Nedap provides real-time parking information in Ostend

For the Belgian coastal city of Ostend, accommodating the growing demand for on-street parking in the compact city center proved a challenge. However, with the introduction of a new retail parking concept, Shop & Go, using Nedap's SENSIT on-street parking sensors and Nedap's certified business partner FLOW's FLOWpark software, the city responded to the demand of many retailers and visitors for sufficient available parking spaces in front of the stores.

The Shop &Go concept allows customers who need to run a quick errand or suppliers delivering packages to use the short-stay parking spots in front of the shops for 15 minutes free of charge. The Nedap's SENSIT on-street parking sensors can detect in real-time whether or not a Shop & Go bay is occupied and for how long it has been occupied.

Whenever SENSIT detects a vehicle in overstay, FLOW's FLOWpark software, automatically notifies a parking enforcer. The message includes the exact location and duration of the parking space in overstay, allowing a targeted action. Parking enforcers are able to work more efficiently and the risk for motorists to receive a parking ticket increases. Given this fact, it is very likely that motorist will adhere the 15 minute parking maximum.

Not just retailers are benefiting from new parking concepts. The demand for short-stay parking applications at for instance airports, city centers and train stations is increasing rapidly. Due to their high rotation level, regular short-stay parking bays are hard to monitor and enforce. With this system, monitoring and enforcing these short-stay parking bays becomes more efficient, leading to a better availability of parking spaces for motorists.