While Dubrovnik is often said to be unique and very special, it doesn't happen often that it can be said that it's the first and the best at something in the world.
However, the first and the biggest project of smart parking in the world has been being implemented in Dubrovnik over the last several months. Based on the newest generation of sensor networks and other necessary technologies, it covers most parking spots in Dubrovnik, Leona Rašica writes for dulist.hr.
Tomislav Tabak, the director of the Sanitat, Dubrovnik's utility services company, explains that the smart parking project has managed to include everything: the physical parking spots around the town, the application which will be used by the citizens of Dubrovnik and tourists to find the closest available parking spot, and the ease of purchasing parking tickets more.
The project is currently in its final stage, as over 1,900 sensors have been installed on the parking spots around the town. All of those have been repainted and numbered, so it's easy to identify each spot through the application. They need to finish installing sensors on some of the spots, but that too should be finished by July the 1st. The entire system cost 3.1 million kuna, along with three years of maintenance and support.
The project is supposed to be in the service of the users, helping them find parking spots, making that process faster, navigating them to the spot, which director Tabak hopes will lead to the reduction of the traffic jams in Dubrovnik during the tourist season.
The application will be free, easy to use, and user-friendly and it'll be possible to pay for parking through the application itself. Once the project starts, the application will be updated to provide the functionalities that have been overlooked in the initial implementation. The NBIoT (Narrowband Internet of Things) standard will be used, which has become the go-to technology worldwide for similar projects.
A similar project was started in Dubrovnik in 2015 after the Strategy of the development of the Smart Town of Dubrovnik was adopted. Unfortunately, that project was abandoned because some of the basic ideas from the Strategy were overlooked. Now it seems that everything that needed to be done has been done successfully, the funds were found and the smart parking project in Dubrovnik will soon bring the newest technology to the streets of an ancient town.
For more Dubrovnik news, go to TCN Destination Dubrovnik page.
