Qidong, a county-level city in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province, recently added more than 3,000 parking spaces that are connected to a smart system integrating a host of services including parking, guidance, and payment. [Photo/ntfabu.com]

Qidong, a county-level city in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province, recently added more than 3,000 parking spaces that are connected to a smart system integrating a host of services including parking, guidance, and payment.

The smart parking system, designed to provide a solution to Qidong's chronic parking problems, uses high-tech to realize real-time information on vacant spaces to increase efficiency.

The "Qidong Smart Parking" WeChat official account and mobile app were developed as part of the project, making use of such technologies as cloud computing, the internet of things, mobile payment, and smart identification. They are the basis of a parking operation command center and a smart parking software management system.

By connecting to the system via the WeChat account or mobile app, drivers can search for nearby vacant spaces, follow the optimal route to get there and pay for the time they are parked.

The system supports Alipay, WeChat Pay and other third-party payment services, and accepts prepayment cards.

To date, the smart parking project has opened 3,296 new parking spaces.

Older parking spaces have also been connected to the system, including 4,648 on the roadside, 7,028 at the curb, and 9,261 spaces in 108 public, private, and functional parking lots. A total of 20,937 parking spaces in the urban area are now included in the system.

The project began charging for parking on Oct 10.

Operators have started implementing parking charge management fees for motor vehicle three-dimensional parking garages as well as motor vehicle ground and underground parking spaces and motor vehicle road temporary parking spaces. Free parking time is set for motor vehicle aboveground and underground parking lots and temporary motor vehicle road parking spaces.