Slashdot Mirror
Montreal Parking Meters Run Linux
jbecherv writes "According to LinuxDevices.com, new-fangled Montreal parking meters run embedded Linux (Google Cache). The City of Montreal is planning to roll out 500 to 800 wireless, solar-powered parking payment stations based on embedded Linux. There is even a
device profile
(Google Cache) that show some details about the meters... These meters run kernel 2.4.19 on a 206MHz StrongARM SA-1110. Each system has 64MB of RAM, boots from a CF device, and is networked wirelessly via GPRS."
But that seems like a lot of RAM. Is it?
Or does a 206 MHz processor with 64 MB of ram seem like DRASTIC OVERKILL for a parking meter?
Seriously, what's the deal?
Centralized control enables city officials to adjust rates on the fly, for example raising the rates during sporting events, concerts, or other times of high parking demand.
as if meters aren't expensive enough... We really needed someone to come up w/the bright idea to allow dynamic changes to parking meters.
The last parking meter I parked at was 25 cents for 10 minutes. That's just nuts. This will just enable them to have meters that take credit cards forcing even higher rates.
Want a way to stop people from coming downtown? Raise the rates on the meters even higher.
Parking meters are simple and reliable. Nothing like taking something that just works and replacing it with something else that is infinitely more complex, break-prone and expensive. Besides which, people will never use these things successfully. "Put coin in slot next to car" is as smart as people are. Seriously. People are going to pay for the wrong parking spots, pay too much money, and so on. Bad idea.
I have a parking meeter "obtained" from the storage room of my local municipality about 20 years ago. They had been out of service for 10 years, and installed 10 before that. Old enough that you could buy 8 minuites for a penny, anyway. Now, when I was playing with it as a kid- it still worked. Heavy as hell, was death on toes, but it still worked. In 40 years, where will these be? How will they be safely disposed of?
Just like touch screen voting, this seems like a "because we can" application of technology. Sometimes there's no reason to replace what works. The old steel parking meters are quite literally bulletproof. I simply cant imagine any reason that makes networked meters any better.
Of course, when I moved to DC I sold my car and bought a bus pass, so what do I know?
No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!
I remember way back in the day, a full set of support for PDA hardware and software was available. Digital was licensing the technology in order to develop the StrongARM (1995/6 for the 200Mhz version IIRC - got a Palm on my desk that's powered by one of those). ARM didn't have quite the same profile in embedded systems markets in those days, but they were certainly aware of the potential of their CPU: the ARM6 was the first CPU they specifically designed for embedded applications.
Interesting that it's now powering digital parking meters - running Linux no less!
Isn't this just a bit much for a parking meter? The more simple a solution, usually the better. There would be a reduction in moving parts with using the new devices, but I don't think that and the network idea are enough to justify this. The fact is the more complex things are made, the better chance of something going wrong. Even in the article they mention having to fix a bug. What will happen when another bug starts shorting people ticket time and they have to deal with a mob of angry car owners? Solar power is good and all, but has it ever been used successfully on such a project? It looks like politics took control and pushed special interests ahead of common sense. At least they're not running Windows PM special ultra extreme .NET software.
So, how about when somebody comes along with some chewed bubble gum and sticks it in the coin slots of the old parking meters? People are jerks.
Maybe they could put the solar panels on poles?
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
I'm sure someone will eventually notice an applicable remote exploit, it's bound to happen at some point. If they designed the embedded devices to be static (everything important on read-only roms, software upgrades to be done by running around to each one physically and replacing them), then as time passes the likelyhood of exploit will only grow and grow. If they designed them to be auto-updateable over the wireless network, then when someone finds an exploit before they manage to patch said exploit, they'll probably use it to re-install things their own way across the network, locking out further updates from the city, forcing the city guys to go out and manually clean out each machine by hand (erase/replace the flash storage that the OS and binaries was on).
11*43+456^2
Normally any conversation taking place about technical advancements of parking meters is usually left to the pub with the intoxicated...
But alas here I am... sober.
What I wonder is, being able to use your cell phone to pay for your parking fare on such a possible UBER METER, would it also SMS or phone you to nag you that your time is almost up and it's time to "feed" the meter?
