Parking operator Denison Parking recently achieved a 50% increase in enforcement revenues and 10% decrease in labor costs by deploying Cleverciti’s CleverCompliance solution. The successful collection and utilization of parking data has become a key issue for all parking owners and operators today. Parking technology has come a long way in a short amount of time, and it has completely transformed and expanded opportunities to achieve nearly any goal stakeholders may have.

Quality data has quickly become the answer to many of the issues these organizations face, from increasing revenues and streamlining staffing, to reducing carbon emissions and enhancing the user experience. With the right solution in place, it is now possible to obtain truly real-time parking data (occupancy, utilization, payment compliance, etc.) from multiple parking locations simultaneously. This allows organizations to evaluate and make immediate improvements across their entire portfolio. Parking operator Denison Parking recently achieved a 50% increase in enforcement revenues and 10% decrease in labor costs by deploying Cleverciti’s CleverCompliance solution.

Like many operators, Denison Parking was looking for a more efficient way to enforce and manage their portfolio of parking lots and garages through technology. Since developing the first self-park garage in Indianapolis (only the fifth in the country) and growing to now operate more than 90,000 parking spaces across the country, Denison has cemented its legacy of innovation and thought leadership. 

Inspired by a rich history of forward-thinking solutions, and the specific goal of increasing compliance and enforcement revenues, Denison engaged Cleverciti to identify a parking intelligence solution to meet the unique needs of a parking lot in the heart of downtown Indianapolis. The extremely high turnover lot provides parking for city residents and visitors to numerous destinations including events, restaurants, office buildings, and more.

The location had become difficult to enforce given an extensive range of payment options available to users including parking permits, mobile payment apps, and multi-space meters. While this setup accomplished the purpose of enhancing convenience for customers, it presented challenges to enforcement staff, requiring them to manually check each payment. Further, many parkers had taken advantage of this situation, especially during very short parking periods, allowing them to arrive and depart quickly without paying. Denison knew they were not only missing out on enforcement revenues, but also accruing unnecessary labor costs through this process.

Cleverciti worked with Denison to identify the solution that would best meet their needs. The objectives for this project were to decrease labor through automation, generate data to evaluate parking utilization, improve compliance, and obtain real-time compliance levels and alerts to automate enforcement.

Cleverciti installed two overhead, optical occupancy detection sensors to cover 69 parking spaces across the project area. The solution included Cleverciti’s space detection and management service, as well as enhanced analytics software. The Cleverciti Space Management solution monitors real-time parking occupancy, enabling Denison to gather and analyze the most accurate parking data updated every few seconds, as well as view historical data to predict and evaluate parking demand and habits to support smart parking decisions.

Denison and Cleverciti also collaborated to develop the CleverCompliance solution to provide payment compliance by space. This feature takes the occupancy data obtained through Cleverciti’s solutions and compares it to payment data from the parking meters and mobile app, revealing concrete real-time compliance data. Further, the solution also sends compliance alerts directly to parking enforcement officers, allowing them to immediately identify vehicles parked illegally or that have overstayed, and ticket them rather than sift through extensive payment information to identify violators.

The results of this project have been groundbreaking and will serve as a platform for future rollouts. Denison has identified numerous improvements to the operation at the lot including:

·        50% increase in enforcement revenues

·        10% decrease in labor costs

Prior to this project, Denison was only able to view parking lot utilization based on payments. Today, they can evaluate utilization based on occupancy, significantly improving the efficiency of the lot. This project has successfully achieved all identified objectives including streamlining enforcement, capturing lost revenues, and obtaining highly accurate and real-time utilization data. Additionally, they recently installed a new Cleverciti Sign, a fully digital dynamic messaging sign to show parking occupancy to the driver before arriving. This has been beneficial advertising the available spaces, thereby increasing utilization of the hard to see spaces at the rear of the lot.

According to Denison President Perry Griffith, III, “This partnership between Denison and Cleverciti has transformed our ability to obtain and understand parking compliance data in this key asset in our portfolio. The solutions implemented have greatly improved the ability of staff to enforce the lot, allowing us to improve compliance and identify inefficiencies. We are very pleased with the results, having increased our enforcement revenues and streamlined our operations staff so they can focus on more valuable activities like lot safety, customer service, and maintenance.”

To learn more about how Cleverciti can provide your organization with the solutions to meet your unique needs visitwww.cleverciti.com or contact Andrew LaMothe, Vice President of Sales, North America.

44.6% - is the increased payment rate of motorists parking in the Nippes district of Cologne. Since Cleverciti implemented its state-of-the-art smart parking guidance system in the city of Cologne last year in collaboration with energy provider RheinEnergie, the project has received a lot of positive feedback - and now the first concrete results are in to prove the success of Smart Parking. While the original goal was to reduce parking search traffic in order to reduce CO2 emissions and at the same time increase the quality of life for residents, the statistics also show that installing a smart parking system increases willingness to pay and can therefore have a direct financial benefit for the city.

COLOGNE’S SUCCESS STORY WITH SMART PARKING

As Germany's fourth-largest city, Cologne is not only one of Cleverciti's most prominent installations, but also one of the most comprehensive intelligent parking guidance systems in the world. In order to reduce search traffic in the lively district of Nippes and thus improve the quality of life for residents and attractiveness for visitors as well as reduce climate-damaging CO2 emissions, all 800 parking spaces along the streets around Neusser Strasse are detected with Cleverciti's modern overhead sensors with regard to free and occupied parking spaces. The information is then displayed directly on-site at 27 central intersections via Cleverciti Circ® LED displays. Drivers thus receive real-time information on the location and number of available parking spaces. The concept of luck to find a parking space is a thing of the past and is replaced by data-based directional guidance. The Cleverciti Sensors do not collect any personal data in the process. The system has been active since June 1, 2020. In October 2020, the parking system was supplemented by a mobile app called "ParkPilot Cologne". This provides information on the parking situation in Cologne-Nippes before arrival, including the availability of special parking spaces such as e-charging parking spaces. At the same time, you can be navigated directly to the next available parking space or to the optimal parking space for the destination you enter. Once you arrive at the parking lot, you can pay the parking fees by selecting a mobile payment provider within the app itself

With the project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, the city of Cologne and RheinEnergie have taken a major step toward Smart City and Smart Mobility using forward-looking technologies.

Read the full case study here.

INCREASED PAYMENT RATE = REAL FINANCIAL BENEFIT

The first figures are in! And they are indisputable proof of the positive effects of a modern smart parking system:

• The payment rate in Cologne-Nippes among those who have to pay for parking (excluding drivers with residents' passes or other permits) increased from 38.6% to 44.6%

Since the deployment of the smart parking system, the payment rate has increased significantly - proving that a smart parking system can be a significant financial benefit for any city.

“This is a very positive development, especially in the period of just over a year. It shows that drivers are happy to use our service - and are willing to pay for a parking system that makes their daily lives easier.”

— Thomas Hohenacker, CEO of Cleverciti

INCREASED UTILIZATION OF EXISTING PARKING SPACES = MORE REVENUE

In cities, available space is regularly in short supply. The goal must therefore be to make the best possible use of existing resources. A parking guidance system can be used to locate the last available parking spaces. The good news is that the increase in willingness to pay for parking has been accompanied by an increase in utilization:

• Utilization of parking spaces rose from 85% to 92%.

AMORTIZATION OF INVESTMENT IN ONLY ABOUT 2 YEARS

Based on the study results, in Cologne-Nippes, 520 monetized parking spaces with a fee of EUR 2 per hour result in an increase in parking revenue of 100,000 Euro per year (approx. 200 Euro per parking space) for the city of Cologne.

