Remote Sensing Techniques For Conducting Off-Street And Terminal Parking Studies From Helicopter And Light Aircraft

Abstract

<p> Although remote sensing has been used in certain aspects of transportation studies, it appears that little attention has been given to its application in parking assessment. For this reason, a study has been undertaken to demonstrate that oblique aerial photographs can be effectively used to investigate.parking characteristices in shopping plazas, in particular to determine the rates of occupancy and turnover that occur in the available parking stalls. From a light aircraft and a helicopter, panchromatic prints and colour slides of two shopping plazas in Dundas and Hamilton, Ontario, were taken with hand-held 35 mm cameras. Photographs were taken every 15 minutes over a period of 1 hour. A comparison of the films used indicates that the presence of colour in the slides permits easier differentiation between vehicles and hence easier identification of the changes that occur at each parking stall. Procedures for extracting and recording data from the photographs and analysing the results were described. In addition to obtaining information on occupancy and turnover, it is demonstrated that the aerial view permits on excellent assessment of the effectiveness of the vehicular system. The ease of vehicle movement, the effectiveness of signing, parking stall preferences, the occurrence of illegal parking and the separation of delivery vehicles and passenger cars can all be deduced from the photography. </p>