Anyone that remembers pay toilets is surely dieing for info on state-of-the-art bleeding edge toilet tech. Anyone have any info on computerized pay toilets?
You had a 40 year old parking meter that would let you add more time to it from any other parking meter in the city (rather than having to run across the block/campus/city to that particular parking meter)? And the city could dynamically adjust the rates for a given area of the city in order to curtail congestion patterns??
That's incredible!
Free parking too if you use a wireless jamming device ;)
not that i'd ever do anything like that.......
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
I would like them to come up with a device (or a GPS plugin or whatever) which would show me the empty parking spots available in a radius around my current location.
I would think most people who work/commute downtown and don't want to pay monthly parking fees would be willing to shell out big bucks for such a feature.
Certainly beats crawling around the roadside for hours trying to find a parking spot.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
They don't want you paying the meter like you're supposed to. If you do, they only get 25 cents per 15 minutes or whatever (which would be a maximum of, what $24 per day? Even if they are in force 24 hours, which few are?). If you fail to pay, and the meter-maid spots it, they get $25 (or similar). They get more (possibly far more) for one ticket than for a whole day of good little parkers.
This is why there's often a short maximum total parking time limit -- gotta have turnover. The more people park, the more tickets have a chance of getting written.
This is also why you see news stories every now and then about people who go around feeding other people's meters getting arrested or otherwise harrased. These Helpy Helpertons cut down on revenue.
Municipalities don't want obedience, they want money. The parking-meter scam is but one method.
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
Seems to me they had parking metres before the days of Linux and IC's. Why the hell would you need an operating system on a parking meter. Sounds like a big waste of money to me. I think the mechanical ones would be a lot easier to maintain. People just have to make everything so damn complicated nowadays.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
"Where is the source code? I searched"
It looks like your making a joke, but I figured I'd mention this anyways as people seem to get confused at times about what the GPL demands of distributors.
The GPL states their obligation for supplying the code is to those who receive their products and by inferrence to whom they have distributed the imbedded Linux binaries to.
It looks like to get the code you're going to have to buy a traffic meter from them or ask for it from one of their current customers.
Do not spread "09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0" over the internet, thank you.
But with old-style parking meters, city guys go out and manually clean out each machine by hand every day.
That's a MINOR benefit. How about all the other stuff that sells the management on deploying this technology like:
- expired meters signal the agent to stop by and ticket. No more walking around checking every meter.... Super efficient way to raise revenues
- weekly/monthly stats of spaces highlight the areas of highest overtime parking incidence. Again, super efficient means of tagging and collecting revenue.
- stats reveal where meter feeding is commonplace, actual park time, and help set time limits based on actual usage. Again, super efficient means to more revenue.
- stats indicate effectiveness of foot agents in monitoring meter use and citing violators.
- "Average Time past exiration before ticketed" and "number of overtime cars who got away before being ticketed" come to mind as new performance metrics for metermaids of the 21st century.
and on and on and on..... Remember people, it's all about money.
Are users being given the option of download the source code?
The GPL requires disclosure of source code upon request of people who have acquired the binaries. Most Montreal residents don't have the binaries, so they aren't entitled to the source code. If the city itself bought the program (and the parking meters aren't being run through a proxy company such as the parking meter manufacturers), then the city is entitled to source code.
This mostly comes from the poster calling it a "Parking Meter" when it is more like a "Parking Pay Station".
Unless it's night time, there's plenty of light rays hitting the panels.
Even if it's a dreary rainy day, your solar powered calculator works just fine, and it's only got three or four low quality solar cells.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
Most pro and semi-pro digital cameras use CF. The primary reason for this is the very large amount of storage they can get in CF form factor, especially with a microdrive.
:-)
The media you mentioned is strictly for the common folk (not meant as a slure: all my cameras use SD
TW
Toronto's really don't "save" money per say (30 fewer collection agents -- 10% reduction in workforce).
The big benefit is the new machines are more difficult to vandalize and are easier to maintain which means they work. They're regularly communicating with head-office and report when something is broken.
It had been estimated that up to 10% of the old meters were broken at any given time. 10% of the meters not collecting revenue was a much bigger issue.
Rod Taylor