A city-wide parking guidance system eliminates the parking shortage by optimizing the utilization of existing capacities, making the city more liveable and combining heritage protection with today's needs
Parking is a big issue in Murten. The old town and the lake draw lots of visitors and day tourists. And everyone wants to park.
In reality, there are enough parking spaces, but they are not always where [as a driver] you would like them to be. Everyone would like to drive to the doorstep, but we can't do that.
Murten, a picturesque medieval town in western Switzerland on Lake Murten, perfectly blends history, character and modernity. Cobblestone streets, half-timbered houses, and rampart walls transport visitors back in time. At the same time, the town has taken an innovative approach to the parking problems of a historic town with limited parking space.
A demand-driven parking guidance system with digital signage of SWARCO shows drivers the way to the nearest available parking spot thanks to Parquery’s Artificial Intelligence (AI), preventing search traffic and frustration and ensuring a relaxed and pleasant experience for visitors and residents alike. The system is powered by Parquery’s AI that continuously monitors parking occupancy across the town using cameras as sensors.
The smart parking system not only streamlines the parking experience but also contributes to a more livable and sustainable urban environment. By reducing unnecessary circling and emissions as well as wild parking, the system alleviates traffic congestion, especially in the town's charming center.
Eliminate the inner-city parking shortage by optimizing the use of existing capacities
Motorists need a parking guidance system (PGS) to find distributed parking options throughout Murten.
On most days, Murten recorded a high daily parking occupancy (80 - 95%) in the city center, particularly in the old town and its immediate surroundings, while areas further away had free capacity.
As in most towns, drivers first push towards the center to try to get a parking space as close to their destination as possible, before looking further afield. This causes issues in and near the town center, particularly
In the past, the town deployed traffic wardens to manually redirect drivers during events and peak times. However, the effect was inevitably only very localized. Effective town-wide guidance was needed, with incoming traffic already being directed from the town entrances onwards.
Kranjska Gora, the Ski world cup town in Slovenia, struggled with the same problem until they solved it with Parquery.
You can't just build barriers around the old town [...] - a town is not a parking garage.
A classic parking guidance system, such as separate parking spaces with barriers, ticket machines or ground sensors was considered not cost-effective and impractical to implement in a town. A parking garage had been rejected on the grounds of unreasonable expense.
Effectively guide motorists to optimize utilization of existing parking spaces for a better quality of life in Murten
42 cameras keep an eye on 650 parking spots in 10 diverse areas across the city, including on-street parallel and diagonal parking, off-street lots with various layouts, and unmarked no-parking zones. Parquery's adaptive learning solution perfectly aligns with this diversity.
High-mounted cameras monitor the occupancy of parking spaces. The high mounting point is one of the measures to protect privacy and facilitates the most reliable occupancy detection
First and foremost, this parking information is seamlessly delivered to eight dynamic LED displays, located on the major traffic arteries of the town. They aim to assist drivers in finding parking spaces before they reach the center. Each panel displays the number of vacant parking spots for nearby parking areas and across town. Existing traditional signage supplements the digital boards at smaller junctions.
In addition to the display of parking spaces, a multi-line variable text display provides guidance during events, road closures, occurrences, detours, or shuttle buses, making them very effective and targeted.
Electronic displays show the available spaces and information in a free text field.
Murten decided on SWARCO’s parking guidance system with high-end digital panels with LED numbers and a multi-line variable text display.
SWARCO Schweiz AGis a Swiss company that specializes in the design, development, and supply of traffic management solutions. They offer a wide range of products and services, including traffic signals and control systems, road markings and signage, parking guidance and traffic information systems.
Two digital tools allow Stefan Portmann, the town’s responsible for parking, to manage the entire parking guidance system - cameras, displays, and data:
SWARCO's dashboard makes it easy to manage the guidance system and displays and shows the live occupancy data feed from Parquery's system to the displays. (Image courtesy of SWARCO and city of Murten)
Parking management made easy: All parking data is collected in Parquery's digital, browser-based dashboard, which provides access to live data, statistics, parking duration and no-parking zone monitoring and pricing tools
The city's vision for the parking guidance system was clear: it should
At the same time, the system had to strike the balance between the past and the future, that is to protect its cultural heritage while meeting today's needs.
