Parking guidance system installed at Santiago de Compostela Airport

Santiago Airport management has decided to install a parking guidance system to upgrade the facility and equip it with the resources necessary to meet the demands of the area’s weather conditions. Since the parking facility features outdoor areas, and Galicia has a wet, rainy climate, many of the previously-installed systems became corroded and inoperable. Now, with the implementation of the SC Indoor sensors with IP65/67 protection, this problem has been completely resolved.

Santiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport is located some ten kilometers from the city, and spans the municipal territories of Santiago de Compostela, O Pino and Boqueixón, in A Coruña Province. In October 2011, the Ministry of Development, through the Aena airport authority, implemented a new infrastructure that multiplied the airport’s operational resources and capacity, and improved the overall quality of its services. A new terminal, parking facility, roadways and accesses, along with the expansion of the aircraft parking platform, a new electrical power plant and control tower have all expanded the capacity of the airport, which is now able to serve five million annual passengers with the highest guarantees of security and quality.

The parking facility now consists of five levels that feature 1,655 parking spaces, some of which are reserved for individuals with reduced mobility, managed and monitored by the comprehensive parking solution from Quercus Technologies.
 

Requisites

One of the airport’s highest priorities was to increase the security level of its parking facility. This made the integration of SC Indoor sensors, which enable video surveillance of the parking spaces as soon as any movement is detected, a key requisite to improve parking facility monitoring, also adding greater value to the parking facility. This feature also enables the facility operator to confirm if claims filed by customers for damages to their vehicles have actually taken place on the premises.

Jesús María Teiga Lueiro, General Manager of the airport parking facility, states that since installing the Quercus video surveillance system, his team has been able to corroborate that 99% of the damage claims filed during the year were fraudulent, as they had not been caused on the facility premises.

On another note, as previously mentioned, it was essential for the parking facility to have a system adapted to area weather conditions and that, although the parking garage design featured freestanding walls, it could be assured that the sensors would not be subject to corrosion, and continue working trouble-free, as opposed to the previously-installed systems, which the rain and damp caused to rust.
 

Proposed parking solution

Guidance system for an indoor parking facility: license plate recognition, vehicle detection and per-space video surveillance

A total of 200 SC Indoor parking sensors were installed in the airport parking facility. The sensors are equipped with two cameras with the capacity to recognize license plates of the vehicles parked in the parking spaces, as well as to activate a video feed of the spaces on either side of the lane or aisleway whenever movement is detected in or around them. The sensors detect whether there is space availability, and send the information to the BirdWatch parking management platform, where the data are stored.

Integrating the guidance sensors with the parking software platform is an invaluable asset for the parking facility operator, as it provides crucial information for excellent facility management. License plate recognition means real-time knowledge of the exact location of each vehicle, and being able to relate it to each customer’s actual usage patterns in the parking facility.
 

Parking guidance with indicative LED panels and LPR Area

The installation of LED matrix information panels covers another of this parking facility’s guidance requisites: saving customers time when it comes to finding an available parking spot. As everyone knows, at airports time is of the essence. Being able to save even a few minutes by going directly to an open space is yet another added value. The LED panels give drivers real-time information on where to go to find open spaces. Once the sensors detect a vacant space, they send that information to the panels, where it is shown to the parking facility customers.

This parking project was divided into two different phases: In phase one, the equipment was installed on the second level. In the next, it was rolled out to the rest of the facility. To keep from losing any information on the overall and per-level occupancy, the decision was made to install the LPR Area system. This way, all data would be recorded while the project was still being completed.

The system pinpoints the location of all the vehicles by reading their license plates at the entrances and exits to and from given areas. This way, the number of vehicles parked in that area can be tallied, and the user given reliable guidance to available parking spaces. With the information taken up by this BirdWatch feature, parking facility personnel can put together an accurate vehicle inventory and ensure that occupancy data are always up to date.
 

Big Data monitoring with the BirdWatch parking software suite

The BirdWatch parking management platform empowers parking facility management to have complete control over all the devices making up the parking solution. All of the information taken from the systems is recorded in the database. From there it can be analyzed, for the ongoing improvement of the facilities.

The reports that can be generated with BirdWatch are already being widely used by a number of operators. They make decision-making faster, and enhance vehicle flow inside the parking facility. In short, efficient management of the parking facility brings about a host of benefits, for users as well as management, maximizing return on the investment made in technology.