The Department for Transport (DfT) is preparing to run discovery and alpha work on the development of a National Parking Platform (NPP).
The follows the completion of a proof of concept with Manchester City Council, which is hosting the platform, and consultancy Parking Matters.
The NPP is being developed to help local authorities and private companies exchange relevant data, and users to find available parking spaces. It is based on technical specifications from the Alliance for Parking Data Standards (APDS).
It will make the data available to the public through third party apps and is aimed at raising the ‘digital visibility’ of car parks and on-street parking areas.
According to a market notice from the DfT looking for support, the discovery project will explore the commercial and governance models to ensure the NPP is robust and interoperable with data systems for other transport services, and the alpha work will develop a prototype.
The work will be led by its traffic and technology division, is expected to begin in mid February and run for around 16 weeks.
Parking Matters has indicated that over the longer term the NPP could be extended to integrate with mobility as a service platforms, provide information and payment mechanisms for electric vehicle charging, be used in managing mobility hub operations, and contribute to other operations such as emission controls and freight management.
Image from GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0
