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This story is from the category Life
Date posted: 11/02/2010 Anyone who's driven in a crowded downtown knows that parking can mean almost endless circling in the hunt for a space close to your destination. Now engineers at Rutgers University in New Jersey have combined simple ultrasonic sensors, GPS receivers, and cellular data networks to create a low-cost, highly effective way to find the nearest available parking space. The Rutgers researchers say that making detailed parking data widely available via Web-based maps or navigation systems could alleviate traffic congestion by allowing travelers to decide whether to park in a central garage, hunt for street parking, or choose another mode of transportation in advance. If drivers choose street parking, it could help by suggesting parking spaces to users through a navigation device or cell phone. The team, led by assistant professors Marco Gruteser and Wade Trappe, mounted ultrasonic distance sensors on the passenger-side doors of three cars. Using data collected over two months as the drivers commuted through Highland Park, NJ, the researchers developed an algorithm that translated the ultrasound distance readings into a count of available parking spaces that was 95 percent accurate. By combining this with GPS data, they also generated maps of which spaces were occupied and which were open that were over 90 percent accurate. See the full Story via external site: www.technologyreview.com Most recent stories in this category (Life): 17/05/2013: IT industry ignores silver surfers at its peril |
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