It is noteworthy that for this positive increase in revenue, no new parking spaces had to be created and no price increase was necessary. The key change in the area was the introduction of the smart parking system, which, thanks to Cleverciti's sensors and displays, navigates people to the nearest available parking space and makes optimal use of the available parking spaces.

• The increased revenue means a payback period of less than 2 years for the investment in the Cleverciti smart parking system.

The cost of the system includes operation, monitoring and remote maintenance by Cleverciti.

ADDITIONAL POSITIVE EFFECTS FOR THE CITY

As mentioned before, the original goal of the cooperation between the City of Cologne, RheinEnergie and Cleverciti was to reduce parking search traffic in the Nippes district. Was it successful? It certainly was:

• Over 145 test drives on December 20 and January 21 showed an impressive 45% reduction in parking search time

This involved comparing trips with information about the location of available parking spaces with purely random directional decisions without information at three locations. The results show the benefits of information and the potential for reducing parking search traffic and thus CO2 emissions simply by providing data, without any prohibitions at all. Since nearly 30% of all car traffic in cities is due to parking search, this is a crucial step towards a greener city.

Sustainability is one of the most important issues of our time. Cities that embrace a sustainable future now will be the winners of tomorrow.

Every smart city strives to become climate neutral. With the help of the latest technologies, cities can take an important step in this direction.

Smart parking plays an essential role in the way to smart mobility and infrastructure. If at the same time there is more revenue for the city from parking fees, all the better!

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Smart parking - the essential piece to your Smart City strategy.

📥 Download the Ultimate Smart City Parking Guide here

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Smart tourism makes a smart city

Smart tourism plays a key role in the development of smart cities, as initiatives to attract tourists can cause a significant increase in people and cars in even the smallest of towns. Smart solutions, such as smart parking, can make a good destination into a great destination. 

Smart tourism in short

According to the European Capital of Smart Tourism Initiative, a smart tourism destination is:

“A destination facilitating access to tourism and hospitality products, services, spaces, and experiences through ICT-based tools. It is a healthy social and cultural environment, which can be found through a focus on the city’s social and human capital. It also implements innovative, intelligent solutions and fosters the development of entrepreneurial businesses and their interconnectedness.”

Smart tourism vs. Smart parking

Tourism causes traffic influx in popular tourist destinations resulting in rush hours with more and more people searching for parking spaces. Smart parking solutions detect parking space availability in real-time, helping to optimize on-street parking around busy areas. 

The average tourist aims to park their vehicle in the city center or as close to major tourist attractions, such as beaches or ski resorts, as possible. The resulting search traffic not only increases congestion and traffic hazards but also influences the quality of life for residents and visitors alike. Smart parking solutions help reduce search traffic by providing turn-by-turn guidance navigating drivers to the most convenient (nearest) parking space.

The average driver spends ten to twenty minutes each time they search for a parking space—a waste of time and a serious stressor with a negative environmental impact. Smart parking solutions can remedy the situation and considerably enhance the experience that smart tourism provides. 

Smart tourism in practice

Public-private partnership is essential when running a smart tourism initiative. A public-private partnership means that two or more public and private organizations make a long-term arrangement to work together. In other words, governments and businesses come together to complete a project or to provide services to the inhabitants. A great example of a public-private partnership is the project that Cleverciti did in collaboration with the tourism agency of the Lübeck Bay, where smart parking sensors were placed near the local beaches to measure occupancy and availability and guide the visitor to the nearest available spot. This project was honoured with the German Tourism Price 2020. 

Other examples of smart tourism initiatives are a public water fountain locator as part of a tourism website, or an app that offers city tours with audio to be downloaded on the visitor’s own device. The great thing about smart tourism apps: they are not dependent on seasonality. 

Want to know more about smart tourism? Read our article on the 7 future trends of smart tourism here. 

If you would like to know how to turn your city into a smart tourism destination, then book a meeting with one of our smart parking experts by clicking the button below. 

As more and more smart cities emerge all over the world, smart tourism is becoming increasingly important. The difference between the two? Smart cities focus primarily on improving the lives of their residents, whereas smart tourism initiatives are focused on pleasing visitors, whilst also enhancing the quality of life for local residents.

A key aspect of any smart destination is the integration of ICTs into physical infrastructure (Gretzel, Sigala, et al., 2015). When a tourism destination gets smarter, the tourists’ needs and demands are expected to be fulfilled more efficiently to create a better tourist experience. Smart apps and products are implemented across the user’s experience to accommodate the visitors that come to explore their city, such as virtual 3D city maps, LED-animations to illuminate iconic buildings, tourism websites with smart apps such as a water fountain locator, but also something as ‘simple’ as creating free Wi-Fi network accessible around the city. 

Time for us to take a look at some of the future trends of smart tourism:

1. Accommodate booking beforehand

The way people like to book things is changing - more and more people book accommodations but also activities before leaving their homes. If anything, what Corona has taught us is that time is precious and nothing is self-evident, therefore people want to make sure they are getting the experiences they want by planning and booking more beforehand. This also works for planning ahead on location; in the north of Germany, in Lübeck Bay, the local tourism office has implemented sensors at the entry and exit points of a few adjacent beaches that can be tracked in real-time by its guests, and again at the nearby parking lots. Let’s say, for example, that you were planning to visit Timmendorfer Strand, but the live ticker on the website shows you that the beach at Scharbeutz is actually a lot less busy today. You might want to adapt your plan and go there instead. 

2. Utilize the current BYOD-culture

Some tourist operators do this already, and the tourist operators that aren’t should consider facilitating the BYOD-culture (‘Bring Your Own Device’) by making tours accessible from a visitor’s smartphone. People are glued to their phones and tablets these days and generally like to use their own devices to explore a city. Create an app to guide visitors through the city for example, by showing them on a map where the next public restroom is. This is the type of information a tourist would benefit greatly from. 

3. Wearable technology

Wearable technology is enhancing the tourist experience in large destinations. Smart watches and tech wristbands can do anything from opening your cabin door on a cruise to downloading your boarding pass on a plane or even voice activating local directions. 

4. Explore new technologies

As is shown by the examples above, technology makes tours more accessible: Recent advancements in audio technologies like Listen Technologies’  Navilution® Wi-Fi, an automated GPS multilingual commentary system, are proving a win/win for both visitors and tour operators. Navilution also allows tour operators to collect, analyze, and share passenger information, making their job of building stronger sales and marketing solutions considerably easier and more powerful, plus enhancing the guest experience.

5. Accessibility & Inclusivity

 Accessibility of a city and its points of interests can, for example, be enhanced by smart technologies through creating maps with wheelchair-friendly routes and access points. Where accessibility has always been and will always be an important topic, inclusivity is perhaps a rather new development that is gaining importance quickly in life, and in tourism. The great thing about technology and apps is that it’s available to anyone with a smartphone; regardless of race, gender, income level, sexual orientation. A nice example of inclusive tourism are beacons placed at touristic sights that Amsterdam uses to let tourist signs translate themselves into different languages. 

