Upwardly mobile graduates help city parking
by
Emma Masters
In
an Australian first, Adelaide drivers looking for car parks in the city
may soon be able to find a space using their mobile phone.
UniSA software engineering graduates Kit Yan Lau and Mario Miljanovic have developed a mobile phone application that tells people how many spaces are available in city car parks, reducing time and the petrol wasted trying to find a spot.
Their program works like a website. People connect to the internet on their mobile phone by keying in a web address and the information displays on their phone.
Lau and Miljanovic developed the idea as part of a new course, Mobile Application Development, run by mobile specialist m.Net Corporation in conjunction with South Australia’s three universities.
“I’ve seen a lot of traffic on main roads when people are going to and from work,” Lau said.
“People driving to the city need to find a park so we thought it would be useful for drivers to get information beforehand.”
The students first simulated Adelaide City Council’s U-Park databases, creating a program that links to a database to get the latest statistics on car park services’ and then displays this information on mobile phones.
“There are 11 U-Park car parks and some have different services, such as casual or disabled parking, so we created a catalogue to separate the services,” Miljanovic said.
“Users can find out what types of spaces are available where and also get information such as opening times and parking costs.
“We are currently talking to people at Adelaide City Council and they are very enthusiastic about the possibilities.
“They get a lot of calls about parking services and availability, especially from visitors to the city, so the demand is certainly there.”
The pair, who were given an additional boost after winning a World Congress on Information Technology Mobile Application Development Award last year, are full-time software engineers but have been using their spare time to develop, test and demonstrate this new service.
The award provided them with continued support from m.Net Corporation after they finished their course.
“What stood out about their project was the way they worked with the city council to identify the opportunity and how to best address it,” m.Net sales and marketing director Paul Daly said.
“It has potential as a commercial service. If it succeeds in Adelaide, then it will do even better in busier, traffic congested cities like Sydney or Melbourne.”
Hard-working and driven, the two graduates are on the home straight to seeing their idea become a part of our daily lives.