Gangneung City pilots smart parking information system, showing available spaces at tourist sites and markets at a glance

【Financial News, Gangneung = Kim Gi-seop】Since the 2nd, Gangneung City has been piloting a smart parking information system that displays available spaces at parking lots in major tourist destinations and traditional markets, including Gyeongpo, Anmok, Jumunjin and Jungang Market, on electronic signs at a glance. At the entrance to Jungang Market, the system also uses artificial intelligence (AI) to provide parking wait-time estimates.
According to Gangneung City on the 3rd, the system connects parking information across different areas and displays it on roadside signs. The sign at Gyeongpo Five-way Intersection shows the number of available spaces at 12 public parking lots, including those at 3·1 Memorial Park, Gyeongpo Lake Plaza, Gangmun Beach, Anmok Coffee Street, Gangneung Port and Jungang Market, allowing drivers to choose a parking lot near their destination in advance. The project was pursued as a pledge for the Ninth popularly elected term.
The city has introduced AI-based wait-time estimates for the first time among local governments at Public Parking Lots No. 2 and No. 3 at the entrance to Jungang Market. The AI learns from and analyzes the number of available spaces, the length of the line of vehicles stretching from Okcheon Five-way Intersection to the parking lots, and nearby traffic volume, then estimates and displays how long it will take to complete parking from the sign location. If the wait is long, drivers can head instead to Jungang Market Public Parking Lot No. 1 (Riverbank Parking Lot) or Hacheon Parking Lot (Agricultural Produce Dawn Market).
Although the two parking lots have limited capacity, they attract large numbers of market visitors, making it difficult to judge how long the wait will be based only on the number of available spaces or a full sign. When tourist vehicles arrive all at once, the queue waiting to enter can stretch back to Okcheon Five-way Intersection and snarl traffic passing through it, repeatedly bringing surrounding roads to a standstill.
The city expects traffic flow at the entrance to Jungang Market and around Okcheon Five-way Intersection to improve by guiding drivers to choose another parking lot before entering the congested area. It also plans to make this pilot the first step in an AI-based project to control traffic entering roundabouts and prevent gridlock, which it will pursue next year. The city plans to link AI traffic-condition analysis with signal control at nearby intersections to establish a traffic management system that can respond before congestion turns into gridlock.
“The key to this service is that it goes a step beyond simply reporting the number of available spaces: it takes queues and nearby traffic volume into account to show how long drivers will actually have to wait,” said Sin-Hyeog Im, head of Gangneung City’s ITS Promotion Division. “We will continue to refine the service so residents and tourists can easily choose a parking lot, training the AI further on wait-time and traffic data collected during the pilot to improve the accuracy of its predictions.”

[email protected] Kim Gi-seop Reporter