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by Mike Bourre, Vice-President Sales & Marketing, gtechna Inc. Advantages of collaboration between parking enforcement & police agencies For the past fifteen years I’ve worked with Public Safety and during this time interoperability has been, and still is, a hot subject. Why? Because having collaboration between public safety and parking enforcement agencies just makes sense. Sharing information amongst all agencies helps intelligence gathering and achieving the goal of ‘getting the bad guy’. In public safety several aspects of technology arise when considering system interoperability including radio communication and the allocation of wireless frequencies, computer aided dispatch and records management interfaces. One might say these technologies are only used by public safety, which is typically true, but there are other integral technologies which can be leveraged to gather additional information for public safety. One of those essential technologies which will be covered in this article is license plate recognition (LPR). Rising demand of license plate recognition (LPR) “Some cities are already achieving interoperability…a stealth enforcement program is currently being  employed by one of our clients, a major US city, between the Department of Public works and the police department…Parking enforcement officers aid in the detection of stolen vehicles. Any vehicles registered on a hotlist will simply trigger an alert that is sent directly to the police agency to act upon.” For several years now LPR has been a tool primarily used by public safety for hotlist alerts such as arrest warrants or amber alerts. However, LPR is beginning to gain popularity in parking enforcement for cities and municipalities. The reason behind increasing attention toward LPR technology is that there is a technological shift occurring within the parking industry. In the past, parking was a fairly  unsophisticated activity primarily consisting of single space meters or time limit zones. Parking was visually enforced meaning that a PEO (parking enforcement officer) would have to walk the beat and visually inspect vehicles to determine whether or not they were over the time limit. However, as populations increased, new, more efficient methods for managing parking were required to accommodate rising demand. Parking enforcement’s hi-tech edge: the barcode The technologies that most cities and municipalities are looking at today and the future are pay by plate, e-chalking, pay by phone and paperless permitting, which can all be enforced through License Plate Recognition. In the parking industry, the license plate is becoming the “barcode”, or in other terms, the reference point for all enforcement. One might ask why this is happening? Well there are several factors: the first one being the European example, where these technologies have already been proven. Europe is more densely populated and has taken the lead when it comes to parking enforcement and management. Frequently, in most parking trade publications there seems to be a recurring theme: cities are asked to improve enforcement efficiencies while increasing revenues. LPR, basically a parking barcode scanner, for the parking industry is a perfect solution because it accomplishes both of these goals. For example, it is estimated that an LPR equipped vehicle can enforce the same area that would normally require 20 Parking Enforcement Officers (PEOs). Of course, parking system rights acquirement such pay by plate and other technologies also have its own merits which are beyond the scope of this subject. The new meaning of interoperability – inter-agency cooperation This article serves as a call to action to public safety agencies to take a closer look at what cities, municipalities and counties are doing with regard to the management of circulation and space, vital assets to communal prosperity. There are potentially powerful synergies to be forged by adopting an inter-agency cooperative model. For example, while a parking system is being enforced with LPR cameras, the data captured from vehicle plates could also be cross checked with hotlists as mentioned earlier. Some cities are already achieving this interoperability. For example, a stealth enforcement program is currently being  employed by one of our clients, a major U.S. city, between the Department of Public works and the police department where parking enforcement officers aid in the detection of stolen vehicles. Any vehicles registered on a hotlist will simply trigger an alert that is sent directly to the police agency to act upon. An LPR hit on, for example, a stolen vehicle is sent in stealth mode to the  police agency minimizing the involvement of the PEO allowing her to continue her beat without being involved in any way with a vehicle of interest. This information is then sent to police who can enforce properly and efficiently. The manifold benefits to police agencies speak for themselves but additionally, there is one reason why it is great for a city parking system as well.  