Car Park Maths Project
July 6, 2008
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Do you have problems setting an interesting and new maths project, that all the students in your class, whatever their level of ability is, can take part in? This project to plan a new car park layout, gained the interest of the students and provided many lines of investigation that stretched the more able, while allowing the others to utilise their basic maths. I used it with GCSE students but it can easily be adapted to other levels.
This idea was thought up when the college car park was being extended and changed and it certainly engaged the students and provided for some novel and interesting ideas from the students.
Drawing a Scale Plan
The students will need to measure the car park, paths and buildings. They will need to calculate the angles to ensure the lines meet up correctly. Encourage a legend to be added to the plan to show trees, bushes, paths, doors etc
Set a scale that the plan should be drawn to, this will enable you to easily check the results at the start against a master plan. This will involve the use of ratios to calculate the length of the lines of the paper.
Alternatively, this could be a combined exercise for the whole class, producing a single scale plan that can be copied and provided as the starting point of the project.
Data Gathering
The students will need to obtain data to decide how big to make their car park spaces. There are various types of data gathering and surveys that can be undertaken and used in the project. Some examples are given below, but don’t let this list limit your imagination.
- The size of spaces in a number of car parks in the local area.
- The size of various types of cars
- The popularity of the different size cars
- The room need to open car doors
Presenting Data
There are various standard ways to present the data, for the car park spaces and the car park sizes. Some examples are specified below for the car data, but there are many more possibilities. The students can take this as far as their capabilities allow.
- Group the car data in to a frequency table. Calculate the percentages to show the most popular sizing groups.
- Visually present the grouped data in bar charts
- Use a scatter plot to show the relationship between length and width. There should be a strong correlation.
- The popularity of cars sizes could be presented as a ratio.
Calculating Statistics
Everyone should be able to attempt to calculate the median, mode and mean averages for the length and width of the spaces and the cars. A good extension is to calculate further measures such as the standard deviation and percentiles.
Making Decisions from Data
The point of the data gathering is to determine what size the car park space needs to be. They are trying to fit in the maximum number of spaces, while still allowing the car park to be used effectively. This is the interesting part to see what the students will think of.
- do the students remember that you need to open and close the doors
- have they allowed room to drive in and out of spaces
- what inventive ideas have they come up with. One report handed in had three recommended car space sizes, one for large cars, one for small cars and one for disabled drivers who need to open their doors wide.
Extension Study
There are many further directions that this study can be taken to. A few ideas are below, but encourage your students use their imagination
- Usage Surveys: Surveying the car use in the area to determine the usage to ensure the car park has enough spaces.
- Financial: Would it be possible to charge for the use of the car park, how much you would expect to make, how much it would cost to operate, would people pay.
- Trigonometry: One student measured the turning circle of a few cars and use trigonometry to calculate the optimum turning space needed to get in and out of a car park space
Marking
You are really marking this project on the accuracy, applicability and the difficulty employed in the various techniques, but do allow a portion for the finished result.
- Are there a reasonable number of spaces?
- Is it possible to get in and out of you space and car without scraping the car next to it.
This study was very popular with the students and the reports varied from fairly basic to some advanced maths according to the ability of the student. While they had some guidance and ideas, they were encouraged to think up more for themselves and they certainly did this.
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Parking in Rome
June 28, 2008
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In the centre of Rome, only permanent (certified) residents are allow to park in the streets, and they find it too extremely difficult to find a parking place. Even for them, it is harder than winning a prize in a lottery. You would be frustated all the time to find a parking place, and the police will most certainly confiscate your car and you will need to go through a lot of paperworks, rounds in various offices, and heavy fines to have it back. Currently, the Municipality made this a big business, so it is next to impossible to get away with it. In addition, you should also consider the security issue, i.e. the possible theft of petty thieves etc. Only a minority of historical, mannerly palaces (of very wealthy people) and monumental, renaissance palaces (seat of Ministries, Institutions, or Museums etc.) have parking lots or garages. They are consequently out of reach. There are only two public garages in the centre where you could park your car, but they are situated not in really highly central areas. The nearest is beneath the Borghese Gardens (address: Via del Galoppatoio), the other is just in front of Termini, Rome’s main train station, and it is run by ACI (Italian Automobile Association). They are both expensive (no less than 30-35 Euro per day, IE no less than 47-55 US$ currently). It also takes normally a rather long walk or short taxi ride (from all other central quarters), to go back and forth to these garages. Another solution is parking the car at the long term parking facility of Rome’s Fiumicino-Leonardo da Vinci’s airport, 38 km from town. The cost is appr. 10 Euro per day. Besides the reasonable cost, it is easy to find when driving to Rome from the all the motorways reaching the town. You could commute to and from the apartment with the dedicated train connecting the airport to the main train station Termini (cost appr. 9 Euro per person, time: 35 minutes), or you can also use our car service, which you can book beforehand.
