The municipal authorities in Heist-op-den-Berg (Antwerp Province) have come up with a novel way of verifying just how many parking spaces are really needed in the town. The drones are flying over Heist-op-den-Berg to look at where people park and for how long. The information collected during the drones’ flights over the town is being used to make the local authority’s parking policy more efficient and better adapted to the needs of those that live in and visit the town.
Council uses drones to verify how many parking spaces are required in Heist-op-den-Berg
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Today (Monday 23 January) the drones will fly out for a 4th and final time. The information collected from today’s and the four previous flights will be used to determine how many parking spaces are required. This will enable the local authority to adapt its parking policy to meet the requirements of residents and visitors. For example, it might be the case that on market days a greater number of parking spaces are required than otherwise is the case.
Alderman Katleen Vantyghem (Flemish nationalist) told the regional TV channel RTV that “People sometimes say that we have too few parking spaces in Heist-op-den-Berg. However, studies have shown that we have very many parking spaces here”.
Ms Vantyghem added that the information collected from the drones will be used to draw up a new parking plan for the town. The current parking plan is more than a decade old. The new plan should be ready by March.
Privacy issues?
But doesn’t using drones create issues with privacy? Apparently not, as the drones fly at 45 metres altitude.
Only the contours of vehicles are captured on film. People, numberplates and other elements that might reveal a person’s identity are not displayed of the footage shot by the drones.