LED price displays are seen in almost all service stations nowadays. Price information seen in them can be of different fuel types or even EV-charging prices. Our range of display products contains large selection of different sizes and different LED colors, which allows customer to match the displays with their brand. 

There are several ways to transfer the price data to the LED displays depending on the infrastructure of each station. There can be a fixed cable connection from the forecourt controller to the pylon when price updates are automatically completed via cable. The same price updates can also be done with a radio connection using automatic price changes. It is also possible to update prices manually by using a hand terminal which can be connected to the control unit of the pylon via cable or using a radio equipped hand terminal.

As a result of the electric revolution in mobility, more and more electric vehicles drive around with the need to recharge. So, there is an increasing number of EV-chargers being installed, some to the existing fuel retail infrastructure but there are also new service providers without existing forecourt systems.

Greenstation, a Norwegian developer for EV-charging stations is offering to its customers latest innovation and seamless charging experience. Their charging stations do not have existing infrastructure including forecourt controlling systems, concentrating solely on EV-chargers with card payment possibilities. For this kind of service station type we have developed an independent data transfer possibility based on cloud functionality. Solution only requires an internet connection which can be created via a fixed cable connection or via 4G router with a local SIM-card, depending on the location. The price data is transferred from the customer’s cloud service to our HOST cloud platform using a rest-API interface between the two cloud systems. HOST then updates the prices into the LED price displays on site. Price updates are completed automatically, and the service provider can use different price rates during different hours for example.

The same approach could be used in car washes as well. In addition to LED price displays, a parking camera with license plate recognition or information display stating space availability of charging spaces could be added. By using license plate recognition and combining the data with loyalty programs an automatic charging or special pricing is easy to apply. A combination of our products and software creates great customizable solutions for varying customer needs resulting in improved customer experience.

Prisma is part of Savilahti’s shopping area, where thousands of people move around every day. A huge renovation project in the area started extending the Prisma outdoor parking area and building a new indoor parking garage as well. The project to renovate the Prisma area has been implemented in stages so that transactions have been as smooth as possible throughout the reconstruction period.

The focus of the reconstruction was to emphasize the ease of visiting the shopping center as well as creating a more enjoyable shopping environment. The new spacious garage increased the capacity of parking spaces to approximately 500 and increased the charging stations for electric cars as well. Cyclist were also considered by creating 300 bicycle parking spots, half of which are covered.

Indoor parking garage is equipped with Portier parking sensors indicating to the drivers by either green or red LEDs about the availability of each parking space. White and blue LEDs indicate parking spaces for electric vehicles as well as disabled parking spaces. Third party system transfers data of outdoor parking status to Portier HOST- a unique parking guidance platform. Portier HOST platform combines the data of Portier parking sensors together with the data from outdoor parking area and status of parking spaces is shown in the Portier parking guidance displays for the driving customers. The start of the visit is smooth and comfortable due to well executed parking guidance creating an improved customer experience.

Portier – Making the Right Decisions!

Effective calculation and guidance for outdoor parking areas remain one of the biggest challenges in parking and parking guidance. Over the years many different solutions ranging from simple induction loop counting to individual ground sensors have been used, but the most recent developments in camera technology and advanced image analysis have made it possible to utilize cameras for counting and guidance of outdoor parking areas. We answered the call from the market and developed Portier Vision Outdoor Camera for the demand.

Portier VISION Outdoor Cameras monitor defined areas and based on the proprietary image analysis, they detect the number of vehicles and calculate the number of free spaces. Space availability can then be shown, for example, in the Portier parking guidance displays or via Portier Wayfinder web application.  

There is a growing demand for park & ride facilities around big cities. Parking areas in the public transportation hubs are busy and can often run out of capacity. In order to serve public transportation customers better, Portier Vision Outdoor Cameras were installed, first location after our product launch, in Kulosaari metro station Park & Ride facility. Kulosaari was the first metro station built when the metro system was constructed and opened in Helsinki in 1982. It is a busy station having two separate parking areas for its driving customers. Portier Vision Outdoor Cameras calculate and forward the information of the availability of parking spaces to Portier HOST platform, which transfers the data into Portier parking guidance displays. Displays are showing the real time status of the parking availability for drivers. The same data can also be transferred to a third-party solution, such as city of Helsinki’s own web system which informs customers of the availability of parking spaces in their park&ride locations.

