Innovation: SPIE, Communithings and Orange, urban mobility partners

New sensors to facilitate parking in Liège

Brussels, September 12th, 2018 – SPIE Belgium, a subsidiary of the SPIE Group, the independent European leader in multi-technical services in the areas of energy and communications, has fitted sensors to 223 parking spaces in 19 streets in the centre of Liège. This initiative aims at meeting the needs of local traders wanting to increase the city centre's appeal.

Following the success story of Mons, where SPIE installed sensors for 110 parking spaces to reduce city centre congestion in collaboration with Communithings, this Brussels-based start-up company was called in by Liège city council for a similar project. Working in partnership once again with Communithings and with the mobile phone operator Orange, SPIE Belgium proposed a solution based on sensors built into the road surface at each parking space. The City of Liège now has 223 smart parking spaces to increase the appeal of local shops and businesses. These spaces let car drivers and delivery people park for 30 minutes free of charge, with the aim being to increase parking availability by encouraging a fast turnover rate.

For this project, SPIE Belgium was tasked with installing the sensors, each equipped with a battery with 5-7 years’ life, to detect the presence of a vehicle in the parking space and transmit data to a central system. Communication between the cloud and sensors happens via an Orange NB-IoT network. Car park operators thus receive the data to enable them to check compliance with the parking time limits (30 minutes’ free parking) and the proper use of disabled parking spaces.

Christian Deleener, Business Development Manager at SPIE Belgium, said: “We’re pleased to have carried out this operation successfully with our partners on behalf of the City of Liège. It confirms not just our expertise in connected things, but also the excellent quality-price ratio of our services. SPIE Belgium is proud to contribute in this way to the smart city of tomorrow. Making city parking smoother, improving air quality and fostering local business at the same time. What else could you ask for ?”