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State-of-the-Art Sensors Installed at Pentagon Row Parking Facility

December, 2014

By Bill Smith

With the installation of 1,246 parking space sensors, the Pentagon Row outdoor mall in Arlington, VA, now boasts one of the nation’s most advanced, customer-friendly, and sustainable parking facilities. The sensors, which are located in each of the facility’s parking spaces, record whether a space is occupied, forwarding that information to illuminated signs and to the Pentagon Row mobile parking app, which direct parkers to the closest available spaces to their final shopping destination.

By eliminating the need for drivers to circle the parking garage searching for a space, the sensor system provides a more convenient and “greener” parking experience. Pentagon Row is owned by Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRIT).

“We are proud to host one of the first parking facilities in the nation to offer such a comprehensive space sensor system,” said Robin McBride Zeigler, Vice President, Mid-Atlantic Region, and FRIT‘s Chief Operating Officer. “No longer do drivers have to circle the parking facility looking for an open space. Visitors are guided directly to open parking, and can get in and out of parking areas more quickly and conveniently than ever before.”

The parking sensors send live parking information to the Pentagon Row mobile parking app, providing convenience to shoppers by guiding them to open spaces, improving the overall shopping experience. In addition to saving shoppers valuable time, the sensors also promote sustainability by reducing exhaust emissions from circling vehicles.

The Pentagon Row parking sensor package is unique, officials said, because it combines two distinct solutions developed by different technology providers: Frogparking and Indect parking guidance systems. The package was developed and installed by Sentry Control Systems.

The package includes 278 ground-based, solar-powered sensors, and 968 mounted sensors. Officials said the combination of sensors and parking management software provides intuitive and recognizable guidance to unoccupied spaces to users, through the use of the mobile parking app.

 “We were able to create a unique package ... to provide effective coverage throughout Pentagon Row, in both covered and open parking areas,” said Blair Taylor, VP of Business Development, Southeast Region, for Sentry Control Systems. “Being able to use different solutions in different parts of the facility makes the sensor package much more effective.”

The Pentagon Row mobile parking app also provides up-to-the-minute parking rate information and shows the location of available free parking. Drivers who forget where they parked can even use it to locate their vehicles, using its “Find my car” feature. (The free parking app is available in the iTunes app store and Google Play.)

Bill Smith, is a Technical Writer with Smith Phillips, a public relations and marketing firm. He can be reached at

bsmith@smith-phillips.com.



 


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