Westminster City Council is trialling smart parking sensors.

You place sensors that note disturbances to the earths magnetic fields under the highway in the centre of the parking spot. These sensors report back whether a vehicle is parked above it and the information is then presented online. In some US systems parking is then priced based on demand, always keeping a few spaces free – but for a price…

Some sensors come with very long life batteries and communicate by radio making installation very easy. Combined with mobile parking payments, controlling parking and focusing warden resources has become much easier.

Westminster has chosen Parkopedia for their experiment.

I can’t wait to hear how this goes – let me know if you try it.