6. Sustainable travel

Smart cities have the potential to be much more sustainable than non-smart cities. Same goes for tourism. People don’t want to feel guilty about going on a trip. They want to still enjoy traveling, but limit the negative effects on climate as well. A very simple example of sustainable smart tourism is: if you do a city tour with an app, no flyers, paper maps, or other receipts and tickets are required; hence, you’re saving paper. Sustainable travel is a field where smart initiatives such as a smart waste collection or smart parking can come into play. More and more cities are creating mobility hubs outside of the city center with good public transport connections to the inner city and/or rental bike stations or rental e-scooters. Additionally, smart parking sensors are currently applied already to monitor and optimize the use of e-cars. And that’s only the very beginning…

7. Open data

Where Europe is mainly utilizing smart solutions in order to show innovation and create a competitive edge compared to other destinations, Australia takes a different approach and focuses on smart governance and specifically open data. A concrete example: Tourism Australia and Virgin Airlines partnered together to understand user journeys and assist in trip planning by sharing data such as destination interests in order to provide personalized airline deals and offers. 

Want to talk to a smart parking expert to see what they could do to transform your city into a smarter tourism destination? Book a demo by clicking the button below. 

The Cleverciti team is expanding. Meet: Andrew LaMothe. 

Andrew LaMothe is the newest Clever Citizen after joining Cleverciti as Senior Director of Enterprise Sales for North America. Prior to Cleverciti Andrew led Passport’s Enterprise Sales efforts on the West Coast after navigating the acquisition of NuPark by Passport in 2018. Prior to his time at Passport (NuPark), Andrew held executive-level sales roles at PayByPhone Technologies overseeing the West Region. Andrew has also had the honor of contributing to the National Parking Associations’ “40 under 40” as their first chairperson and a Board position for SWPTA. 

His combined experiences have given him an understanding of the role parking technology plays in the lives of people it touches and the value it creates for partners that adopt it. When asked “what is the highlight of your time in the parking industry prior to Cleverciti?” Andrew replied, “The highlight of my career has been the ability to form so many relationships. I’ve been on amazing teams at great companies which have allowed me to make connections and solve problems for people all over the world. I’m grateful to begin this next chapter with Cleverciti to share the most impactful technology I’ve seen to date.”

Cleverciti is excited to welcome Andrew on board and we wish him a great start in the team!

Want to find out more about Cleverciti’s smart parking solutions? Schedule a demo with one of our smart parking experts by clicking the button below.

Cleverciti recently announced a new smart parking guidance installation coming up in El Monte, California, tailored to downtown commuters and visitors. The installation is aimed to support local businesses, reduce emissions and traffic in the suburb of Los Angeles. 

The project began in March 2021 and will be completed in July 2021. Cleverciti’s technology will be deployed at El Monte’s Main Street and MetroLink parking lots, as these are two of the busiest and most congested areas of the suburb.

Cleverciti’s turn-by-turn guidance signage covers over 400 parking spaces and is accompanied by the Cleverciti App that is available to drivers through a mobile device. The app shows in real-time where available parking spaces are in the chosen areas. 

Around El Monte’s Metrolink and Main Street lots, Cleverciti Circ® 360 LED signs, installed on existing lampposts, display live parking information in 360 degrees, leading drivers to the nearest available parking space.

Better access to the Main Street parking lot will allow residents and visitors to enjoy downtown restaurants, retail shops, and more, which in its turn will boost the local economy. Better access to the Metrolink parking lots makes the commuters’ journey into the downtown area a lot more enjoyable and easy. Cleverciti’s information on parking space availability in combination with Metrolink’s data on the capacity on the train is meant to make the choice for commuters to take the train an easy one; while reducing vehicle miles traffic, greenhouse gas emissions, and traffic congestion. 

Cleverciti is very excited to work with the city of El Monte to support local small and medium-sized businesses, while also improving the quality of life for residents and visitors. 

Read the full press release here:

Last Wednesday, on April 14th, our CEO Thomas Hohenacker & COO David Parker spoke Sofa Summits - Smart City Summit on:

"The Fastest Path to a 15-minute City. How Cologne Cut Parking Search by 45% to Minimise Congestion"

The talk, as part of the Sustainable Cities - Transportation and Mobility Track, was focused on one of the world’s most innovative and modern parking guidance systems for residents and visitors that was installed in the Cologne district of Nippes last year. The first results of the project have shown parking search time decrease by 45%.

We were joined by a long list of leading and innovative smart cities, such as the City of Rome, Hannover, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Zürich, Helsinki, Rotterdam, Göteborg, Dortmund, Winterthur, Lahti, Geneva, Dublin and Madrid, to name a few. 

During the event, several overall polls were released for all attendees to weigh in on - when asked what was the main goal for their smart city, 50% of the respondents answered with ‘sustainability’, 47.1% with ‘quality of life’ and 2.9% with ‘innovation’. 

We are happy to see major smart cities prioritizing sustainability and citizen quality of life — 2 facets we have seen improve quickly with the deployment of smart parking, like the case in Cologne.

We’d like to thank all attendees for joining and for their active participation, and for making the event successful. 

If you missed it, but would like to hear more about the installation in Cologne, please find the presentation deck or watch the live session recording below.

Read the slide deck that was used during the presentation:

Or watch the full recording:

As the US is slowly emerging from the pandemic state, traffic in American cities is picking up again and soon public parking spaces in public areas will be occupied once again. The big question on people’s minds: how can we make sure this ‘transition’ back to normalcy does not lead to more chaos than before? Tech Journalist from the UK, Arti Loftus, (pandemictechnews.com) interviewed our COO David Parker about post-pandemic parking management.

“In many cities, parking areas are a widely poorly-utilized asset whose full potential value is not well understood,” said Parker when asked about the potential value parking spaces hold. In addition to that, approximately 30% of all traffic is search traffic. Eliminate the driver’s need for circling, and you see an immediate improvement to the local environment, eliminating unnecessary emissions.

Cleverciti has come up with advanced smart city parking solutions to ensure a seamless return to normalcy for shoppers and commuters, such as the Cleverciti Circ® 360 that wraps around lampposts and provides real-time guidance to the nearest available parking space. The Circ can be connected with other Cleverciti technology, like the Cleverciti Sensor, which applies AI technology to monitor the overall occupancy status of parking spaces. 

With these smart parking applications, Cleverciti takes away the need to circle around a block over and over again until you find a parking spot, leading to a smooth, stress-free arrival experience. This does not only benefit the drivers, but also the businesses around and organizations such as parking operators, cities or civic authorities, as they maximize their return on parking assets and drivers will no longer be discouraged and eventually leave, due to driving around wastefully in search of a parking spot. 

David Parker recently spoke at The Frontier Conference, on a panel called, “Emerging Digital Economies of Cities”.

The short answer is: yes, they can be (even more sustainable than non-smart cities). The longer, more complex, answer is: Smart cities have the potential to make a significant contribution to urban sustainability, by using information and communication technology (ICT) to gather urban data and improve performance and management.

How? By applying smart solutions such as smart parking, smart lighting, smart building, air quality monitoring, refuse collection, renewable energy, water infrastructure, and energy grids. In fact, smart parking has turned out to be one of the fastest and easiest solutions to achieve sustainability in a city.

But what do we mean exactly by the term “smart solutions”? A smart solution is a general term commonly used to describe systems that combine innovative information and communication technologies (e.g. Internet of Things), and apply them in all aspects of life, such as smart devices (TVs, phones), but also smart offices, cars, or even complete cities. It is possible to apply smart solutions in such a wide range because most smart solutions are based on the use of sensors. Sensors come in all shapes and sizes and can be installed almost everywhere and in/on anything. 

