Client challenge
The parking facility of a shopping center is being misused by motorists who are not customers of the center. Some use it as a shortcut to avoid nearby congested urban roads, while others park for extended periods without ever entering the shopping center.
This dual misuse, involving both unauthorized passage and unauthorized parking, reduces parking availability for genuine customers, negatively impacts the shopping experience, and prevents the operator from gaining reliable visibility into the actual usage of the parking facility.
The shopping center therefore needed a solution capable of distinguishing different usage patterns, limiting unwanted behaviors, and generating actionable data.
Solution delivered
Strat & IoT has designed an intelligent access control system built around three core principles: filtering unauthorized usage without complicating access for genuine customers, differentiating pricing according to parking duration and user profile, and consolidating traffic data on a single management platform.
The system identifies each vehicle at entry and exit, automatically applies free parking or charging rules based on the duration of stay, and transforms every movement into actionable data for the parking operator.
Technologies used
- GIS, APIs, IoT sensors, data plaAutomatic License Plate Recognition (LAPI/ANPR) at entry and exit points
- Automated barriers with systematic timestamping of every vehicle passage
- Dynamic pricing based on parking duration
- Automated payment terminals and remote payment through a mobile application
- Centralized supervision platform with traffic and occupancy dashboards
- Integration with the shopping center’s loyalty programtform, analytics layer
Results achieved
- Reduction in transit traffic, as motorists avoid using the parking facility as a shortcut once charges apply beyond a short grace period
- Reduction in long-duration parking unrelated to shopping center activity
- Improved parking space availability during peak shopping hours
- Actionable historical data on the number of vehicles entering, average parking duration, and the share of paid parking sessions associated with non-customers
ROI & Business Impact
- For the shopping center operator: better visibility into actual parking usage, improved parking availability for customers, and a new revenue stream
- For shopping center customers: easier access and more frequent parking availability, while maintaining free parking for normal shopping visits
- For the local community: reduced transit traffic through private roads, helping limit congestion on surrounding routes