Portier Vision Outdoor Cameras together Portier HOST, are creating a seamless parking guidance solution – just what customers need!

Portier – Making the right decisions!

The real estate owner and developer, Green Park AB, has been concentrating in parking segment properties since 2010. The company initially focused on Stockholm area, but goals are to expand into other locations in Sweden as well.

In 2017, a collaboration between Parkando AB and Green Park was initiated. Parkando AB provides innovative mobility services, so together these two companies have great opportunities developing profit creating parking properties.

Huvudstagaraget with 700 parking spaces is Green Park’s latest location to be opened which is operated by Parkando. The main garage is newly built, it is bright and equipped with state of art technology in terms of parking guidance. The garage has 300 charging stations for electric cars, so customers are truly in the center of attention when visiting this parking garage.

Portier parking guidance solutions were natural choice for the parking guidance in Huvudstagaraget. This project was completed together with Portier’s longtime Swedish partner AB Blinkfyrar.

Portier entry signs welcome drivers by informing the drivers whether there are free spaces in the garage. Inside the building, Portier parking guidance displays direct drivers in three levels towards available parking spaces.

Portier Vision camera units monitor between one to six spaces on one or both sides of the driving lane and when a space becomes occupied, our proprietary algorithms detect the vehicle and subsequently read the license plate. The occupancy of parking space is indicated by different colored LED stripes. VISION stores all movement around vehicles which increases safety and helps possible damage claim resolutions. Vision Cameras provide needed security around electric car spaces as well in case of a fire. Stored videos and images can be quickly and easily searched using camera id, license plate and/or time span. VISION has also in-built audio that can be used e.g., for marketing campaigns or for streaming music.

If the customer does not remember where the car was parked upon arrival, they can check the location by using a Portier search kiosk’s Locate My Car function, by typing in the license plate number and the problem is immediately solved.

Portier HOST platform features REST-API interface that can be used to export as well as import data between HOST and various third-party systems. The license plate recognition of Portier Vision cameras enables different price options between premium and regular parking spaces if wanted by the operator.

It makes a huge difference if your garage is safe and attracting customers and what is most important, additional services for customers are increasing revenue by creating returning customers.

Portier – Making the Right Decisions!

A new urban centre Lippulaiva in Espoo is now open! It offers everything for everyone, one place to run errands, have lunch, meet friends, shop in variety of shops or just sit in a café and enjoy life. Under the same roof you can also find a kindergarten, sport centre, health service for the whole family and even a library.

Lippulaiva is located right in the heart of Espoo, within greater Helsinki. Whether you are jogging, cycling, riding public transport or driving, finding your way to Lippulaiva is easy.

When arriving by car, you can find a parking space in a heated and barrier-free parking garage. No need for a ticket, parking starts and ends automatically using license plate recognition when entering and exiting the garage.

The two-story parking facility has been designed with the idea of keeping the customer in the focus all the time. Portier parking guidance displays are guiding drivers towards available parking spaces. Portier VISION™ parking cameras are installed on top of the driving lanes monitoring parking spaces on both sides of them. When a space becomes occupied, our proprietary algorithms detect the vehicle and subsequently read the license plate. All movement around vehicles is recorded which increases safety and helps possible damage claim resolutions. Stored videos and images can be quickly and easily searched using camera id, license plate and/ or time of the visit. VISION has also in-built audio that can be used e.g., for marketing campaigns, additional guidance or for streaming music.

If you can’t remember where you parked your car earlier, you can use search kiosks which show you the location of your vehicle. Just type in the license plate number and off you go.

Whilst parking guidance is an important component in driving the most important objective for any shopping mall, memorable customer experience, VISION camera-based guidance solution creates additional value also in other ways. In-built license plate recognition offers possibilities to analyze customer behaviour in a detailed manner or to link the information with other data sources, such as loyalty applications. On the other hand, Portier HOST parking guidance platform provides exact data on number of visits and their durations – information that is vital for the shopping mall owners for the optimization of rental revenues.

Visiting Lippulaiva has been made nice and easy for driving customers! When all aspects are well thought in your parking facility, you will get happy and loyal customers!

Portier – Making the Right Decisions!

Venue parking differs from most other parking operations since the occupancy rates vary from practically zero occupancy to an overbooked parking. Customer behavior typically leads into a situation where parking fills up right before the beginning of the event which leads into congestion and idle driving by customers seeking for a parking space. This hassle is often mitigated with large number of staff manually guiding customers to the available spaces or less occupied parts of the facility. Quite naturally, this approach is not the most effective guidance solution, and it also involves significant staffing costs which offsets the revenues made from parking.