A concrete example of a smart solution that helps cities control their carbon footprint and reduce their CO2 emissions is air quality monitoring. Monitoring air quality in cities helps in assessing the level of pollution in relation to the ambient air quality standards. It can provide cities insights on how to actively reduce their emissions. A solution like this can lead to 10-15% fewer greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

In order to build successful smart city solutions, three key steps are necessary (Source):

1. The technology base has to include networks of connected devices and sensors, such as smartphones connected by high-speed communication networks

2. Smart applications and data analysis capabilities are used to translate the raw data gathered from these devices and sensors into alerts, insights, and ultimately, actions

3. A wide adoption of applications and usage by cities, companies, and the public, together with the effective management of data, is needed to inspire better decisions and behavior change

In a study from June 2018 on smart cities, McKinsey Global Institute investigated how technology can deliver a better quality of life, including an analysis of smart applications that will be relevant for cities through 2025. Findings indicate that smart technologies could improve key indicators such as health, security or cost of living by 10–30% once introduced and that using the current generation of smart city applications could effectively help cities make significant or moderate progress toward meeting 70% of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Another great example of a smart solution that helps cities improve their environmental impact is smart parking. Did you know that 30% of all emissions that are caused by traffic are due to parking search traffic? Can you imagine the amount of emissions we would ‘save’ if we are able to guide drivers to the nearest parking spot, without having to circle around the block over and over again?! This is why we came up with a variety of smart parking solutions, such as a smart parking guidance system that uses overhead sensors that can be mounted onto existing lampposts, or a curb management system that helps cities manage the curb effectively. 

Smart parking is extremely important for the development of smart cities and part of the reason why smart cities tend to be more sustainable than non-smart cities. 

To us at Cleverciti, it is perfectly clear that smart cities are the future and we are eager to contribute to a better and more sustainable future by developing the best smart parking solutions for our customers around the world. Curious to see how our smart parking systems can be applied in your city? Schedule a demo below and talk to one of our smart parking experts now: 

This year’s edition of the world-renowned tourism fair ITB Berlin took place online from March 9th to March 12th. On March 10th, Cleverciti and the Tourism Association of the Lübeck Bay took the stage on Expo Stage 2 to talk about our successful project in one of Germany’s most touristic regions on the North Coast, where we tackled the high traffic increase in summer with an ingenious smart parking system that benefits both tourists and locals. The speaker panel consisted of Thomas Hohenacker, CEO and Founder at Cleverciti, David Parker, COO at Cleverciti and Paul Stellmacher, Deputy Board Member of Tourism Association “Lübecker Bucht”. 

“Successfully Managing Overtourism with an Award-Winning Parking Guidance solution”

As will be touched on later, this has turned out to be an exceptionally successful project for all parties involved. 

After short introductions, the speakers kicked off by briefly sharing the challenge at hand:

• Lübeck Bay is a top regional tourism destination, only 1 hour away from Hamburg

• It has 3 million annual visitors of which 1.5 million day visitors are drawn towards the beautiful beaches

• The area is filled with overcrowded hotspots with lead to massive congestion

• There is actually plenty of free parking space in lesser-known areas along the coast

• All of this was exacerbated by COVID as local tourism and social distancing became the number one priority. 

To solve these challenges, a traffic light system was deployed for the beaches and the surrounding parking areas, within an app called “Strandticker.de”. With Strandticker, visitors get steered to “green” areas and steered away from “red” and “yellow” areas. How? By showing a traffic light on a map of the tourism area. The data for the traffic lights come from beach occupancy sensors, installed at all entry points to the beaches, and parking occupancy sensors, installed at all parking areas along the beach. The acceptance of this app has been absolutely overwhelming! Since the launch in 2020, a staggering 400,000 unique users adopted the app with 4 million views within the app store. 

Reduce parking search

As for parking specifically, the main challenge in Lübeck Bay was to steer cars directly to the nearest and best parking space, instead of visitors driving to one of the most known parking areas, just to find there is no space anymore and then parking in illegal areas instead.

As said, this led to a simple “traffic light” system for both the beaches and the parking spots, where the visitors can see the exact occupancy status at a glance, quickly finding available parking and make better decisions on their way to the beach. The parking sensors are updated in near real-time which means that a few seconds after the car has parked, the sensor marks the spot as ‘taken’. 

Award-winning solution

This concept recently won two coveted Deutscher Tourismuspreis 2020 awards - 2nd Prize overall, and the People’s Choice Award. Reason enough for all parties involved to expand the system regionally! 

Future expansion

Next year, the system will be expanded to cover more locations within Scharbeutz and more cities throughout Lübeck Bay. In addition to that, more digital guidance will be added at key decision points to cover 100% of the driver experience in the area. And last but not least, the currently isolated data sources will be combined together to establish a predictive element: “If I leave Hamburg now, will there still be space in 1 hour?” Cleverciti is thrilled to partner with Lübeck Bay on this project and is looking forward to what is still to come.

After the audience learned a bit more about the project and its success, a few more questions came up in the Q&A section:

Why was parking guidance so important in solving the challenge at Lübeck Bay?

Though it is not often said, parking search actually is an immense cost to society, as is shown by these (rather shocking) numbers:

• 6.8 billion hours per year are wasted due to parking search, 

• 28 million metric tons CO2 is emitted per year (that’s 1.3 billion trees!) due to parking search,

• 132 billion dollars are lost per year and,

• 30% of all traffic is unnecessary*. 

*In the US, UK & Germany alone. 

Source: Innix Parking Pain Study & Donald Shoup: “The High Cost of Free Parking”

Why Cleverciti?

The next question was: why did the Tourism Association pick Cleverciti to handle their parking challenge? Cleverciti, as is illustrated by the case in Lübeck Bay, offers an accurate, real-time, per-space detection system in combination with turn-by-turn guidance to the nearest space. How? By using Cleverciti Sensors & Cleverciti Circ 360®. Each is easy to install and compatible with all public safety and privacy concerns as the sensors only transfer the GPS location of the cars. Also, both are installed on existing infrastructure, which reduces deployment costs. 

What is unique about Cleverciti’s parking guidance system?

What makes Cleverciti stand out among other suppliers, is our system combines all existing parking data, meaning, not only data from garages but also on-street and off-street parking. This is the key factor to reducing traffic & emissions. 

Where can you currently find Cleverciti’s parking guidance systems?

Cleverciti is operational in 20 countries around the world. Also in major tourism destinations: in the heart of Dubai, Banff Canada, and now also in Lübeck Bay to name a few. The sensors and digital signage have therefore proven themselves to perform equally well in all types of environments and weather conditions.

Wrapping up

After answering a few more questions from the audience, Mr. Stellmacher had one final thought he wanted to share with the audience:

“Visitor guidance systems using parking sensors; it’s very simple, they just work. It’s existing technology put together in a new way that is worth your consideration.”

Interested to learn more about the project in Lubeck Bay? Read our recently published case study going into detail on the project. 

Or watch the full ITB presentation below:

On March 16th, Cleverciti, Element Energy, Trojan Energy & British Parking Association co-hosted the webinar: “The road to electrification: how parking data can assist Local Authorities with electric transition and beyond.”

The speaker panel consisted of:

• Chris Heddle, Country Manager UK & Ireland at Cleverciti

• David Parker, COO at Cleverciti

• Sarah Clements, Senior Consultant at Element Energy

• Hugh Mackenzie, COO at Trojan Energy

• Julian O'Kelly, PhD, Head of Technology, Innovation and Research at the British Parking Association (BPA)

During the webinar, which was attended by 52 representatives of local authorities from the UK, Chris Heddle from Cleverciti took on the role of moderator and lead the conversation around the switch to electric vehicles in cities and how smart parking can help local authorities during the transition. After introducing all members of the speaker panel, Mr. O’Kelly was the first to kick off by directly addressing the topic at hand: the fact that the transport & mobility sector is not nearly as far advanced in terms of reducing carbon emissions as they should be, especially in these times of increased volumes of delivery services, such as Amazon. Electric Vehicles (EV) are, in the eyes of the BPA, a large part of the solution. That is why the BPA is working with the government to support a National Parking Platform; a publicly owned, national facility that enables Parking Operators (public or private) to communicate digitally with service providers, covering data like occupancy or payments & reservation information. Parking space, in the eyes of Mr. O’Kelly, should be approached in the future as mobility space. 

