TECH TIPS

Tech Tips - Navigate Parking with the Sac State App

Did you know there is a Sac State app for your smartphone?

Did you know it could help you find your next parking spot?

Relaunched with new technology in spring 2014, the Sac State app quickly became one of the must-have additions to every faculty, staff, student, and visitor of Sacramento State. The app is a go-to for calendar events, campus map, contact directory, and much more.

Recently added is the Commute tab, which allows users to see parking conditions on campus, bike paths, and shuttle routes, including real-time updates!

Senior Director of University Transportation, Parking & Support Services (UTPSS) Tony Lucas, explained how Sac State is ahead of the curve. During a recent California Public Parking Association meeting held in Monterey, Lucas asked for a show of hands for how many universities had apps. “About half raised their hands. I then asked how many had campus parking included in their app, and no one raised their hand.”

In order to get University Transportation & Parking Services’ (UTAPS) integrated into the Sac State app,  UTAPS worked closely with IRT providing their data tables, resources, and services, which IRT was able to adapt for mobile devices. “The process was smooth,” said Director of Web Services, Jeff Dillon. “It has been great working with UTAPS.” Lucas echoed these sentiments: “We provided a vision for the app, and using all of our data, Information Resources & Technology (IRT) was able to build around that.”

Historically, UTAPS struggled to get their information out there. Parking officers would take tallies of available parking in each lot/structure three times a day. This data helped create “heat maps,” that showed which lots were full, nearly full, or empty. These maps were shared on Facebook, with a reach of about six to seven-thousand people, Lucas estimated.

Today, UTAPS has evolved, with automated counts on key parking structures, which allow for dynamic maps that better represent the status of a parking lot in “real time.” Users of the app can access this information directly with more accurate counts. The benefits are two-fold: it prevents students from driving around unnecessarily wasting gas and time, and the knowledge empowers students to make better decisions on their commuting needs.

With additional services, Lucas stressed the importance of improving conditions on campus even further. “Everyone cares about parking and traffic, and a goal of this has been to push more alternative transportation. Ride sharing, carpool, commuting by bicycle, etc.” To help get the word out about the app, every student who picks up their parking pass receives an information flier on PayByPhone, which highlights the parking availability map. In addition, parking officers hand out the same fliers to visitors or other stressed out commuters. “They can use this app to check in real-time the availability of lots,” explained Parking Officer, Jeffrey Dierking.

UTAPS plans to expand their in-app services, including future heat-maps of bike compounds and local Regional Transit (RT) route planning. All of this culminates into the most empowering point of these expanded services: information. Students can now possess the information they need to navigate the campus. Parking is at a premium; while parking can be stressful at times, the integration of parking services into the Sac State app empowers students, faculty, staff, and visitors to find parking right away. That’s one less unnecessary headache.