Effective car traffic management using different technologies

Abstract

Traffic jams have become a daily encounter by drivers both in Malta as well as other countries due to lack of parking spaces, drivers uninformed of obstacles, and so on, leading to various social, health and productivity issues, thus making it increasingly important for this problem to be tackled. Due to the constant rise in the population density, the roads have become overpopulated with vehicles, whilst on the other hand parking spaces have been reduced in many places – resulting in cars spending significantly more time on the roads than necessary while their drivers look for somewhere to park. The solution proposed is developed with a view to changing this, facilitating the finding of parking spaces in a quicker and more efficient manner, thus reducing time spent on the roads. It is built on the widely-used android platform running entirely on Raspberry Pi, making use of a simple webcam, processing real time video capture, effectively detecting whether a parking space is vacant or not, thus making the complete setup feasible, portable and cost-effective. Given that the parking detection data is stored on an online database and displayed on the developed mobile application in real time, an internet connection is required. Care was taken to develop the application with a user friendly UI, showing a map with parking information, whilst also offering the capability to report obstacles that are encountered on the roads during users’ everyday journeys. After carrying out several tests, the solution was found to successfully detect an empty parking space and present the data live with very little delay (typically less than 10 seconds). This enabled the user to make their way directly to the said parking spot, thus spending significantly less time on the road, and showing that the solution is indeed effective.