The next speaker, Ms. Clements from Element Energy, which is a consultancy that only works on low and zero-emission projects with local authorities (LA), gave an example of a project that they did to support LAs on their road to electrification: an analysis for the Birmingham city council to assess taxi demand to determine where charging points should be located. This is only one of the means of support that LAs can receive on their journey to electrification.

Mr. MacKenzie from Trojan Energy, the company that produces the Flat & Flush Connector, shared with the audience how their EV charging solution works. The connector is a charging point that is located a few centimeters from the edge of the curb and is hidden in the pavement. When a user accesses its personal lance, the charger rises and is ready for use. In addition to that, Trojan recently teamed up with Cleverciti, to tackle another challenge concerning on-street charging without EV-only bays: the blocking of parking spaces by non-EV vehicles. That is why they decided to install Cleverciti Sensors on lampposts along the street, that monitor every moment to see if a parking space is available. This data is used in an app for EV drivers, that shows them exactly which spaces are available in real-time, giving them a clear parking advantage over non-EV drivers.  

Last but not least, Mr. Heddle, on behalf of Cleverciti, shared how parking data can assist LAs with electrification and beyond. The parking pressure today is huge: 95% of the time a car is parked and 44 hours of time is wasted by people in search of a parking space. In addition to that, 1.3kg CO2 is emitted by parking search and 23.3 billion Pounds are lost due to parking search. As a result, 34% of the drivers will resort to negative behavior. Smart parking helps overcome this challenge, for example by applying Cleverciti’s sensor technology that monitors and stimulates compliance. By providing the Cleverciti App that can be integrated into payment or city apps, Cleverciti is aiming for maximum adoption by the local drivers, reducing traffic and emissions. 

It is safe to say that when you combine EV infrastructure with smart parking data, that is when the puzzle truly comes together. By combining both you can encourage correct use of space, incentivize EV drivers to vacate EV bays when fully charged, notify EV drivers of charging bays becoming available, etc.

Of course, this is not all that was talked about. Wish to find out more? The full recording of the event can be viewed below:

Wish to know more about smart parking and its role in the road to electrification? Schedule a demo with one of our smart parking experts by clicking the button below. 

Atlanta, March 5th 2021 - A smart parking system devised and implemented by Cleverciti is set to reduce parking search in Redwood City by 45%. As businesses, restaurants, and entertainment venues are set to reopen, Redwood City is expecting an increase in parking demand in its Central Business District, where drivers have had to search for parking for up to 30 minutes during peak times before the pandemic forced businesses to close.

Parking demand has dropped by 90% and now stands at 50%, illustrating just how hard Redwood City’s stores, theaters, and restaurants were hit by the pandemic. “We’re really focused on the 3 R’s: respond, restore, and reimagine,” says Jessica Manzi, Redwood City’s senior transportation manager. “As economic activity picks up in the coming months, this program is going to help support our businesses.”

By reducing parking search times, people will have more time to shop, dine or simply run their errands faster, freeing up parking spaces for the next customers more quickly. 

A network of Cleverciti Sensors will identify on-street parking, surface lots as well as parking garages. LED signs will provide turn-by-turn directions to the nearest available parking space. The smart parking system is set to launch in the summer. 

Watch the news segment from ABC7 Bay Area about the case in Redwood City below:

Silicon Valley is known for widespread early adoption of the latest and greatest technologies for businesses and consumers, but one area of the Valley has yet to undergo a tech makeover: parking. Sure, there are mobile apps for metered parking, faster routes to avoid traffic, and time travel tracking apps, but what about the basic act of searching for parking itself? In an area where the population is dense, private vehicles are popular, and fuel emissions are of great concern, the raw issue of parking can deliver positive, meaningful outcomes for communities, businesses, and the environment. 

We are thrilled to share a newly formed partnership with Redwood City’s Central Business District which will help catapult the area’s parking into the 21st century. 

What does this mean exactly? Imagine driving to the Redwood City Business District and, rather than leaving early to maneuver congestion and circle the blocks to look for parking, you pulled into town, looked up and digital signage directed you right to an available spot. No more aimless searches, wasting time, and getting frustrated. No more needless emissions from idling vehicles. 

Cleverciti’s solution will feature space guidance for seven surface lots, eleven garages, and over 4,500 parking spaces. It will integrate with the city’s mobile app, PayByPhone mobile payment provider, and IPS Multi-space pay station, ensuring a connected and seamless experience across the city’s full parking ecosystem.

“Redwood City has made it a priority to innovate and improve its transportation systems, this includes the parking infrastructure. We must think more creatively and more holistically about parking and its daily interaction with Redwood City’s patrons; it plays a critical role in the future of mobility and in supporting our local economy, ensuring easy access to many of our small businesses,” said Christian Hammack, Parking and Transportation Demand Manager, RWC. 

“We partnered with Cleverciti Systems because they developed a comprehensive solution that considers everything from improving air quality to providing drivers with an extraordinary service and data.”

We are thrilled that Redwood City is modernizing its parking and setting the bar for other cities to follow suit! 

For the full press release and visuals, you can download here:  

According to the UN, more than half of the world’s population live in urban areas, with numbers expected to rise to up to 60% by 2030. This means that urban settlements already housing millions of people in megacities such as Delhi, Tokyo, Mexico City, and Shanghai are projected to grow further.

This trend in urbanization goes together with unique challenges, such as increasing costs of living, lack of adequate and affordable housing, environmental and infrastructure issues as well as public transit and traffic networks that are not fit to cater to an increasing number of inhabitants.

Smart cities provide solutions that focus on using technology, data, and information to improve the quality of life, spanning from publicly accessible administrative services and smart housing to smart mobility solutions. In smart cities, data is used to reduce the negative side effects of living in densely populated areas, which can range from environmental pollution to stress-related illnesses.

Real-life Example: Smart Parking

With an increasing number of people living and working in cities, the number of commuters and people traveling by car, bicycle, public transport or on foot also continues to grow. Congestion in most large inner cities is already common, with people spending as long as 20 minutes or more looking for available parking spaces. This not only adds to already congested urban areas, but it also increases emissions and environmental pollution. Smart parking solutions such as modern AI-overhead sensors mounted on lampposts and walls can provide real-time data on free parking, allowing drivers to navigate to the nearest parking space quickly and efficiently.

In cities where the center is chronically congested, alternative parking spaces outside the inner city area can relieve the parking situation. Real-time data on available parking spaces can make it more appealing for drivers to park their cars there and use alternative means of transport to travel the last few miles towards their destination.

Smarter Cities for a Smarter Future

Other areas where smart cities can help improve the overall quality of life include smart housing, smart administration, and smart infrastructure. With environmental pollution already being an issue cities are aiming to tackle, smart infrastructures can make cities eco-friendly by creating sustainable structures for supplying electricity, gas, and hot water.

Curious to see how Cleverciti’s smart parking solutions contribute to smart cities worldwide? Then click below and schedule a demo with one of our smart parking experts.

In Lübeck Bay, a popular tourist region on the northern coast of Germany, Cleverciti has helped to effectively steer the visitor traffic flow by implementing Cleverciti Sensors and the Cleverciti Cockpit to monitor and generate real-time data for over 100 parking spaces along the coastline. 

