Ever dreaded going someplace because you know the parking is going to be full and you would be driving around in circles to find a spot? You are not alone. And that is where parking management solutions play a huge role. We cannot deny the fact that the number of vehicles on the road is increasing with each passing year. This means more traffic and less parking spots (and pollution too). If you are thinking of developing a parking management solution in your city, you are in the right place. In this blog, we will be discussing how to make a parking management application, how one works, its basic features and business plans you should know while creating a parking management application.
How to make a Parking Management Application
You start with research. Since your application is going to be location bound, you have to do thorough research regarding everything, including your competitors. Prepare a design plan, choose the team you want for developing the application. Remember, that you would be needing an application for your end-users, an application for parking lot owners and an admin panel. Select the features you want in your application. Keep in mind to provide your users with some unique features so that your application is better than what is available in the market. Create a marketing strategy, decide on your business model and monetize your application. Release the application on respective stores and keep updating based on user feedback.
How a typical Parking Management Application works
A parking management application should be easy to use and fast. Below is how a typical parking application works:
- Searching – Users should be able to search for a parking spot using GPS or by inputting the required address.
- Comparing – Users should be able to compare the solutions provided by the application.
- Booking – Users should be able to select the solution they like and should be able to schedule it according to their convenience.
- Paying – Users should be able to make the payment for the booked parking slot via payment gateways or via cash.
- Navigation – Users should be able to navigate to the parking spot and park the vehicle.
Basic Features
Now, that you know how the application works, here are the basic features required in a parking management application:
- GPS Tracking – This should be one of the most important features in your application. GPS tracking helps users navigate to their parking spot.
- Searching – This should be easily accessible and easy to use the feature.
- Booking – This feature helps your user reserve a parking spot. Allow an option where users who use the app daily, get to pre-reserve/ pre-pay for the spots.
- Comparison – This feature will help your users see the price of the parking spots and compare it with others so that they can go with the cheapest available option.
- Payment Gateway – Make sure there are multiple payment options which are safe and secure.
- Push notifications – This feature not only helps you notify users before the parking spot expires, but it also helps you send discount codes, alerts and offers to your users, thus, engaging your users.
- Waiting list – Users should be able to see how much they need to wait in case their favourite parking spot is full.
You can also provide some advanced features like the provision to select parking spaces in different cities, heat maps, sharing location etc.
Business models
Before developing a parking management solution, you have to decide on which business model you want to go ahead with. There are three:
- Navigation – This application would be a basic application which just navigates users to available free parking spots. You can also consider this as an MVP to start your business.
- Navigation and Booking – These kinds of applications allow users to not only navigate to the parking spots, but it also allows users to book those parking spots, increase/ extend the time, navigate back to where the vehicle is parked etc. This is the most common business model when it comes to parking management solutions.
- Complete solution – This is the most expensive business model since it includes a lot more features than the previous two business models. This could include everything from booking the parking spot, navigating to the parking spot, help with parking, help navigate back to where the vehicle is parked, door-to-door service, valet parking etc.
Few Parking Management Applications around the world
We mentioned earlier that it is good to study your competitor while you are researching for developing the application. Below, are some of the parking management applications currently available in the market:
Parkopedia
Parkopedia is the largest parking service application with which users can book a parking spot in 89 countries and over 15,000 cities across the world. On top of finding a parking spot, it also works as a navigation system. It is available in Android and iOS and also as a web application.
BestParking
BestParking is a parking management application popular in the US. It helps users find parking spots and book/pre-book the spot. It is also available in iOS, Android and web.
If you have a similar idea and you are looking to develop a parking management solution, feel free to get in touch with us here. We would be happy to hear from you.