Instead of building more, the aim was to make better use of the available capacity.
SWARCO’s electronic display boards at the town entrances and intersections show the currently available spaces and provide additional information in a free text field. The respective parking zones are color-coded to help with orientation
The requirements for the new traffic guidance system were clearly defined and could be optimally implemented with Parquery and SWARCO:
Economical: To cover the increasing demand for parking spaces in the city, the system should utilize existing capacities and at the same time meet the budgetary constraints.
Compliance with data privacy and protection: Prioritizing citizen privacy, the system must adhere to national and cantonal data protection regulations.
Versatile and scalable: to accommodate very different parking configurations and future expansions.
Practical to implement: no physical barriers, obstructions, or roadworks and an unobtrusive appearance to blend in with the historic surroundings.
[...] for cost reasons, the municipal council decided to install cameras with software to determine the occupancy of parking spaces every two minutes.
[...]
From the experience of other Swiss cantons and cities, the municipality of Murten concluded that the camera solution was practical to implement and secure, as no data is stored.
Parquery’s accurate camera-based parking monitoring and the processing and guidance system management of SWARCO made a town-wide guidance system viable and economical, and the unbalanced parking use can effectively be addressed.
Quality of life and parking convenience in perfect balance: the city's effective parking guidance system increases safety and makes the city a more attractive place to work, shop and live. It not only provides convenience when looking for a parking space, but also helps to maintain the attractiveness and charm of the city.
Liveable city with an economical and effective parking guidance system (PLS)
The first event after installing the townwide guidance system was the lively Christmas Market in December 2023. To keep traffic flowing smoothly, the traffic department employees had access to the parking guidance system on their mobile phones. Positioned at key junctions, they directed drivers and ensured a hassle-free parking experience for happy visitors.
The parking guidance system was extremely useful, always guiding drivers at the right moment to where there was sufficient free space.
Murten has become a model for other towns seeking to balance heritage preservation with modern needs and costs.
During project implementation, Murten was confronted with the challenge of contradictory legislation. While a new mobility law makes a parking guidance system mandatory, previous regulations on video surveillance restricted the use of cameras to crime prevention. There was no provision for traffic monitoring by camera.
This left Murten in a dilemma, as the only economically and practically viable solution was Parquery’s camera solution.
To resolve this challenge, Murten and Parquery proved that their system works with anonymous data only. It solely uses vehicle presence and does not allow the identification of people or license plates. High-mounted cameras, low image resolution, and privacy masks (blurring of parts of the image) prevent identifiable details from being recorded. Images are discarded immediately after processing. Only impersonal, anonymous numerical data on parking space occupancy is recorded and stored, and sent to SWARCO for processing and display.
After a live presentation of the software [...] the ÖDSMB [Cantonal Data Protection Officer] was convinced by the system.
They [the data protection officer] understood that you can't recognize the people in the pictures - you can't say it's Stefan or Fritz.
Murten initiated an update to conflicting legislation, paving the path for other towns to implement affordable and secure parking guidance.
[...] ensure the future management of public parking with simple means [...] using (non-recording) cameras
need a legitimate reason - whether for parking, traffic monitoring or security - and strict privacy protection.
Parquery implements data and privacy protection through a combination of technical and organizational measures that ensure that no personal data is collected, stored, nor used.
These measures include
Parquery ensures privacy protection and compliance with European and national data protection and privacy laws. Find out how
Would you like to use, resell our solution in your market or integrate it into your traffic or smart city platform? Call or email us and let's discuss the details. We work directly with end customers and via resellers.
Our main office is located in Geerenweg 2, CH-8048 Zurich, Switzerland
parking [at] parquery.com
+41 44 501 39 19 (8:30am - 5:30pm CET)
Upon receiving your request, we will get back to you shortly.