Take the following case for example: – A car was just stolen, and the victim of the theft asks the police if they have any leads, to which the police reply, “no”. – A month later the owner of that stolen vehicle receives a late notice for a parking ticket.   – The disgruntled citizen whose vehicle was stolen decides to phone city hall to complain because the police cannot locate the owner’s vehicle, but “the city seems to have no problem locating the vehicle to issue a citation”. The preceding scenario clearly reflects poorly on the city’s ability to maintain efficient, functional public services. So, not only does collaboration help to improve public safety for citizens and Parking Enforcement Officers, but in general government looks like it is well organized and effective. Now, imagine the opposite scenario where stealth alerts are enabled and a stolen vehicle alert is dispatched to police who promptly recover the stolen vehicle. In this instance everyone wins. System interoperability – additional benefits There are additional benefits to leveraging LPR since parking vehicles do not enforce the same roads as police; collaboration covers more territory. Police will typically monitor more highways, while parking enforcement officers cover the downtown city core. Enhancing the parking enforcement process, leveraging LPR to enforce warrants, amber alerts and in general, vehicles of interest  strengthens initiatives to maintain high public safety standards.  Everyone benefits from this while significantly improving public safety by maximizing the use of city assets for better return on investment. Imagine the data sharing that could be automatically used to aid in policing initiatives. Next steps It is to the benefit of all government entities to consider a strategic collaboration. License plate recognition benefits more than the public and parking enforcement officers, police agencies can also leverage this technology and others to great advantage. This is why is especially critical that public safety agencies are aware that such a technological shift toward enhanced enforcement (such as LPR) is occurring. Further, parking enforcement agencies should be aware that the data being captured using LPR could be very useful for public safety. City’s are increasingly being asked to do more with less; collaboration between parking and police agencies presents potential economies in operational costs and gains in efficiency that ought to be explored further. For years there has been interoperability discussions between police. Now, it is not just about public safety sharing crucial data; it is about cities, counties, and municipalities and the agencies within these branches of government all pitching in.

Earlier parking management systems – pay & display parking When Aspen, Colorado adopted the first Pay-and-Display system for on-street parking in the United States in the mid-90s, local merchants were outraged.  Business owners and many of the thousands of commuting employees staged a “honk in” to protest the city’s decision to change from time-restricted, free parking to some unusual form of pay parking from Europe called Pay-and-Display.  But the complaints were not about having to display a receipt on the dashboard, or having to walk back to your vehicle in the snow.  The complaint was about change, and fear that customers of this vibrant, upscale business community would not accept such a drastic change. Months later the pain was mostly over and most business owners were thankful for the newly-created turnover of prime parking spaces which previously were occupied all day with non-paying employees of local restaurants, shops and lodging facilities.  The city was touting higher sales tax revenues, further showing that the implementation of pay parking was good for business, plus its mostly-empty city parking garage soon had a waiting list of local employees looking for an off-street, affordable alternative for parking.  Within the next decade, hundreds of cities in the US followed the Aspen model, from New York City to Chicago to Seattle and many smaller cities in between.  The benefits of being able to offer a credit card payment over the old coin-only style meters and the efficiency of having one meter manage 10 spaces instead of just one space were apparent.  Customers learned to accept that parking was a 3 step process: park, pay, and display.  Enforcement by foot, with sharp-eyed PEOs peering into every windshield could now spot an expired receipt or a vehicle with no receipt displayed from half a block away. Improving experience: Advantages of pay by plate over pay & display parking “Pittsburgh was now a world-class parking city, and other US cities took notice. Many of the requests for proposals for multi-space parking meters in 2012 ask for Pay-by-Plate at least as an option, if not the primary mode of operation.” In 2012, the City of Pittsburgh became the first US city to implement an on-street Pay-by-Plate system on a large scale, following similar, successful models created in Calgary and Amsterdam.  