URBAN PARKING FINDER

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URBAN PARKING FINDER
May 2, 2002
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Group 23
Akshay Arora
Salim Baksh (Leader)
Jeffrey Ghi
Vaibhav Kumar
Advisor Dr. Hong Man
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Abstract
Finding a parking location is a major problem in
virtually any dense urban area. The Urban
Parking Finder (UPF) will attempt to come up with
an easy and inexpensive way for motorists to
quickly and easily find a parking spot for their
vehicle. The technical approach that we used for
this project is a software system to produce a
"proof of concept."
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Abstract
A user of our simulator is able to navigate a car
using the keyboard through city streets and has
the option of pressing a button to display
directions to the nearest parking meter. This
system is programmed using Microsoft Visual Basic
and the Visual Studio Integrated Development
Environment. The graphics are programmed using
the Microsoft DirectX API. Our implementation
uses MySQL as the database because of its cost
effectiveness.
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Current Problem

• Finding a parking spot in a very dense urban area
  (e.g. New York, Hoboken) is a major problem
• Navigation systems in cars are great for finding
  directions, but cant find parking spots
• Smart meters are already installed and are used
  by police to determine traffic and parking
  patterns for DOT studies
• By linking smart meters with the navigation
  system via a wireless connection, we can develop
  a system to help people find a parking spot

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Current Solutions

• "Trading Spaces A Parking Dream in a Pushy
  City," by Randy Kennedy New York Times - April
  23, 2002, New York Metro section
• "In Parking Garages, Putting an End to the Space
  Race," by Jeffrey Selingo New York Times -
  September 13, 2001, Technology section

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Parts

• Database
• Shortest-Path Algorithm
• Graphical Interface

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Database

• MySQL
• Low-Cost (free)
• Easy to configure/use
• Relatively quick

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Database
-------------------------------------------------
parking_meter
------------------------------------------------
- ID Latitude Longitude isFree
------------------------------------------------
-

• ID (integer)
• Latitude and Longitude (double)
• isFree (boolean)

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Shortest-Path

• Closest meter is found using triangulation
• Once that is found, a combination shortest-path
  and preemptive path finding algorithm is run
• Recursive algorithm
• Memory intensive process

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Shortest-Path
A-gtC(5) Current shortest, C(5) A-gtB(2)-gtC(5)
Current shortest, C(5) A-gtB(2)-gtD(4)-gtC(7)
reject A-gtB(2)-gtD(4)-gtE(5) reject A-gtD(1)-gtB(3)-gt
C(6) reject A-gtD(1)-gtC(4) Current shortest,
C(4) A-gtD(1)-gtE(2)-gtC(3) Current shortest,
C(3) A-gtD(1)-gtE(2)-gtF(4) reject Shortest path
is from A-gtD-gtE-gtC with a time weight of 3.
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Graphical Interface

• Microsoft DirectX 8.0 API
• Low-Cost (free)
• Powerful
• Direct3D and DirectDraw interfaces pre-built
  into the API

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Graphical Interface

• Four parts
• World
• Car
• User interface
• Rules of the world

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Graphical Interface

• Tile Structure
• Each tile associated with a
• 2x2 matrix makes the world

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World
44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,4
1,43 44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,
40,41,43 44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42
,40,40,41,43 44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43,4
4,42,40,40,41,43 44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,
43,44,42,40,40,41,43 44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40
,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43 44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,4
0,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43 44,42,40,40,41,43,44,
42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43 44,42,40,40,41,43
,44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43 44,42,40,40,4
1,43,44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43 44,42,40,
40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43 44,42
,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43 4
4,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,
43 44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40,41,43,44,42,40,40
,41,43
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World
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Car

• Sprite
• Complete range of motion of the car has to be
  developed

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User Interface

• DirectX DirectInput
• Applying actions to keystrokes

-1 Escape 0
Nothing pressed 1 Up arrow
2 Down 3 Left
4 Right 5 Right Control
6 Up right 7 Up Left
8 down right 9 down
left
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Rules of the world

• Collision detection
• Buildings
• Sidewalks
• Other cars
• Realistic movement of car
• Physics (pmv)

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Collision Detection
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Final Product

• No major changes from design envisioned during
  the Fall semester
• Move a car around using the keyboard
• 1700 parking meters, 5 random meters free
• When ready, pressing the f key will put
  directions on screen to the closest meter
• Done in real time

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Final Product
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Final Product
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Final Product
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Project Financials
Materials MySQL -- Windows-based
PC 600 Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0
940 Microsoft DirectX 8.0 API
-- Labor Project Management
5,000 Interface Programming
20,000 Database Install and Design
500 Shortest-Path Algorithm Design
2,500 Software Installation
200 Total 29,740
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GANTT - Fall
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GANTT - Spring
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Next Steps

• Present our idea and system to city officials
• Economic analysis
• Have partnerships with navigation system makers
  to include our software in their system

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Conclusion

• Successfully completed our project of providing a
  Proof of Concept system for the Urban Parking
  Finder