About the Challenge
The Parking Innovation Challenge was launched in May 2020. Transport for NSW (TfNSW) challenged innovators to improve the customer experience related to parking with two challenge statements:
Can you create a safe, frictionless digital solution for drivers to better understand parking information at their desired location and when planning a trip?
Can you effectively ‘map’ or create a digital representation of on street parking and traffic rules that can be published as Open Data?
TfNSW ran this Innovation Challenge to promote the development of innovative digital solutions for parking sign confusion whilst maintaining driver and pedestrian safety and compliance with regulation, without having to alter the physical infrastructure on the street. TfNSW made some on-street parking data available for this challenge, including for the Waverley Council Local Government Area which can be found here.
Two solutions from UbiPark and Spot Parking were chosen to progress through the incubation phase and into trials.
The free UbiPark app enables drivers to search for parking in their current location or at a chosen destination, navigate to the car park, and view pricing information from within the app.
UbiPark provides turn-by-turn directions to your selected car park, with the ability to avoid traffic congestion thanks to the built-in live traffic data feed.
Looking at a sign with multiple zones and timings? Use the handy camera scanning feature to decipher confusing parking signs.
Simply hold your camera up to the sign and UbiPark will let you know whether you can park in that location, how long you can park for, and how much it will cost you.
This new feature is available for users in the Chatswood CBD within the Willoughby LGA.
Read our interview with Mosstyn Howell, CEO of UbiPark, on the Open Data Blog.
Spot Parking takes complex real-world kerbside information such as road rules and parking restrictions and creates structured data sets and digital tools that can be used for a variety of smart cities applications and innovations such as parking apps.
For the Parking Innovation Challenge, Spot mapped the kerbside in the Manly Ward of the Northern Beaches LGA in Sydney and created a comprehensive data set that was shared as open data for the duration of the 12 month trial. During this time the public including local authorities, developers and residents could use the data for research, developing digital products and even to find a park when planning a trip to Manly. If you’re a developer and want to access the Spot Parking data set including their APIs please visit the Spot Parking APIs page. |  |
Read our interview with Spot Parking CEO Elizabeth Zealand on the Open Data Blog. For non-technical users you can see a visualisation of the data using the Northern Beaches Council Parking Finder website.
Proof of Concept: Park Here Mate
A special mention goes to ParkHereMate developed by Gaia Resources. The mobile app concept developed through the Parking Innovation Challenge provided timely audio and visual notifications, with guidance based on the users GPS location and proximity to the closest parking zone in the direction of travel. The concept includes a trip planning option to specify desired destination and time of arrival, and provide the relevant parking guidance. This proof of concept will not be available for public use. ParkHereMate is a great example of an innovative use of on street parking data available via the Transport for NSW Open Data Hub. Read our interview with the CEO of Gaia Resources, Piers Higgs, on the Open Data Blog.
Challenge Dates
Registrations for Information Session opened on Wednesday 13th May 2020 at 12pm AEST
Information Session was held on Wednesday 20th May 2020 at 2pm AEST
Applications Closed on Wednesday 3 June 2020 at 11:59pm
Pitch Day Event was held on Wednesday 17 June 2020
Resources
Information Session Presentation - Parking Innovation Challenge PDF, 20 May 2020
Information Session Q&A - the FAQs & Criteria have also been published
Data for this challenge - Waverley Council Data
Data from this challenge - Spot Parking Data
Full recording of the information session
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