The leap from mostly coin-only single space meters to a license plate based system with one kiosk per block face was equal in boldness to the Aspen leap in the 90s, and was only possible by the advances in integrated technologies for wireless communications and real-time database for parking payments and enforcement. Similar to the Aspen success with Pay-and-Display, it only took a few months for business owners and customers to sing the praises of the new system.  But in the Pittsburgh case, the benefits not only included the ability to pay with a credit card, but customers could pay at any pay station in the system and did not have to walk back to their vehicle to display a receipt.  In fact, the receipt was now optional and not required for compliance.  Enforcement efficiencies from checking plate numbers against the real-time payment database were enormous and much faster than brushing off snow from windshields to find a paid receipt. Pittsburgh was now a world-class parking city, and other US cities took notice.  Many of the requests for proposals for multi-space parking meters in 2012 ask for Pay-by-Plate at least as an option, if not the primary mode of operation.  One of the main questions that cities are starting to now ask is how do we seamlessly transition from Pay-and-Display to Pay-by-Plate from both the customer and enforcement perspective?  The key lessons learned from the Pittsburgh project included the need to educate the customer and condition them to know their plate number.  How many people have their license plate number memorized?  Not many, and add in the fact that people drive multiple vehicles, rental vehicles and fleet vehicles, and the challenge grows.  Additionally, the enforcement team needed to learn to trust the online payment status database. There is a unique, interim blend of both Pay-and-Display and Pay-by-Plate parking that allows for a painless transition from one system to the other.  Many of the Pay-by-Plate kiosks can operate in Pay-and-Display mode, but with the ability for customer to enter their plate number.  While this adds a step for the customer, it begins to condition the customer to expect to have their plate number as part of the parking transaction. From the city perspective, the plate number can now be printed on the parking receipt.  This means that the Pay-and-Display receipt is now only valid for one vehicle, and excess time purchased cannot be given to another customer.  Suddenly, this hybrid form of Pay-and-Display with Plate Entry requirement, moves the consumer and enforcement staff in the direction of focusing on the plate number for compliance while immediately increasing parking revenues through elimination of customers sharing receipts. Advanced enforcement methods – license plate recognition software Eventually, the enforcement system can begin to work with wireless handheld devices and license plate recognition (automatic number plate recognition) camera technology (LPR) to verify compliance without even checking the receipt, gradually building trust in the new technology by confirming that the live, online data matches what is displayed on the receipt.  This will naturally lead to the receipt being optional for compliance and a full transition to a plate-based on-street parking system. Once a license plate has been entered into the parking system it becomes a form of identification or bar code to which vehicle activity can be tied during the enforcement process. Parking Enforcement Officers drive patrol vehicles equipped with License Plate Recognition, or automatic number plate recognition cameras to scan the plates of parked vehicles at up to 50 scans per minute. Plate information is passed to a database checking for validity of the parking session, scofflaws etc. Should a parking session expire, an alert in real time is sent to the Parking Enforcement Officer who can serve a citation on the spot or use GPS coordinates to dispatch to the nearest PEO on foot. The scanned plate, like a barcode, provides instantaneous access to vehicle information independent of visual checks or keystrokes required using the old parking system. Further, through credit card information and vehicle license plate information, it now becomes possible to provide statistical data to better monitor and manage the utilization of a parking system as well as better serve merchants and citizens. Finally, this type of transition also enables cities to easily incorporate the latest virtual permit technology and payment options including pay-by-phone, where permits and payments are also tied to the vehicle plate number and enforced through a central, real-time database instead of visually looking at a printed receipt or permit. Download our whitepaper to figure out how you can transition smoothly into a pay by plate system!

