The software, developed by Nadav Levy, a Ph.D. student at Tel Aviv University's Porter School of Environmental Science, along with his supervisors Prof. Itzhak Benenson and Dr. Karel Martens, identifies different strategies for improvement and tests the impact of new policies before they are implemented on the roads.
The simulator, which models the parking challenges of a particular district or city, tests a new parking policy by implementing it into the Parkagent environment, gathering information on how these policies impact the drivers, who have individualized parking needs.
The software takes into account their probable destinations, how long they require parking, and how much they are willing to pay.
Policies could include a change in the amount of time permitted in a public parking space, the construction or closing of a parking lot, or the construction of a new building in the environment - all of which alter parking demand.
The software assesses key values such as the drivers' cruising time, how long they park for, and the distance from the parking space to their destination.
Levy analyzes the resulting data to determine whether a policy would decrease the time the drivers would spend to find a parking place near the destination.
The software has already been put to the test, evaluating the potential impact of parking policy changes in Israel and Europe.
The report has been recently published in the journal Computers, Environment and Urban Systems.