Copyright © 2004-2009 by Gerhard Haag, U.S.A.

DEDICATION

This publication is dedicated to any vehicle owner who answers positively to one or more of the following questions:

Ever had a problem finding a parking space for your car?

Cruised endlessly around the area looking for a parking space?

Ordered by a policeman to “keep moving”? 

Double, triple or quadruple parked?

Had to park on a sidewalk?

Dented your own or someone else's car while trying to fit into a tight space — or get out of the space after someone else parked too close?

Returned to your car after parking it and found the car had been towed?

Received a ticket for illegal parking?

Hate meter maids? 

Had you car stolen after parking it?

Valuables stolen from your parked car?

Found new dents or scratches on your car after parking it?

Car vandalized?

Could not remember where you parked?

Live in a dense downtown area?

Park your car in the morning when the snow storm has just begun and  come back later in the day and found it buried?

Had to enter a dark parking garage alone at night?

Wondered what kind of moron would mistake a perfectly good parking garage stairwell for a public toilet?

Had to tip a valet parking attendant and had only large bills or no cash at all?

Thought to yourself “we can put a man on the moon and I can't park in Manhattan or Chicago or San Francisco or L.A., etc.”?

Wished that “six gun justice”was reinstituted so you could properly reward urban transportation planners and implementers for the results of their ideas?

Gave a one fingered salute to a sign that threatened immediate and disastrous consequences if you dared to park in a convenient space?

Spoke in a “language that the preacher does not know” while trying to find a parking space or trying to fit into a space?

Wondered what tonnage of air pollutants you were dumping into the air annually by cruising around looking for a parking space?

Had to build your parking lot in a limited space where every square foot of parking space means less space available for living or shopping?

Ever wondered if a smarter, safer, better solution to parking would appear in this society?

Started to “think outside the box” and got outside just long enough to see the lid closing?

If you have never experienced any of the above, this book is not for you. If, like most of us, you may have had one or two experiences similar to the above, welcome to our publication and please read on.

Forword — by Dirk Lohan

Since the automobile was invented approximately 100 years ago it has rapidly multiplied to numbers approaching a 1:1 relationship with the human population in the developed countries.  The car has become a consuming passion for millions while also presenting a difficult issue for planners and public officials alike.

We all love our cars when they transport us safely and efficiently from place to place and when we can park them conveniently at will.  However, we hate our cars when they get stuck in traffic and are one rooftop in a thousand to be viewed from our office or home.  The idea of automated parking is one whose time has come because it addresses several issues that conventional parking cannot solve.  It is not surprising that early experimentation with automated parking was undertaken in central Europe and Japan, because of the high density of population and the extreme scarcity of land.

Industry routinely employs fully automated storage and warehousing systems which allow parts and supplies to be introduced into the manufacturing process at a predetermined time and rate.  From the point of view of logistics the car is just another object of certain dimensions and can easily be moved, stored and recalled when needed.  The application of existing technology to automate parking, i.e. elevators and computers, is a natural and highly desirable development as it has the potential of innovating parking solutions that are safer and more convenient to the user and operator alike.

Foremost, automated parking does significantly reduce space requirements for the storage of cars which relates into less land use and less cost in land acquisition.  Operationally, an automated garage requires minimum personnel and reduces greatly the possibility of car damage within the garage completely.

From the driver's perspective he/she simply delivers the car to an attractive grade level entry space.  The car is automatically removed and stored until the driver returns to recall it by inserting his/her parking ticket.  The waiting time is also greatly reduced because the driver does not need to go to the car, back it out of the space, and then drive it down a winding ramp; all these functions are taken over by the automated equipment.

As a designer who has struggled with parking lots, garages and their relationship to the human environment, I am happy to see a new alternative to the age-old problem of parking design.  This should allow architects, planners and public officials to come up with more efficient and more attractive solutions to the disposition of cars in our cities.

This volume by Gerhard Haag, who has made it his mission to convert us to Automated Parking, describes all economical, functional, technical and environmental aspects.  It will become the accepted handbook for automated parking immeasurably aiding the design professional in his task.  It is be my hope and prediction that in a few years we will see a wide acceptance of these concepts for the betterment of our cities and our automobile related lives.

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