Scharbeutz

The customer

With approximately 1.5 million overnight stays and 1.5 million day visitors per year, Lübeck Bay is one of the most popular tourist regions in Germany and one of the top destinations in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Due to its close proximity to the city of Hamburg, it is a beloved trip for people that want to escape city life and enjoy some quality time at the beaches of Scharbeutz and Timmendorf. The Tourismus-Agentur Lübecker Bucht is responsible for the promotion and sustainable development of tourism along the entire stretch of the coast. The agency is made up of representatives of three adjacent municipalities – Scharbeutz, Neustadt, and Sierksdorf – to enable a coordinated smart tourism approach.

The case

Lübeck Bay welcomes a high volume of guests especially in the summer, resulting in traffic congestion as tourists search for available parking spaces. One of the main challenges of the area is the lack of information regarding the occupancy status of the various parking lots near the seaside. The local tourism agency wishes to manage the visitor flow alongside the coast more efficiently. To be able to do that, Cleverciti was selected to implement smart parking systems to monitor the real-time occupancy status of two parking lots near a popular beach.

The Cleverciti solution

Cleverciti monitors approximately 100 parking spaces divided over two parking lots via 9 overhead Cleverciti Sensors, which were easily installed to the existing lamp posts. The occupancy data generated by the smart parking sensors are made available to the tourism agency via the Cleverciti Cockpit, a comprehensive parking management dashboard. 

Cleverciti Sensor in use in Lübeck Bay

“Cleverciti has implemented the project in an excellent way. They have fully responded to our wishes and needs and have delivered high quality. We are looking forward to the next steps,” says Paul Stellmacher, Deputy Chairman of the Tourismus-Agentur Lübecker Bucht.

The result

The Cleverciti parking system was installed and deployed quickly and easily. The operation of the sensors is now running without any administrative or operational effort by the tourism agency. The live parking data is integrated into various websites, reducing parking search time for tourists and improving the quality of life for local inhabitants. 

In addition to that, the Tourismus-Agentur Lübecker Bucht has been awarded the German Tourism Award 2020 for its concept to better direct visitor streams. The agency was one of five nominees out of 158 applicants. Due to its ongoing success, the Cleverciti system will be rolled out to other parking lots in Lübeck Bay.

Download the full case study below.

On November 19th, 2020, Cleverciti & Itron came together during their latest webinar that was focused on the implementation of smart lampposts in smart city projects around the world. This virtual event, joined by a record number of attendees representing more than 12 countries, was moderated by Cleverciti’s very own Joe Survance, who leads the US organization. The speaker panel consisted of:

• Itai Dadon, Global Head of Smart Cities at Itron

• Thomas Hohenacker, CEO & Founder at Cleverciti

• David Parker, COO at Cleverciti

Joe Survance

Thomas Hohenacker

David Parker

Itai Dadon

Itron, an important Cleverciti partner, for the implementation of smart city projects around the world, is a global leader in the management of energy, water, and other utilities in cities. Mr. Dadon, Global Head of Smart Cities at Itron, started off by stressing how important smart cities really are for us. “They are entirely created for us, for the citizens that the cities serve. Cities are under tremendous pressure these days, and COVID is adding to that,” Mr. Dadon shared. Smart cities help to make the lives of their residents better. The challenges that cities face are global. There are 3 categories of challenges cities face:

• Environmental (lower emissions)

• Social (improve quality of life)

• Economic (increase compliance and revenue)

It is of great importance to both Itron & Cleverciti to contribute with their technologies to directly help solve these challenges. 

Next, Mr. Hohenacker brings the topic to lampposts and explains the vital role they play in smart city projects. “First of all, they are everywhere. There are over 30 million streetlights in the US alone. And they are of extraordinary importance as they ‘overlook’ very important assets.” 

Cleverciti was able to solve parking search in cities by utilizing lampposts in 2 steps:

1. Building an accurate data layer of the whole city to be able to say which spots are available and which are occupied (by using Cleverciti Sensors)

2. Creating guidance technology to bring you to the nearest available spot (by using Cleverciti Sign, Cleverciti Circ)

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: parking search is extremely costly to society. 30% of all traffic is search traffic. It is no surprise that cities these days are eager to solve this problem and lower the ‘cost’. Lampposts play a key role in solving parking issues in cities. 

Cleverciti moves on by sharing three real-life examples of implementation projects in which streetlights were key in the solution to smart parking:

• City of San Antonio (in close collaboration with Itron)

• City of Bad Hersfeld

• City of Cologne

Curious about these real-life examples and their smart parking solutions? 

Watch the full recording of the event here: 

The presentation that was shared during the event can be found here:

An overview recently presented by leading institutions in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) of all relevant tech start-ups whose solutions use artificial intelligence (AI) includes numerous pioneers in the field as well as the German leading smart parking startup Cleverciti.

Earlier this year, appliedAI (Germany), Ignite Sweden, AI Sweden and RISE Research Institutes of Sweden decided to come together to initiate a mapping of the current AI startup ecosystem in Europe. On November 17, 2020, during the virtual Sweden Innovation Days event the first version of the landscape was presented which includes over 500 deep tech startups from France, Germany, and Sweden, among which Cleverciti, as part of the subcategory of “Transport & Mobility”. Cleverciti applies AI extensively in its smart parking and smart mobility solutions.

The aim of the mapping is to shine a light on the top AI startups in Europe in order to drive AI adoption and create more partnership opportunities between startups and corporations. It was felt that once a centralized database of quality AI startups existed, corporations and SMEs would have easier access to AI partners they can trust.

The initiators of the mapping see great value in collaborations with AI startups in particular, simply because, while almost all companies require a broad selection of AI solutions, startups tend to focus on one specific niche, which can be the exact niche that the corporations are looking for. Secondly, AI systems increase in performance with more data and applications. Therefore, in non-competitive use cases, a technology from a startup that supplies many companies tends to perform better than a stand-alone solution for one specific application in one company. With AI being one of the most rapidly changing development fields, partnering up with startups allows companies to focus on value creation.

The first version of the European AI Startups landscape is subdivided into the following subcategories:

• Cross-industry startups

• Information technology & services

• Health and pharma

• Retail & commerce

• Enterprise software

• Transport & mobility

• Manufacturing

• Consulting

• Finance & insurance

• Agriculture, forestry & fishing

• Administrative & support services

• Energy

• Autonomous systems

• Language & communication

• Media & publishing

• Arts, entertainment & recreation

• Logistics

• Legal

• Public administration, defense, aerospace & social security

• Fashion

• Water, waste & environment

• Construction

• Education

• Real estate activities

• Mining & quarrying

Other German deep tech startups that are included in the “Transport & Mobility” subcategory are:

• Konux, the leading German AI/IoT startup providing smart sensor systems and AI-based analytics to deliver actionable insights and enable predictive maintenance,

• Lilium, a Munich-based startup working towards developing an all-electric jet with VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) capabilities,

• German Autolabs, a pioneer in automotive voice AI. 

Click below to see the full landscape. 

During these difficult times when public health is of the highest priority and traveling is difficult or impossible, most of us have come to realize just how much we appreciate visiting new destinations. It’s become such a big part of our lives, and now, during the Covid-19 pandemic, it turns out to be one of the things we miss most. 

Typically, tourism is one of the major components of economic growth for communities worldwide, but the pandemic has hit the tourism industry hard. The industry has been forced to find new ways to come back from this setback stronger. Right now, more than ever, it is important for the tourism sector to think differently and embrace innovation in preparation for the inevitable influx of visitors. 

