smart city case study

Successful Update and Upgrade of an Existing Digital Parking Lot: An Example of Forum Gdańsk

Unlocking the future of parking: dive into our case study where Naviparking's software seamlessly integrates with Amano at Forum Gdańsk's parking lot. Discover how this collaboration introduced mobile payments, upgraded digital facilities, and paved the way for future development.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS 

✅ The presented case study examines integration of Naviparking’s software with software and hardware of Amano at Forum Gdańsk parking lot.

✅ The main objective was to introduce mobile payments for all the customers. Other goals were to: upgrade the digital facility in the shopping mall by adding parking spots of the 6th level of the Forum Gdańsk parking lot to the website cyfrowyparking.pl/en and parking spots on levels 2-5 to the database of the Navipay mobile application.

✅ The parking lot gained an updated version of the API (the older one was deployed five years prior by Amano). Thanks to the deployment of the new products drivers obtained, e.g. a possibility to reserve parking spaces in advance, make online payments, and enter and exit the facility in a contactless manner.

✅ The aforementioned integration was possible thanks to establishing a solid partnership between Naviparking and Car Park Sp. z o.o–a distributor of Amano products in Poland.

✅ Fruitful cooperation with Car Park and the integration with Amano's API opened the door for a further (and way faster) process of adding new parking lots to the common system in the future.

Forum Gdańsk. Naviparking unlocks the hidden potential of the parking lot

Forum Gdańsk–a shopping mall at Targ Sienny 7 street located in the heart of Gdańsk, Poland. On approximately 63 thousands square meters, 13.5 mln clients visit 180 retail stores annually. At Forum Gdańsk the biggest tenants of the retail area are: Helios, H&M, TK Maxx, Zara, Media Markt, and Eurospar. The parking lot at Forum Gdańsk has 1,100 parking spaces: levels 2-5 are indoor (on the 5th floor four EV chargers are located) and the 6th level is an outdoor space. 

On levels 2-5 of the parking lot, the clients have a possibility to pay online for their stay via the Navipay application (apart from the traditional way of payment). On the 6th floor of the parking lot, the clients of Forum Gdańsk have access to around 100 spaces with reservations and subscriptions at cyfrowyparking.pl/en. Naviparking rented 20 of them.

The parking lot is placed in a strategic area of the city which makes it an attractive place to leave a car–in the vicinity of the train station, Gdańsk Śródmieście transfer hub, the historic Main Town, numerous tourist attractions, and a wide variety of service points. 

Identified challenges at Forum Gdańsk. Objectives to be achieved by Naviparking

In the broadest perspective, the Naviparking team aimed to expand the scope of digital tools available to the users of the Forum Gdańsk parking lot, turning it into an even more convenient and attractive facility. The new features were to include: online payments, automatic and contactless exit and entry from the parking lot, possibility to monitor the parking occupancy in real time and (possibly) minimize the lines to cash registers. In the long term perspective, these steps were meant to elevate the renown of the entire facility and increase its popularity. 

From the technical point of view, the main objective at the Forum Gdańsk parking lot was to integrate the existing software (Application Programming Interface) and hardware of Amano Parking Management System with Naviparking software, namely: a website cyfrowyparking.pl/en and the Navipay mobile application. For this purpose, it was vital to establish a close cooperation with Car Park Sp. z o.o., the main distributor of Amano’s products in Poland. 

The first phase of work scheduled the addition of the 6th level of the parking lot to the database of facilities at cyfrowyparking.pl/en to let drivers make reservations and subscriptions of the parking spots.

In the next phase, the Naviparking team aimed to deploy Navipay (online payments) at levels 2-5 of the Forum Gdańsk parking lot. It is worth highlighting that aside from the integration of two different softwares, the Naviparking team set a goal to upgrade the Amano’s API to its newer version. 

The parking lot at Forum Gdańsk was meant to be used both by the clients of the shopping mall as well as the employees of the offices situated in the vicinity. Observing the needs on the local market, the Naviparking team identified a high demand for parking spaces among clients of a hospitality sector in the neighborhood. This observation inspired the Naviparking team to rent 20 parking spots from Forum Gdańsk and invite hotel guests from the area to use the parking lot. 

Solution: integration with Amano and deployment of Naviparking’s software 

Before the implementation of Naviparking’s product, the Forum Gdańsk parking lot was equipped with hardware and software of the Amano Parking Management System, i.e. barriers, intercoms, QR code readers (that were installed five years ago before the integration with Naviparking’s products), and API in the old version.

Naviparking decided to use the following software to integrate with Amano’s software:

  

cyfrowyparking.pl/en–a multilingual platform offering parking reservation and subscription services. 
Navipay–an application with two types of accounts: a personal and a business one. The personal account allows the driver to pay parking fees with a phone and leave the parking lot in a touchless manner. 
Naviparking Manager–a program designed for parking lot’s administrators and tenants. It gives full insight into statistical data (traffic at the facility, occupancy rate) and transaction previews. 
When it comes to hardware, Naviparking didn't install any new hardware at Forum Gdańsk’s parking lot.

Results obtained by Naviparking at the Forum Gdańsk parking lot

The integration process of Amano’s software and hardware with Naviparking’s software was finalized successfully and all the detected bugs were corrected. The previous version of Amano’s API was correctly updated according to the initial plan. 

As a result of the entire process, the parking lot has been divided into two areas (6th level and levels 2-5) with two different softwares (the cyfrowyparking.pl/en platform and the Navipay mobile application). Naviparking’s products opened more options for the drivers (booking parking spots in advance, online payments, automatic exit, and–in case of the cyfrowyparking.pl/en users–also automatic entrance without paper tickets) and ensured their safety through installation of security cameras at the facility.

The parking lot’s administrators obtained a new tool to monitor the traffic and gain useful data about the facility–the Naviparking Manager. The client monetized 20 parking spots rented by Naviparking and acquired a possibility to popularize the parking lot in the area.

One month after the opening of the parking lot, it was not known yet if the deployed solutions managed to reduce the lines to the entry barriers at Forum Gdańsk. 

Thanks to the partnership with Car Park and integration on the level of Amano’s API, adding new facilities (equipped with Amano products) to the Naviparking system is going to be a very fast procedure. Last but not least, the project resulted in creating new business relationships and building experience in digital transformation.

Apart from acquiring a meaningful client (the key shopping mall in Tricity), we needed to build a partnership with Car Park Sp. z o.o.–an exclusive distributor of the Amano PMS and the parking lot manager at Forum. This partnership resulted in a technical integration at API level which is a start of a great adventure and a new chapter for Naviparking itself. I see an immense potential in this collaboration where we can scale our solutions purely through software leveraging Amano hardware installed in some of the most prestigious buildings in Poland and around the world.

Mateusz Brzozowski, Business Project Manager at Naviparking

Read about other deployments by Naviparking

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parking lot digitization, Forum Gdańsk, Tricity, Naviparking
Magdalena Maffioli
Technical Content Writer
As the Technical Content Manager at Naviparking, Magdalena Maffioli combines her skills in copywriting, content editing, and technical writing to produce high-quality and effective content. Starting her journey with the company in 2022 as a Content Writer, she has since expanded her role to include technical writing and content management. With a background in journalism, Magdalena brings a creative yet precise approach to technical marketing, ensuring that complex information is communicated clearly and engagingly.

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