Last, and probably least, is parking in your hotel, but only the large Americanized hotels far from the centre have such facilities.Other than the above, there are no other solutions.We recommend that you forget about using a car when visiting Rome. Besides, traffic is chaotic, circulation nightmarish (since the old days, as Ben Hur acknowledged…), and moreover it is allowed only to special license holders in some areas, or subject to circulations restraints. You would be frustated all the time. Above all, Rome’s centre is a gigantic maze, many sights can be reached and appreciated only by walking through little alleys and along a complicated urban layout.The bottom line: when in Rome… go around on foot and public tranport, as all clever and savvy visitors of Rome do (unless you come to Rome on purpose seeking a nervous breakdown). If you will stay in the centre, all the sights will be more or less near you, at walking distance, or reachable with short metro/bus/taxi ride (quite well organized in the Eternal City). |
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Exports & Import Peaked at Shanghai Port
June 21, 2008
Imports and exports continued to surge at Shanghai port, with the volume totaling 245.5 billion U.S. dollars in the first five months of 2008.
Shanghai Customs statistics showed the trade volume was 26.6 percent up year on year, 7.4 percentage points higher than that of same period of last year.
With this volume, Shanghai port did about one-quarter of the country’s foreign trade.
In a breakdown,
exports : 155.73 billion U.S. dollars, (up 28.2 percent)
imports : 89.77 billion U.S. dollars, (up 23.9 percent) of which, imports under general trade accounted for 35.2 billion U.S. dollars, up 28.2 percent from a year ago but 3.2 percentage points faster.
Foreign trade peaked in May at Shanghai port to hit 51.86 billion U.S. dollars, up 35.6 percent from the same month a year ago.
The lion’s share of the foreign trade at Shanghai port was done by overseas financed ventures, followed by state-owned companies and private Chinese businesses.
The European Union (EU) remained the port’s top trading partner, followed by the United States, Japan, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Africa.
Source: China Daily
Tags: Africa, chinese car park, ShanghaiRelated Posts:
Automated Parking System T5 Multi-Storey Car Park, Heathrow, London, United Kingdom
June 16, 2008
ParkingNewsIndia: Heathrow’s Terminal 5 began passenger operations on 27th March 2008 and suffered one of the most disastrous openings in airport history. Despite costing a total of £4.3bn, the terminal was forced to cancel over 500 flights and lost around 28,000 bags within the first few weeks of opening. T5 was unable to resume its full schedule until 8 April 2008.
However, evidence of the terminal’s potential, particularly in regards to technology, is found at its multi-storey car park, which has a new intelligent parking system.
Upon arrival at the car park, the car has its registration plate recorded by a number plate recognition system and printed on a ticket for the driver. Once through the barrier the driver isdirected to an empty parking space.
HOW DOES THE SYSTEM WORK?
This system works by using an information screen at the barrier, a bay monitoring system and further intelligent signage at a number of strategic positions throughout the car park, which indicate where to find an empty space and how many spaces there are. This information is updated in real time as the sensors are all networked to a central system, which ‘polls’ them every few seconds for an update on status.
“Once the car is parked a sensor will mark the bay as occupied. “
Empty parking bays in the T5 multi-storey are indicated by the green light of a sensor placed over the space; in this case, because there were no pillars the sensor and light were combined into one unit. Once parked the sensor will mark the bay as occupied and the green light will go off.
Other colours are available and T5 disabled spaces are marked with a blue light. The driver can then simply go to the terminal and conduct his or her business.
ON THE WAY HOME
Currently, when returning to your vehicle, however hard you try you may still forget the details of the zone you’re parked in. The new car park has a solution – by inserting your ticket into a car-locator terminal at the car park (one of 16 such machines at the entrances and on each floor) the driver will get a 3D map image on a 32 inch LCD screen indicating a region where the car is parked.
Each floor is divided into four regions of around 200 cars, with each floor holding around 800 cars. When parking the car is tracked with a number of cameras assigned to every region, at the start and end of each.
“The system saves the driver roaming round and round the car park looking for a space and so can reduce carbon emissions.”
This means that the system knows only which floor and region the car is parked in and the location cannot be pinpointed to a particular space. Systems are being developed to do this but they are not in use at T5.
This system uses only around 35 infrared cameras which can recognise number plates; a more accurate system would require more cameras or different technology. To pinpoint a car to a particular space the spaces would have to be numbered and this is not the case at the 3,800-space Heathrow T5 multi-storey car park (MSCP).
CAR PARK AND SYSTEM
The entire MSCP is networked and space details are displayed throughout the car park on electronic signs and updated in real time via the sophisticated sensor system provided by Highlight Parking Systems Ltd.
David Harrison, the managing director of Highlight Parking Systems, commented: “The system saves the driver roaming round and round the car park looking for a space and so can reduce carbon emissions. In the T5 car park this could save 397t a year (BAA research figure).”
