Maneesh Bakshi
Doha
An smartphone application, Masarak, developed by Qatar Mobility Innovation Centre (QMIC) will help car drivers find vacant parking lots in Doha, according to a QMIC official.
Speaking at the second annual Smart Parking Qatar conference on Monday, QMIC product manager Dr Hamid Menouar said one of the immediate solutions to the growing congestions in parking lots is to give information about the availability of space within the parking lots to the users in advance so as to help them choose the right parking lot.
"We have developed Masarak's iTraffic App with links to the parking lots across the city to provide the users with accurate information about the availability of parking space where they are heading to. We are in a process of connecting the leading parking lots of the city with this application so that parking information could be accessed by the users on their smartphones," said Menouar.
According to him, parking lots at some of the popular places such as Souq Waqif, Katara, Doha Exhibition Centre, Qatar National Convention Centre are already connected to iTraffic and more parking lots will be connected shortly.
"By connecting more and more parking spaces with this application, optimum utilisation of the available parking infrastructure will be achieved," he said.
The two-day conference aims to discuss smart technologies that can help to create more parking space for vehicles in less space.
General manager of International Eng. & Trade Group Hossam Mamdouh Eliwa put forth a revolutionary idea of automated car parking solution that can use the available space 1.5 times more efficiently than conventional parking while saving time and fuel.
The conference has brought together key officials and decision makers from the Ministry of Transport and Communications, , Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Municipality and Environment, Public Works Authority 'Ashghal' as well as many private sector companies to discuss the issues related to road safety and smart parking.