Technology is taking much of the fun out of finding a place to park the car. Now, in cities from New York to Seattle, the door is open to a host of wireless technologies seeking to improve the parking meter even further. Chicago and Sacramento, California, among others, are equipping enforcement vehicles with infrared cameras capable of scanning license plates even at 30 miles an hour. Using a global positioning system, the cameras can tell which individual cars have parked too long in a two-hour parking zone. At a cost of $75,000 a camera, the system is an expensive upgrade of the old method of chalking tires and then coming back two hours later to see if the car has moved.

Parking czars in municipalities across the country are starting to realize parking meters’ original goals: generating revenue and creating a continuous turnover of parking spaces on city streets. Clearly, their main questions are “Would there be enough new revenues from installing the expensive parking monitoring devices?” and “How many devices should be installed to maximize the revenue streams?” From the device manufacturer’s point of view, the question is “Would there be enough demand for their products to justify the investment required new facilities and marketing?”

You are working for the manufacturer of the camera systems, and your job is to put together a business case for your company. The main question you are trying to answer is this: “How much can we charge for our product per camera and still offer value to the city?” To get to this answer, you will need to try to answer several questions:

1. What is your target market (for our purposes, choose a city)?

2. What is the current parking monthly (or annual) income of that city?

3. What is the current maintenance cost of the parking system as it stands?

4. What would be the estimated maintenance costs of the new parking system?

5. What would be the projected monthly (or annual) income with the new system?

This problem will feel very rough and fluffy. That's okay. Learning how to make these rough estimates in a logical way is useful when determining what is feasible for your company. Some things you might consider when running your analysis are:

Population

Number of cars

Estimated number of parking meters (this might take some digging)

How often people are not paying for their parking

If you are unable to find the information, make an educated guess (provide your reasoning). Cite any references using IEEE format.

Summarize your analysis in a one-page technical letter as if writing to your boss who is wondering how much he can consider charging for the new system. It’s okay to provide a range, but maker sure it is justified by your calculations and data. Provide any attachments that are necessary (such as calculations), but make sure they are neat.