Unless you did all your Holiday shopping online this season, you no doubt experienced the nuisance of trying to find a parking spot. In San Carlos, this was becoming an issue beyond just frustration. Businesses were worried about losing customers due to the lack of parking availability. The city took action using Internet of Everything (IoE) technology and came up with "smart parking."

The idea is simple: install sensors in each parking spot that can detect when a vehicle is present or not. Motorists who have installed the smart parking app on their smart device have visibility into available parking spots in the vicinity.

But why stop with parking? The use of sensory devices can be implemented in many other areas of city improvement as well, such as prevention in sewer problems, traffic lights, and more. Simply by detecting an issue, city maintenance crews can be dispatched to solve the issue before it becomes a bigger problem.

To see smart parking in action, watch this short video.