Innovations and initiatives are on the rise in the area of ‘smart tourism’. But what is smart tourism exactly? According to the European Capital of Smart Tourism Initiative, a smart tourism destination is:

“A destination facilitating access to tourism and hospitality products, services, spaces, and experiences through ICT-based tools. It is a healthy social and cultural environment, which can be found through a focus on the city’s social and human capital. It also implements innovative, intelligent solutions and fosters the development of entrepreneurial businesses and their interconnectedness.”

Founded in 2019, the European Capital of Smart Tourism is an initiative that aims to raise awareness about smart tourism tools, measures, and projects implemented in cities across four categories: sustainability, accessibility, digitalization, and cultural heritage and creativity. In 2019 and 2020 two European cities were named European Capital of Smart Tourism and four cities have been awarded a prize in one of the four above-mentioned categories. 

Smart tourism plays a vital role in the development of smart cities, as initiatives to attract tourists can cause a significant increase in people and cars in even the smallest of towns. This, in turn, greatly affects the traffic in the location in question, with more and more people searching for parking spaces. The average tourist aims to park their vehicle in the city center or as close to major tourist attractions, such as beaches or ski resorts, as possible. The resulting search traffic not only increases congestion and traffic hazards but also influences the quality of life of residents and visitors alike. Smart parking solutions can remedy the situation and considerably enhance the experience that smart tourism provides. 

There are 9 cities in Europe that have already been praised by the European Capital of Smart Tourism Initiative for their smart approach to tourism. When the time comes, and we are able to travel again, perhaps visiting one of these 9 European smart tourism destinations should be high on your list:

1. Gothenburg, named European Capital of Smart Tourism 2020 and winner of the European Capital of Smart Tourism Award 2020 in the category of Sustainability.

Gothenburg, according to the European Capital of Smart Tourism Initiative, has implemented far-reaching measures, to ensure future generations can continue to enjoy the city. The recently released Smart Map encourages citizen engagement by gathering all the places you can rent, exchange, borrow, share, give and get in Gothenburg. Min Stad is a 3D city model that can be used by developers, architects and planners to host public consultations, anticipate the impact of future development and make better-informed decisions. Gothenburg bases 60% of its district heating on waste/recycled heat. In Gothenburg, 90% of all buildings are heated using district heating, while the corresponding figure for the EU is 12%. The city was a pioneer in issuing green bonds and was one of the first places to set consumption-based emission targets. 92% of the city’s hotels and 100% of meeting facilities are now environmentally certified and events that take place in the city benefit from the “Event Impact Calculator”, a tool that has come as a result of local tech and science partnerships that forecasts potential environmental impacts and supports organizers to value events from an economic, social and environmental point of view. It is because of these initiatives that, for the past three years, Gothenburg has been named the world’s most sustainable destination, by the Global Destination Sustainability Index.

For more details, visit www.goteborgco.se/en/ and www.goteborg.com. 

2. Málaga, named European Capital of Smart Tourism 2020 and winner of the European Capital of Smart Tourism Award 2019 in the category of Accessibility. 

Málaga has been awarded by the European Capital of Smart Tourism Initiative, because - in their own words - “Málaga has been incorporating the concepts of sustainability, innovation, and culture into their strategic plans for many years. There is a constant exchange between visitors and the government’s tourism services so that Málaga can do more to meet the needs of visitors. In terms of sustainability, Málaga works in all spheres – it has installed public LED lighting, offers over 20 bike hire stations, and created bike lanes that now add up to over 40km. The city has installed smart watering systems for parks and gardens in order to save water and has introduced an Air Quality Sectoral Plan to reduce air pollution, monitor pollen levels, and improve noise quality. Málaga has also upgraded street cleaning equipment and has worked on better waste separation in the city center.” The city has a fully-adapted bus network, vast pedestrian spaces including the refurbished Alameda Principal, plus 50% of Málaga taxis have been upgraded. Digitalization forms an essential part of the tourism experience in Málaga too and the city has a high-profile digital sector. This includes the Polo Digital at the Tabacalera and the Andalusian Technological Park (PTA). Over the last 15 years, the city has transformed into the “City of Museums” with well over 30 museums to visit. 

For more details, visit: www.malagaturismo.com/es/site/smarttourism

3. Breda, winner of the European Capital of Smart Tourism Award 2020 in the category of Accessibility. 

Examples of initiatives from Breda include the use of technology and ICT to improve the visiting experience in Breda and to measure those results. For example, animations are used to illuminate iconic buildings in the city, such as the Spanjaardsgat and the castle of Breda. In addition, sustainable LED lighting puts locations such as the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk and Willemstraat, the smartest street in Breda, in the spotlight. Various further developments are also planned for 2020. For example, Breda will focus on smart experience, maximum accessibility, and hospitality during the Vuelta a Holanda. There will be a special stand for people with a disability and route maps in Braille for the blind. The Vuelta will be the living lab for testing new digital technologies of flow, crowd management, and digital experiences.

4. Ljubljana, winner of the European Capital of Smart Tourism Award 2020 in the category of Digitalisation ánd winner of the European Capital of Smart Tourism Award 2019 in the category of Sustainability. 

According to the European Capital of Smart Tourism Initiative, Ljubljana’s proactive approach to sustainability has meant it has been able to exceed its own tourism quota for the period of 2014 – 2020. Over 90% of local residents agree that developing tourism leads to development for the city. As one of Europe’s green capitals, 20% of the city consists of protected natural areas, and new initiatives are helping to turn degraded areas into even more public space. There has also been a push to get more local produce into hotels and restaurants, supporting the environment while promoting Slovenian food, wine, and beer. The jury was particularly impressed by Ljubljana's various smart solutions including the official tourism website with its rich content and a series of apps - especially the Tap water app for locating water fountains all around the city.

5. Karlsruhe, winner of the European Capital of Smart Tourism Award 2020 in the category of Cultural Heritage & Creativity.

Home to Germany’s oldest technical university and Europe’s largest IT cluster, Karlsruhe has long been a digital hub and innovation hotspot. Karlsruhe is working on the consolidation and digitalization of all offers in a unique “digital@KA” app to simplify visitors’ experiences with cultural programs, local transport, and citizen services. From the Karlsruhe NaturRADtour, which invites visitors to explore Germany’s most bicycle-friendly city, to the “Kombilösung” project to improve accessibility, the City of Karlsruhe has implemented several projects and innovative mobility technologies to cultivate an accessible and sustainably managed city for locals and travelers alike. 

6. Helsinki, named European Capital of Smart Tourism in 2019.

The city’s smart public transport system enjoyed a rise in user satisfaction over the last two years and Helsinki isn’t standing still. An ‘Uber boat’ system is under consideration and driverless buses are being trialed on open streets. Helsinki ranked second at the Accessible City Awards in 2015. And, if you do need any extra help, multilingual ‘Helsinki Helpers’ are stationed at main attractions to offer assistance.

Visitors will see first-hand some of the 143 measures in place to help Helsinki become carbon neutral by 2035. The Helsinki Road Map prevents overcrowding and supports local business as it guides tourists around the city, while 75% of hotel rooms are certified environmentally friendly. Helsinki is also increasing the share of cycling, walking, and electric cars and trains.

Powered by its open approach to public data – available free for all since 2009 – Helsinki has become a hotbed of software innovation. One of the major successes is the MyHelsinki.fi website, an ad-free service platform featuring recommendations from the people who know the city best – the locals. Read more about it here: Helsinki’s Preliminary Programme of Activities as 2019 European Capital of Smart Tourism.

