The potential:
Conversion to Euro currency means retooling parking meters throughout Europe. But "virtual metering" - fruit of ubiquitous cell phones, IVR, and the web - may prove to be a viable (and profitable) alternative.
The pieces:
VoiceBit's (Oulonsalo, Finland - +358-0-8-537-9900, www.voicebit.com) NextPark system, including:
l Voice unit using Aculab (Milton Keynes, UK - +44 -0-1908 273 800, www.aculab.com) Prosody cards
l WAP phone and WAP server
l Standard web server
The plot:
This one's still in pilot - in Oulu (pop. 120,000), the high-tech capital of Northern Finland, where GSM Nokia cell phones are a birthright. No paying customers, yet. But the theme relates to this issue's feature on Notification Technology. It's a great app: one I'd love to see imported Stateside.
Called NextPark, the service has been installed by VoiceBit, a telecom application developer. VoiceBit is 90% owned by the Oulu Telephone Company, which hosts the system. Here's how it works. My parking "meter" is about to run out. My cell phone beeps with a message to remind me. Even better: It lets me "insert" some more "change" from wherever I am at the moment. No need to watch the clock. No need to run out in the rain to shove change in the meter.
To use NextPark, users register on the web or at a service center, and get a sticker for their vehicle. Thereafter, whenever they park in Oulu's city center, they make a GSM phone call to a voice server. The IVR, powered by Aculab Prosody cards, prompts for all entries and confirms all choices in concatenated speech. One E1 (30 ports) serves the system for now.
The caller is identified by their mobile phone number or PIN. They input the zone in which they're parking (Oulu's city center is divided into three concentric zones around the urban core) estimate the length of time they'll need to park, and authorize payment. In the current test, payment is debited from a prepaid account charged and recharged via NextPark's website - but in principle, other modes of payment are possible (direct invoice, credit-card billing, charges appear on phone bill, etc.).
Fifteen minutes before time expires, the server sends an SMS message or places a voice call to the customer's cell phone. The customer can choose to extend the parking time if necessary, authorizing additional payment. SMS can be used as an instant back channel to complete this transaction. If your phone is voice-only, you call the IVR again to extend time.
To check if a participant's car has overstayed the paid time, an Oulu "traffic warden" calls the system on her WAP phone, enters her approximate location, and sees a list of cars parked in that area: license-plate number, owner's name, and any time left on the "meter." (VoiceBit will soon implement a feature that lets the traffic warden search by individual plate numbers.) If the clock has run out on a participant, the warden writes out a ticket the old-fashioned way. The system requires no physical meters at all, eliminating the need to service meters and collect change. Because meter-less parking can be "freeform," the system may also allow more cars to effectively and conveniently park in a given area, thus increasing municipal revenue.
On a website that looks familiar to E-ZPass-packing Americans, Finns can browse to check up on their parking history for expense reporting (and other, more interesting) purposes. Unlike E-ZPass, however, VoiceBit's parking system calls for no onsite scanning equipment, no special end-user devices, and throws no one out of work (except for those who service parking meters).
Juho Toivonen, VoiceBit's marketing director, says NextPark's best short-term potential is in Europe, where full cutover to the Euro currency next year will call for fixes to a continent full of meters and vending machines. Longer-term, he hopes to see municipalities take this on as an alternative to replacing outdated meters, and as an added convenience to its citizens. VoiceBit may also sell its platform to wireless carriers, who may operate the system as a paid service to hi-tech municipalities.