The 2022 Men’s International Ice Hockey World Championship will be hosted by Finland from 13 to 29 May 2022. The host cities of the World Championships are Tampere and Helsinki, of which Tampere’s brand-new Nokia Arena will serve as the main venue of the games. Aimo Park Arena is a parking facility located next to Nokia Arena in Tampere. Nokia Arena has a capacity of 13,455 people visiting venues, so well guided parking is essential factor making arriving and leaving the event as smooth as possible for the driving customers. Aimo Park Arena offers parking space for more than 400 driving visitors including disabled parking as well as spaces for charging electric vehicles.  

Portier parking guidance displays are installed at the entrances of the parking facility indicating the occupancy rate in the garage. The calculation as well as parking guidance is carried out by the space specific Portier parking sensors showing either red or green LEDs for the parking space searching drivers. All Portier products are connected to Portier HOST, our unique parking guidance platform connecting all used technologies into single a single, seamless user experience. The calculation data in the garage is also forwarded to Tampere city’s street network guidance system via Portier HOST. So, data transfer is easy between Portier HOST and third-party solutions via API as well.

As with any other parking, venue parking is the first impression for a person who is arriving to the event with their own vehicle and smooth parking experience has a significant impact on their impression about the entire event. Effective guidance will improve customer experience and as it also eliminates the time needed for parking, it leaves customers more time to be spent at the event and services there. At the same time, parking guidance solution will decrease operational staffing costs and resources needed to organize the staff.

Another aspect of venue parking is the exit – departures occur in an even shorter time-span than entries which leads into severe congestion and traffic problems. Whilst this problem will be nearly impossible to eliminate completely, Portier offers also dynamic traffic management solutions that can help to manage the exit traffic and to guide it to less crowded exits in case there are multiple exit options. Parking is the first and last impression for a visiting customer and hence smooth exit will increase the likelihood of customers returning!

Good luck & play hard, especially team Finland!

Portier – Making the Right Decisions!

P-Eliel is a barrier-free parking garage located right in the middle of Helsinki city center. For pedestrians there are 12 different routes to and from the garage, and drivers can access the garage via two opposite entrances. The garage offers short-term parking as well as contract parking. You can get your car washed or electric vehicle charged in P-Eliel in addition to parking.

Portier space specific parking guidance solution was chosen to serve P-Eliel’s customers already in 2008. Ultrasonic parking sensors as well as parking guidance displays have been functioning well during the years. During the enlargement project of the garage, more Portier parking sensors and parking guidance displays were installed.

In 2018, the software at P-Eliel was updated to Portier HOST parking guidance platform, while the parking guidance displays were also upgraded to the latest technology. What was important for the customer was that our solution did not require replacing all the products since it is possible to do updating and upgrading also to older generation Portier products which makes our solution extremely flexible and profitable.

In 2022, EuroPark made the decision to offer more premium level service to its driving customers at P-Eliel. Portier ultrasonic sensors were replaced by Portier Vision space specific cameras. Portier Vision camera units monitor between one to six spaces on one or both sides of the driving lane and when a space becomes occupied, our proprietary algorithm detects the vehicle and subsequently reads the license plate.

Portier Vision cameras calculate the occupancy level of the garage, as well as provides security information by reacting to any movements around a vehicle and saving images of such an event. Cameras’ audio function can be used for announcements or advertising campaigns, which can create extra revenue for the operator.

All different technologies by Portier are connected to Portier HOST making it easy to operate the parking facility with one login and receiving several reports of different parking activities.

Portier – Making the Right Decisions!

Helsinki is one the busiest passenger ports in Europe, and the Port of Helsinki Ltd creates a seamless framework for sea traffic to destinations such as Stockholm and Tallinn. Among the strengths of the port are frequent liner traffic, efficient infrastructure, good road and rail connections, and excellent services provided in cooperation with the port’s business partners.

One important service for driving passengers arriving to the harbor area is parking. At Satamaparkki, parking garage operated by AimoPark, it is possible to pre-book your parking space, so you can arrive to the harbor assured that you will have an available space to park prior getting onboard.  

