Dream Builders, New York, has approached you to develop a software application t

Question

Dream Builders, New York, has approached you to develop a software application that will automate the management of the vehicle parking system at their new shopping mall, Zing. Following is the problem statement in the words of Mr. David Wong, project manager, Zing, Dream Builders. "We are building a marvelous piece of architecture, which is a huge recreation and shopping complex. We are expecting hundreds of customers every day and managing parking is surely going to be a big problem. We have enough space to park hundreds of vehicles but I am aiming at something different, a computerized parking management system." What we want from you is a product that can help us automate the parking system. I do not know much of the technical jargon but I can tell you how I see it. Suppose I am an attendant at the entrance to the mall and a vehicle drives in, then all I should have to do is ask the driver his or her name and enter the name and the vehicle number into the computer. Then, using the software you develop, I should be able to look for a vacant location in the parking. I should then ask the driver to pay, and give him or her a slip specifying the location in which he or she has to park the vehicle. Such a system will help us in various ways. For example, it will be easier for us to manage large number of vehicles, utilize maximum space available, and reduce manpower Moreover; our customers will surely be more satisfied because it will save them the trouble of searching for a vacant location to park. I am ready to invest a generous amount on this product but what I am looking at is a very innovative product." Based on the above scenario and your understanding, create a 2- to 3-page document in Microsoft Word, that includes answers to the following questions: What questions do you need to ask to get better understanding for this project? What kind of requirement gathering techniques will you use to collect the full list of requirements in addition to what is listed above? Ensure that you pick at least two techniques. How would you deal with the possibility of requirements change? Using any drawing tool, create the following models for the autopark project: Use case model DFD Software requirements specification document Support your responses with examples. Cite any sources in APA format.

Explanation / Answer

There are real upfront costs.

Both the hardware and the network can have hidden costs that you may not have thought through. For example, most smart parking systems have some kind of in-ground sensors, which are more reliable than using smart parking sensors on a parking meter. But if you build on a mesh network and you’re operating in a dynamic radio frequency (RF) environment, a car parking over the sensor can break your mesh. To solve this, you can have the parking meter talk to the sensor in the ground—but then you’re effectively paying for two parking systems. So, if you want the mesh to perform, you will likely have to overengineer it to ensure you don’t deal with blackouts.

There can be complications brought on by the network.

Low power, wide-area networks (LPWANs) don’t always work as well as they’re initially designed to work. For example, if you put an RF device on the parking meter, you can easily create a solid mesh network. However, the sensor on the meter may not be able to determine whether or not something is in the parking space, which makes it fairly unreliable. What’s more, a system like this would be able to tell you only if a spot had been paid for or not; it couldn’t alert you to where cars actually are. Thus, you might get a lot of false positives in terms of open spaces.

Enforcement can be an issue.

Some parking applications don’t do anything to help with piggybacking, which can lead to enforcement issues. Let’s say someone pays for two hours of parking and stays only 20 minutes. Depending on the application used, someone else might be able to park there without the meter registering that the previous car left the spot. If your municipality wants to leverage the revenue benefit of parking—both from a metering and enforcement perspective—you need to be able to determine who paid for the parking space and when the individual leaves the parking spot.

There can be dilemmas with replacing the current system.

If your city has any kind of metered parking, there’s likely an infrastructure around coin collection, credit card processing, enforcement, and more already in place. So a more difficult question you’ll have to dig into is whether or not you can and should replace a workforce of people. If you do replace these jobs with technology, what role will these employees move to? You can see how on the surface, smart parking seems like a no-brainer—but once you dig into the limitations, some issues will come up.

What about the convenience factor?

If you need a smartphone app to pay for parking, you’ll need to consider your demographic. Does everyone in your city have a smartphone? If you’re in a large city you can probably get away with this, but it’s going to be a lot more difficult in smaller cities. Additionally, you have to think about your city’s tourism industry. Do tourists need to download an app and enter their credit card information just to park for a day, or is there a more streamlined method available to visitors? This is a good example of how parking applications look great on paper but can be more difficult in practice.

Developers: Ask Yourself These Questions Before Creating A Smart Parking Application

Many developers are working their way into the smart parking space, but only a few have succeeded. This is largely because there are more intricacies involved in smart parking applications than meet the eye. We’ve outlined a few of the questions you’ll have to deal with below.

What is the goal of your smart parking system?

If your goal is to develop a smart parking system for an airport, you know it’s important to deploy a system that helps people park faster, know when garages and lots are full, and make their flights on time. You also know that it isn’t a big deal to have a few false positives, because the driver can likely find another spot with ease. But if your goal is to develop a municipally focused parking application—where citizens use their smartphones to find parking spots to go shopping—a false positive could be a big problem. The point is, it’s important to focus on the goal of your system before designing it.

Who will be using the application?

You can (obviously) be a lot more flexible if you have to cover a smaller area. If you wanted to create a parking solution for theme parks, you could have people download the theme park app or have a central kiosk with a QR code reader they can scan. But if you’re trying to cover an entire city, you have to create a solution that works for all of the citizens. Thus, determining who’s parking and what they’re using parking spaces for is an important step.

How big is the network?

If your goal is to create an application to cover a parking garage, you can easily put up the necessary repeaters, gateways, and collectors. But if you’re trying to deploy in a city, you’ll have to determine where you’ll actually put these devices so the network is operational in a busy RF environment. Even with all the cool low power, wide-area network (LPWAN) technologies out there, a lot of people underestimate how hard it is to deploy a network in an urban area. Determining the size of the network you’ll need to deploy is vital.

How will people pay?

Will people use Apple Pay or Google Wallet? Will they use a meter credit card reader or a multi-space payment machine? Will they scan a QR code with their phones? Is there an app they have to download in order to park and pay? All of these questions will need to be answered before product engineering begins.

Can you gain the traction to adopt and implement your system before you go out of business?

Municipalities typically work on very long budget cycles, so this is a legitimate question you’ll need to answer. It’s worth considering that some smart parking application companies have raised tens of millions of dollars and have still run out of money. To mitigate this risk, consider solving an issue on a smaller scale before taking on municipal work.

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