Where is the mobile market now and what does it mean for Android or iOS parking management systems? Should you upgrade to a smart parking system using Android? Or should you optimize for an iOS parking enforcement solution, like ParkMobile? The remainder of this article, to be continued from last week in Part 1 of Android or Apple for Your Ticketing Software series, looks at reviews done on current smartphone and tablet market share and the factors that drive growth to help you make an informed decision between an Android or iOS parking solution. We all know what doesn’t work, as Blackberry became a working model for what not to do; but, is there a success story to be championed in this mêlée and should we be surprised at who the winner appears to be or, is this just history repeating itself? A recent article reports with a great deal of skepticism, on suggestions that Android is in its death throes. The article’s rebuttal suggests, and quite succinctly demonstrates that this is simply not the case, that Android is, in fact, taking market share from “everyone”. The piece goes on to break down market growth into  a few defining factors including Price, Existing Market Share,  Consumer Loyalty and Financials. Price Data indicates that, unshockingly, price is the primary factor for consumers when determining what type of smart device to purchase. Clearly the value for every dollar spent must match up. From a developer’s perspective, a combination of the market share and user base are key performance indicators that dictate whether or not to develop for a mobile platform. The race to woo developers has never been more fervently pursed than in Blackberry’s campaign pushing the Z10s new QNX platform, an affirmation that apps rule the roost and figure prominently in the equation for a successful smartphone or tablet maker.   Market share The tablet market is still Apple’s to claim as victor however Google’s steady market penetration is slowly closing that gap. Apple seems to have a knack for repeating history like the 1980s and 1990s Apple vs. PC wars which eventually saw its decline. Apple’s strength in product design, clairvoyance in terms of knowing what consumers desire before they even know they desire it and trendy marketing put Apple at the top of the heap. However, Apple also holds another title that seems to have become its Achilles’ heel: pricing. Apple products eventually lose luster as steep price points drive consumers to more affordable ‘good enough’ alternatives; a pattern very similar to the 1980s and 1990s that brought momentum to a crawl, threatens to repeat itself. According to Strategy Analytics Apple’s share has shrank from 64.5% to 56.7% while Android has leaped from 29.2% to 41.3% “Shipments of Android tablets surged to a new high in the third quarter of 2012, accounting for 41% of all tablets shipped. Neil Mawston, Strategy Analytics’ executive director, says that there’s no one Android tablet responsible for the surge, which is more due to a large influx of devices from a wide variety of vendors including Asus, Samsung and Nook.” Shipments of Apple’s iPad lineup, meanwhile, shrank to 57% of the market”. Apple may still hold the lion’s share of units shipped for the time-being but, increasingly consumers are hard pressed to find a reason to buy Apple. Brand loyalty can only go so far in competing with the wildly successfully Nexus 7. Even more alluring is the Nexus’ price point at $199 versus the iPad mini’s $329 price tag. The Nexus 7 is also rumored to go down to $150 and eventually, $99. Should Apple be concerned? Probably, but what is of even greater concern is the alarming rate at which Android has gained market share in the smartphone market! Having been referred to as a “sinking ship”,  Apple’s current situation on the smartphone front is less than rosy. Five years in and five and a half iOSs later, it is safe to say that the honeymoon is over and the iPhone simply does not hold the caché it once had. According to the IDC the Android OS was found on 3 out 4 smartphones being shipped in Q3 2012. “According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, total Android smartphone shipments worldwide reached 136.0 million units, accounting for 75.0% of the 181.1 million smartphones shipped in 3Q12. The 91.5% year-over-year growth was nearly double the overall market growth rate of 46.4%. Consumer loyalty Being familiar with an OS’s ecosystem plays a key factor in a consumer’s decision to stick with an OS. Something that would seem to work in Apple’s favor. Apps are another significant deciding factor in sticking with an OS. Google Play is gaining fast on the iTunes store and will eventually overtake it but currently, Apple apps generate 4x more profit. Financials Google’s stock would seem expensive at $828 dollars but it is, in fact, at a healthy average in terms of PEG ratio according to the average S&P 500 stock. Profits are nice and healthy, but the earnings growth could use improvement. Net income however, is very good at $10.56 billion. Total cash is $44.62 billion compared to $7.90 billion in debt. This might make investing in a smart parking system using Android an idea worth exploring. Apple Vs Google: Mirrored opposites in stock fluctuations Google’s strategy of creating ‘good enough’ cheaper smartphones and tablets seems to be working as evidenced by its booming climb in market share and stock prices. What’s more, the quality and user experience of Android products, some would argue, is as good if not superior to that of the aging iOS. However until very recently, lest we forget, Apple has held the title of most valuable company in world. That being said, one thing we can be assured of is Apple’s ability to reinvent itself and the market as it has done time and again. No matter your choice, upgrading to a system that leverages smart parking using smartphones – iOS or Android – is a cost-effective, winning idea that is sure to keep everyone happy.   > Related parking enforcement articles: Adoption of Android™ signals a new mobile trend in parking enforcement business applications Android or Apple for your ticketing software | how to choose: Part 1

Mobile mêlée | The mobile OS wars, where are we now when considering your next electronic parking ticket system? When considering your next ticketing system or an upgrade to an electronic parking ticket system from your current parking ticket software or traffic ticket system, choices abound! More parking tickets and traffic citations are being doled out from Android and Apple devices. With the effect of digital tickets on smart phone sales, it is becoming more relevant than ever to stay ahead of the curve on the rapidly changing landscape of this competitive digital market in what can only be deemed: The Mobile OS Wars! The following headlines read like eulogies for the beleaguered mobile tech giants, some former, some dwindling some still wielding power, albeit diminished. ❝ Death of the Android  Blackberry: The Rise & Fall of an Empire Microsoft Dethroned…for Good iOS Retro, Brings Back Worst of the 80s Mobile OS wars seem to be entering a new era. Announced in October 2012, the number of smartphone users has surpassed 1 billion. In August 2012, the smartphone and tablet market share surpassed the 50% threshold in the U.S. with Android and Apple grabbing 92% of the global market share. The market is starting to saturate and these once white hot products are now becoming commoditized leaving little for stragglers. Although, what can only be viewed as a courageous (or foolhardy) move in this brave new world, surprisingly, Mozilla’s plans to launch an OS have gotten off to a strong start. One of the most notable casualties of late of course is Blackberry, who, despite the launch of BB10, can only hope to at best, stabilize a near vertical plummet. Regardless of corporate rebranding, ditching the RIM moniker for the more globally known product brand Blackberry, a phoenix-like rebirth into anything other than a small niche oriented player, is about the only positive spin one can put on Blackberry’s, frankly depressing, decline. Even Apple has not been immune to dreary forecasts, post-Steve Jobs, suggesting that its zenith has also come and gone. Mobile market on fire while other markets get burned: The future of parking For the first time since 2001 PCs are experiencing a decline in sales and even laptops are increasingly taking a back seat. Tablets are redefining mobile as they become more powerful and convenient for personal and professional use. Companies who have built an empire on flagship products like the PC home computer or PC laptop are now being forced to cannibalize their market share capitulating to the demand for more mobile devices. Apple for example, is looking at new markets to help regain ground in sliding sales of the Macbook Pro, looking at ‘smart watches’ that would perform many of the functions of a smartphone. A study by Gartner corroborates what is likely to be an inevitable steady decline of the PC, especially with recent news of the failure of Windows 8 and new ultra thin “utrabooks” to slow PC user-base churn: “PC makers began the year with hope that a new wave of lightweight laptops called ultrabooks would provide a sales lift. But the ultrabooks haven’t been compelling enough to overcome the growing popularity of smartphones and tablet computers. Those mobile devices are reducing the need for consumers and businesses to buy new PCs or replace older ones…This transformation was triggered by the availability of compelling low-cost tablets in 2012, and will continue until the installed base of PCs declines to accommodate tablets as the primary consumption device”. Where is the mobile market now? The remainder of this article, to be continued next week, looks at reviews done on current smartphone and tablet market share and the factors that drive growth. We all know what doesn’t work, as Blackberry became a working model for what not to do; but, is there a success story to be championed in this mêlée and should we be surprised at who the winner appears to be or, is this just history repeating itself? hbspt.cta.load(154767, 'b53991d9-29eb-4b71-83f9-9b0970e73de5', {}); > Related Parking Enforcement Articles: Adoption of Android™ Signals A New Mobile Trend in Parking Enforcement Business Applications Android or Apple for your traffic ticketing system | how to choose: Part 2