At the entrance of the parking facility, Portier parking guidance displays are indicating availability of parking spaces in the facility. In case the parking facility is full, the LPR (license plate recognition) camera at the entrance checks if your vehicle has a pre-booked space in the Premium parking area.

In the Premium area, Portier VISION cameras are monitoring parking spaces and indicating the availability of a space with green or red indicators. In the Premium parking spaces, Portier VISION cameras read the license plate of the parked vehicles and forward the information to the parking operator. Total counts at the entry and exit points are combined with the data form the VISION cameras, which then yields the total space availability for the entire facility. Seamless combination of multiple technologies is a great example of the flexibility and cost-efficiency of the Portier HOST parking guidance platform.

Portier HOST supports also centralized login which allows the operator to access all its parking facilities in Finland with single login into Portier HOST, which makes parking operations extremely easy and user friendly.  

Portier – Making the Right Decisions!

P Arkki is a new parking facility located in Jyväskylä, Finland and it is operated by Jyväs-Parkki. Funny enough, P Arkki is located in an old paper mill area and the word Arkki means a piece of paper but when combined with P, it means parking. P Arkki opened for customers in August 2023, and it serves short-term as well as contract parking customers consisting of habitants and employees in the area.  P Arkki offers parking capacity for more than 500 vehicles and more than 100 bicycles. Each parking space is also equipped with the possibility for EV charging.

Parking guidance in P Arkki is based on Portier space specific parking sensors. These sensors continuously monitor parking space availability in real-time, providing drivers with accurate information on available spots by showing the occupancy with either green or red lights. By optimizing parking availability, Portier reduces unnecessary fuel consumption and emissions associated with the search for parking spaces, contributing to a greener environment. In addition to minimized traffic congestion, well guided parking results in smoother, more efficient flow of vehicles, enhancing the overall customer experience.

Every parking facility is unique, and Portier’s highly customizable parking guidance solutions can cater to the specific needs and layout of each location, always.

Portier – Making the Right Decisions!

HSL (Helsingin Seudun Liikenne) is a public transport operator in the Helsinki metropolitan region and once you have a valid ticket to travel with HSL public transportation, you can park free or for a small fee in their Park & Ride facilities. Whilst HSL is responsible for the daily operations of P & R areas, Metropolitan Area Transport Ltd (Pääkaupunkiseudun Kaupunki Liikenne Oy) is responsible for all infrastructure investments and customer experience development in the locations.

HSL serves its customers with a Journey Planner application which the user can take advantage of when planning one’s journey to Helsinki city center for example. In Journey Planner you can search for Park & Ride sites and site-specific information such as the number of vacant car parking spaces. Number of available spaces has not been available from all sites, but HSL has started to implement Portier Vision Outdoor Cameras which will provide accurate and real-time space availability information. Space availability can be shown on the local guidance displays but the information is also transferred from our Portier HOST™ parking guidance platform to the Journey Planner of HSL which makes it visible for all travelers.

Lately, Portier has installed VISION outdoor cameras at a Park & Ride location in Huopalahti, Helsinki. VISION cameras are installed so that the complete parking area is being monitored by them to produce data about the parking capacity of the location.

Accurate space availability information helps travelers to plan their journeys more effectively and improves the customer experience. Overall, this makes public transportation more lucrative which supports the development of metropolitan region and reduces CO2 emissions.

Generally, effective calculation and guidance for outdoor parking areas remain one of the biggest challenges in parking and parking guidance. Over the years various solutions ranging from simple induction loop counting to individual ground sensors have been used but the most recent developments in camera technology and advanced image analysis have made it possible to utilize cameras for counting and guidance in outdoor parking areas. Main benefits of the camera solution compared to for example loop counting is the ease of operation – camera-based calculation does not need to be periodically calibrated which significantly reduces operational workload and improves the overall accuracy and reliability.

VISION outdoor cameras monitor defined areas and based on proprietary image analysis, they detect the number of vehicles and calculate the number of vacant spaces. Space availability can be shown for example in the Portier parking guidance displays, Portier Wayfinder web application or in a third-party application such as the Journey Planner of HSL. VISION outdoor camera algorithms are proprietary development by Portier, and our varying development environment offers unique conditions ranging from midnight sun to polar night and areas flooded with sunshine, rain, slush or snow. Such a diversity has made the outdoor solution suitable for different conditions globally.

Another great example of Portier’s range of technologies as well as flexibility of the Portier HOST platform which offers limitless opportunities to combine data and services with third party solutions.