Urban Parking Finder

1
Urban Parking Finder
Group 23 December 6, 2001
2
Member Information

• Group 23 Members
• Salim Baksh (Team Leader)
• Akshay Arora
• Jeffrey Ghi
• Vaibhav Kumar
• Faculty Advisor
• Hong Man

3
Abstract
The Urban Parking Finder (UPF) will ease the pain
of finding parking space in urban areas. Our
approach will utilize new and emerging
technologies to design and implement this
system. We will create a full graphical
simulation of the UPF. A user of our simulator
will be able to navigate a car through city
streets and will have the option of pressing a
button to display directions to the nearest
parking meter. A shortest-path algorithm will be
used to calculate the closes space, and the user
will be directed to drive in this direction. The
entire backend system including the wireless link
and the GPS system will be simulated by the
system. At the conclusion of the project, we will
have a working proof of how this system will
work. This will allow for further funding and
actual implementation in a test city of choice.
4
Introduction

• Finding a parking spot in a very dense urban
  area (e.g. New York, Hoboken) is a major problem.
• Negatively affects the local economy by turning
  away potential visitors and their dollars.
• By using existing technologies, we can create a
  system to help a driver find a parking spot
  quickly.
• A full system like this is very capital
  intensive so is at least 5 years from
  implementation.

5
Introduction

• Current problem
• Informal poll of New York city drivers (sample
  size of 50 used) shows that they spend about 25
  minutes a day finding parking.
• Navigation systems in cars are great for finding
  directions, but cant find a parking spot.
• Smart meters are already installed and are
  used by police to determine traffic and parking
  patterns for DOT studies.
• By linking smart meters with the navigation
  system via a wireless connection, we can develop
  a system to help people find a parking spot.

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Design Requirements

• Simulate GPS, mobile vehicle and database
  communications.
• Client/Server Application.
• Client application will act as GPS and vehicle.
• Server application will act as database.

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Design Requirements

• Requirements and Restrictions

• Quick response database
• Scalable technologies
• Load balancing

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Design Requirements

• Database Structure

--------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
parking_meter

------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
ID Degree Minute Avenue Street
Distance_from_cross Free ---------------------
--------------------------------------------------
----------------------
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Design Requirements

• Shortest Path

• Dijkstras Algorithm

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System Design

• UPF Implementation

• Software Simulation
• Microsoft DirectX
• Microsoft Visual C

11
System Design

• Creating the World

• Creating the world visually.
• Creating rules for this world.
• Adding miscellaneous rules.

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System Design

• Visuals of the World

• Tiling
• Grids
• Tiles
• Vectors

13
System Design

• World Grid File

44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,4
1,43 44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,
40,41,43 44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42
,40,40,41,43 44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43,4
4,42,40,40,41,43 44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,
43,44,42,40,40,41,43 44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40
,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43 44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,4
0,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43 44,42,40,40,41,43,44,
42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43 44,42,40,40,41,43
,44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43 44,42,40,40,4
1,43,44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43 44,42,40,
40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43 44,42
,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43 4
4,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,
43 44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40
,41,43
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System Design

• Graphical Representation

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System Design

• Rules of the World

• Collision Detection.
• Roads and sidewalks
• Your car and other cars
• Physics.
• p mv (Momentum Mass Velocity)

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System Design

• Collision Detection

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System Design

• Artificial Intelligence

• How to tell the user the location of the space
• Big Arrow
• Using Trigonometry
• Using Grid
• Determining of Parking Space
• Randomization

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System Design

• Graphical Representation

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System Design

• User Interaction

• DirectXs DirectInput
• Keyboard input
• Applying actions to keystrokes

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System Design

• Keyboard Strokes

Name queryKB() Params none Action querys the
directinput and gets data from the keyboard
state Returns the Following values that are
constants in game world Notes -1
Escape 0 Nothing pressed
1 Up arrow 2 Down
3 Left 4 Right
5 Right Control 6 Up right
7 Up Left 8 down
right 9 down left 10
Up Left Rcontrol 11 Up Right
Rcontrol 12 Up RControl
13 Down Right Rcontrol 14 Down
Left Rcontrol 15 Down RControl
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Financials
Materials Microsoft SQL Server 7.0
432 Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
1020 Windows-based PC
600 Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0
940 Microsoft DirectX 8.0 API
-- Labor Project Management
5,000 Interface Programming
20,000 Database Install and Design
500 Least-Path Algorithm Design and
Programming
2,500 Software Installation 200
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Financials

• Return on Investment

Why would a city want to implement a system like
this? How much could they charge for its
use? 5/year per user Projected revenue of
500,000/year would cover maintenance
costs. What is the dollar value of saving 100,000
people 15 minutes a day? A complete answer to
these questions can be a study on its own and out
of scope for this project.
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Gantt Chart
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Gantt Chart
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Conclusion
Through proper project management and using a
systematic approach for planning, scheduling and
controlling, we will be able to make the
variables in the project converge into one
product. The most practical yet efficient option,
the software simulated implementation of the
Urban Parking Finder, was chosen based upon the
limited resources available. This can be used as
a model to facilitate marketing the Urban Parking
Finder to consumers and cities nationally, as
well as globally, to increase the interest in the
product and receive the type of funding that will
allow for the full implementation of the UPF. We
expect that the full implementation would
significantly increase revenue in the long-term
for the city, thereby paying for it self.
(continuted on next slide)
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Conclusion
The user-friendly system once installed provides
an extensive multi-level security and modular
wireless interface that combines vehicle
detection and wireless data communications and
enterprise software provides the most advanced
parking system anywhere.   UPF will provide
businesses with solutions that dramatically
improve customer service, reduce costs and
increase efficiency as well as provide an
efficient and easy method for consumers to
acquire parking. In effect, this will result in
less time spent driving, which can be stressful
in big cities and which in turn will be more
environmentally friendly. So our implementation
is one that is practical, effective, and
definitely worth it.