Highlight Parking Systems also installed a similar system in the Terminal One MSCP (short term) as a trial prior to the T5 contract. In this case, the sensors and indicator lights were in separate units. Siemens developed and installed the car location system.
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Heathrow T5 opened on 27th March 2008. |
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Highlight Parking Systems has installed an innovative sensor and indicator system at the T5 MSCP. |
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The green light indicates a free parking space; the blue light indicates a free disabled space. |
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Each of the 3,800 spaces has a sensor and light. |
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The system has been hailed by BAA as one which will contribute to reducing carbon emissions. |
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Cesena Automatic Underground Parking System, Italy
June 16, 2008
CarparkingNewIndia:The late 1990s saw the first commercial installation of a brand new, completely automated parking system. TREVIPARK was a new construction and engineering development that provided an alternative parking system ideally suited for use in inner city and urban settings. The TREVIPARK system solves many of the traditional problems associated with urban parking; congestion, pollution, land space, security; through the installation of compact, circular, underground silos that optimise space, are easily installed, and are completely automatic. The first installation of this modular, automated parking system was in Cesena, Italy. The local authorities sought a parking solution that would minimize interference in the surrounding area, both to underground utilities and existing overland structures. The compact TREVIPARK system offered a number of features that led to its approval by the Italian authorities. These included automatic parking without the driver; vehicle parking utilising a 360° vertical, rotating lift placing vehicles directly into a parking bay; average parking and retrieval time of 50 seconds; and high security. Due to its compact design it could be placed in close proximity to existing buildings in the town centre. The garage holds up to 108 vehicles.
AUTOMATED, UNDERGROUND PARKING SYSTEM
The design for Cesena was chosen for it innovative use of space and its structural strength; the circular nature of the TREVIPARK system is integral to the vertical lifting device which operates under uniform dimensions throughout, gives optimal area containment, and creates an extremely strong structure that will resist deformation under stress. Drivers stop their vehicles on a parking lane. After exiting the vehicle and inserting a card at an automatic telling machine the system, through multiple sensors, performs various security and height checks and then conveys the vehicle to the lift. From here the lift descends, rotates and transfers the vehicle into an available parking bay. Drivers can retrieve their vehicles using the same card at the exit point.
CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION
The underground parking ‘silo’ is a reinforced concrete cylinder. This continuous concrete diaphragm wall is 18.8m internal diameter. The silo is up to nine levels deep. Each level is 2.3m in height. The internal parking stalls are constructed from pre-cast reinforced concrete. They are radially placed around the perimeter of the cylinder to receive 12 vehicles on each tier. The lift structure occupies the centre of the cylinder. It features a rotating steel tower with car-lift and an automated trolley for vehicle deposit and retrieval. The lift moves vertically while rotating simultaneously to deliver vehicles to the parking stalls. Electro-mechanical and electronic devices and sensors are an important feature to check for movement of any cars during transit. The only above ground construction is a pylon for receiving magnetic parking cards.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT AND SAFETY
Due to its reduced entry and exit bay sizes and automatic operation TREVIPARK offers a number of environmental advantages over conventional parking systems. This includes reduced energy consumption, air and noise pollution. Its compact construction allows for minimal impact on existing architecture and road systems. It fits in with existing structures without being a concrete eyesore. The system is very user friendly and safety is heightened by its automatic operation. There is no reason for anybody but system technicians to enter the underground levels. The system also features advanced fire-fighting, anti-flood, ventilation and security systems that are computer controlled and constantly monitored by a control centre. OTHER INSTALLATIONS To date there are nine systems that are operational across Europe. Currently systems are being constructed in Stockholm, Turin and Rome. Systems are subject to planning permission in London and Copenhagen. Following the initial Cesena installation of two silos, four subsequent silos have been installed with a total of 312 spaces. Design features are also variable; underground levels range from one to nine, optional kiosks for sheltered and secure waiting areas can also be incorporated into any design. The underground structure can also be used as part of the foundation system for any above ground structures built on top of the car park. TREVIPARK can also be built as an over ground car-parking facility.
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Loading bay for the underground parking system in the Piazza Fabbri, Cesena, Italy. |
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The TREVIPARK system solves many of the traditional problems associated with urban parking; congestion, pollution, land space and security. |
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The underground parking ‘silo’ is a continuous, reinforced concrete, diaphragm cylinder, 18.8m internal diameter. |
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The internal parking stalls were constructed from pre-cast reinforced concrete and radially placed around the perimeter of the cylinder to receive 12 vehicles on each tier. |
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Compact construction was minimally invasive to surrounding structures. |
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The lift structure occupies the centre of the cylinder. It features a rotating steel tower with car-lift and an automated trolley for vehicle deposit and retrieval. |
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