobility, or people with chronic illnesses who have been recommended sea water and sea air as an additional treatment. These people need to know in advance if, when they arrive at the spot, they will have a place to leave their vehicle.
What we did at the best beach in the U.S.:
Monitoring of parking spaces around Saint Pete Beach (Florida) connected to an application updated in real time. 750 Libelium smart parking nodes in four of its most important areas in the area: 9th Avenue, Gulf Way South, Pass-a-Grille Way and Gulf Way North.
The parking space map marks with a dot all monitored spaces, whether occupied (orange) or free (light blue). Also, spaces available for people with disabilities are marked in dark blue.
People can go to these spaces without the added stress of looking for parking, so the day at the beach is smooth from the start.
A step to transform cities from smart parking
With Libelium Smart Parking, we help make cities more breathable, beaches more peaceful, companies more sustainable, and people less angry at the wheel.
At Libelium, we believe that data can be used for much more than dashboard graphics: it can be used to improve real lives. And if we manage to stop parking from being a risky sport, even better.
We are looking for local heroes. Are you one of them?