For more details, visit myhelsinki.fi.

7. Lyon, named European Capital of Smart Tourism in 2019. 

Lyon has won several accolades for accessibility — including the 2018 Access City Award — having put its plan at the center of urban life. Visitors with disabilities and reduced mobility can move around the city with complete autonomy, taking advantage of a completely adapted transport network and smart signage. Lyon’s museums offer adapted tours — those with hearing impairments are allowed to touch works of art — and many restaurants provide speaking menus.

This year, 40,000 visitors to the city experienced the benefits of the Lyon City Card, which provides users with free public transport, entrance to 23 museums and other attractions, discounts, and more. In the future, visitors will be able to take advantage of the ONLYLYON Experience, receiving live geo-located tourist information direct to their smartphones to reduce congestion.

Read here: Lyon’s Preliminary Programme of Activities as 2019 European Capital of Smart Tourism

For more details, visit ONLYLYON.com.

8. Copenhagen, winner of the European Capital of Smart Tourism Award 2019 in the category of Digitalisation. 

The European Capital of Smart Tourism Initiative chose Copenhagen because of the following reasons: On arrival in the city, the innovative Copenhagen Visitor Service is the first point of call, where tourists can grasp everything the city has to offer, through moving posters, robotics, or even by putting on a pair of VR goggles and experiencing the city’s best attractions through the eyes of a couple, locals, a family or seniors. Once tourists leave the visitor service they can make use of the city’s app, which guides users between attractions. Within the app, a tracking module that asks users for consent before activation gathers data so that the authorities can better understand movement patterns both around the city and at attractions on the outskirts. The data that is collected is helping to continually improve services.

9. Linz, winner of the European Capital of Smart Tourism Award 2019 in the category of Cultural Heritage & Creativity. 

Among other reasons, Linz was selected by the Initiative, because it boasts 43 galleries and exhibition rooms and 13 cultural centers, the most prestigious of which are located on the Kulturmeile (culture mile), a popular route for tourists that traces the bending Donau river. Whilst these spaces boast world-class collections, art in Linz isn’t just confined to galleries. Innovative formats such as Höhenrausch (loosely translated as “high jinks”), an art exhibition on the rooftops, are typical of the city’s creative approach. In addition to the art on display, Höhenrausch visitors will also be able to glimpse signs of Linz’s impressive industrial heritage, in the form of the factory chimneys that pierce the city’s skyline. Linzers are conscious of incorporating this aspect of history into the city’s cultural repertoire: the Voestalpine Stahlwelt museum pays homage to the steel industry that has been the backbone of Linz’s economy for almost a century; the Tabakfabrik is now a hub for the creative industry and the Mural Harbour is an industrial port turned blank canvas for graffiti artists from around the world.

These are the 9 European smart destinations to watch and learn from as smart tourism will become increasingly important over the next few years. Will your city be next?

Curious to see a real-life example of a smart tourism destination solving parking search and visitor congestion?

In Kerken, the Cleverciti PowerRing, with night-time charging, provides an independent solution that supplies 24/7 power to the most modern smart city sensors from Cleverciti. Thanks to this technology, the smart parking system was implemented in a short amount of time and with minimal infrastructure costs.

The customer

The Nieukerk P+R in Kerken is a typical P+R parking lot that belongs to the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr. The community of Kerken is located on the train line from Kleve to the state’s capital, Düsseldorf. Kerken has about 12,000 inhabitants and numerous commuters who use the NordWestBahn to Düsseldorf, Krefeld, and the surrounding towns. As in many other cities, the local lampposts are only supplied with electricity during the night

The case 

The municipality of Kerken wanted to provide commuters and train passengers taking a car to the train station with accurate information about the availability of parking spaces before they arrived. If all parking spaces are taken, commuters can head directly to an alternative P+R parking space, thus avoiding a waste of time, stress, traffic, and unnecessary emissions. 

Decision-makers wanted: 

• Quick installation with minimal cost 

• Supply current lampposts with continual power 

• The following should be avoided: 

  • Construction work

  • Interference with the lighting system

  • Obtaining permits

The Cleverciti solution

Six of the eight lampposts did not have 24/7 electricity, which would normally prevent the installation of IoT sensors. With Cleverciti's battery solution, called the PowerRing, specially designed for nighttime charging and sensor integration, the sensors could run without changing the lamppost power supply.

Read more about the Cleverciti PowerRing here. 

The result

Thanks to this technology, the smart parking system could be implemented in a short amount of time and with minimal infrastructure costs. Without Cleverciti‘s battery-powered solution, the plans for a smart parking service would have come to a standstill in Kerken and would likely still not have been put into action.

“After not having been able to find a short-term solution for the electricity issue at the P+R facility, we were glad that Cleverciti offered a suitable battery-powered solution with night-time charging that allows for a permanent power supply of the sensors. This enabled us to implement the project on short notice and at lower costs compared to alternative solutions. The batteries have been running perfectly since the start.“ - says Detlev Grimm, Project Manager in the Department of Construction/Planning/Technology of Kerken municipality. 

In smart cities, the use of technology, information, and data is promoted to enhance and improve the overall infrastructure, quality of life, and publicly accessible services. Negative side effects of living in densely populated urban areas (e.g. environmental pollution and stress-related illnesses) are to be minimized. Typical features of smart cities include 4 main points:

Smart administration and society

Government services in smart cities are made more accessible to people by making them available online. Processes such as registering a business or filing a complaint are simplified by digital offerings while also adhering to data security and protection regulations.

Online service can help improve accountability and transparency while also allowing citizens to take an active part in local governing processes.

Smart housing

Housing in smart cities should be affordable while also ensuring safety and security for its residents. Open and green spaces, public services, community areas, jobs as well as social facilities raise the housing standard in a smart city and enhance the quality of life in any given neighborhood. Poorly planned areas are redeveloped to improve the housing situation there.

Smart mobility

A central aspect of a smart city is its public transit network. Access to public transportation has increased in tomorrow’s cities. To further reduce emissions, smart cities are aimed towards being more pedestrian and cyclist-friendly.

Creative solutions such as smart parking can further help to reduce emissions and environmental pollution, while also decreasing complexity for drivers in a complicated urban environment. Smart parking data reduces traffic hazards and accidents as drivers are not distracted while desperately looking for a parking space.

It also enables drivers to choose the best options to arrive at their desired destination quickly and efficiently.

Smart parking solutions can thus decrease parking search traffic, as drivers know which streets are fully occupied, and they can avoid circling around. In addition, drivers can make intelligent decisions based on precise parking data and choose to park in the nearest garage for example, or take a scooter if on-street parking in the inner city is not available.

Furthermore, smart cities aim to create walkable neighborhoods, where congestion, air pollution, and resource depletion are reduced to promote interactions and boost the local economy. Road networks are improved to not only provide space for vehicles and public transport but also to accommodate cyclists and pedestrians.

Modern surface parking hubs slightly outside the inner city ring should also provide real-time occupancy data for parking, making it appealing for drivers to park their vehicles there and take alternative means of transport – such as e-vehicles or a bus – for the last miles to reduce emissions in the city center.

Smart infrastructure

The infrastructure in smart cities should be geared towards being sustainable and eco-friendly. In addition, many smart cities aim for climate neutrality. Structures for supplying electricity, gas, and hot water, as well as those for the disposal of refuse, need to be transformed to move towards more sustainable infrastructure.

This can be done by reducing the amount of waste generated and more effective recycling of refuse among other things. In addition, the use of natural resources can be reduced by establishing renewable energies.

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