The First Italian–Zimbabwean Partnership to Revolutionise Parking in Smart Cities

Nabla Quadro, a company based in Rome operating in the business incubator ITech BIC Lazio, and Chartered Systems Integration (CSI), a leader in ICT systems headquartered in Harare, form a transcontinental business and technological partnership to provide a 4th Generation Parking Management Solution.

The system unifies the hardware infrastructure Sky Light Parking Systems by Nabla Quadro and the software ProPark™ by CSI to provide a solution that exterminates revenue leakages, improves revenue flows and reporting for parking authorities, whilst significantly reducing traffic jams (30% of which is generated by drivers cruising for parking spots). A recent survey by ACI (Automobile Club Italia) states that, considering only the 5 most traffic congested cities in Italy, the value of the time people spend in traffic jams is over 5 billion Euros. On balance, a system that guides drivers to a free space could lead to a potential saving of 1.5 billion Euros per year.

Thanks to the wireless sensors created by Nabla Quadro, which are installed flush in each parking space so as to prevent pedestrians and disabled people from tripping over them, it is possible to detect the start and end of parking sessions. The outstanding detection accuracy, due to a triple technology which mixes optical, infrared and magnetic sensors, allows payments management as well as the prompt identification of illegal situations like illegal parking or expired ticket.

The integration with ProPark™, software application developed by CSI, allows parking managers and attendants to monitor the status of payment related to occupied spaces and impose parking fines if necessary. Additional features of ProPark™ are the ability to send notifications to drivers’ smartphones to remind ticket expiry (close or already occurred) and the option to extend a parking session via SMS.

This unprecedented partnership between Italy and Zimbabwe makes available a fully integrated smart system for parking management which can improve the quality of life by decreasing traffic jams in urban centres, as well as environmental and noise pollution. Whilst this system reduces operational costs, SkyLight-ProPark System guarantees a significant increase in revenue for Municipalities and other City Park Agencies.

About Nabla Quadro

Nabla Quadro was founded in 2008. Its mission is to provide services and technological systems to improve road mobility and environment through integrated actions aimed at improving the quality of life in our cities. The reasons that led Nabla Quadro to the development of a traffic and parking sensor comes from the lack of cheap and reliable devices for vehicle detection in the typical conditions of urban vehicular traffic. Among the solutions which can be implemented through Sky Light Sensor there can be listed infomobility systems, management of parking spaces reserved to disabled people, traffic flows monitoring (e.g. in LTZs or parking areas), logistic management.

About Chartered Systems Integration

Chartered Systems Integration (CSI) enjoys the distinction of being the leading provider of technology solutions and services in the realm of finance. Since its formation in 2007, the company has grown rapidly in the Banking and Government Sectors in Africa. CSI is engaged in the design of domain solutions across major banking, revenue authority and governmental platforms. Today CSI has not only carried out expert and comprehensive solutions in Zimbabwe, but has also ventured into Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique, Uganda, Egypt, Morocco, United Kingdom, United States, India, Kenya, South Africa, Dubai, Germany and Tanzania. Recently, the growing interest in Smart Cities has lead CSI to look for international partnerships to develop end-to- end solutions for smart parking management.