Virtual parking lots

A method of managing a parking facility, the method comprising:

• obtaining an image of at least a portion of a vehicle entering the parking facility;
• relaying an image data for the portion of the vehicle entering the parking facility to a central control computer;
• obtaining an image of at least a portion of the vehicle exiting the parking facility;
• relaying an image data for the portion of the vehicle exiting the parking facility to a central control computer;
• determining by the central control computer the classification of the vehicle as the vehicle enters the parking facility;
• storing in memory of the central control computer parking parameters for at least a first and a second class of vehicle, the parking parameters including a total number of class spots, a number of used class spots and a number of remaining class spots;
• increasing the number of used class spots for the first class of vehicles and decreasing the number of remaining class spots for the first class of vehicles when the vehicle entering the facility is determined to belong to the first class of vehicles;
• increasing the number of used class spots for the second class of vehicles and decreasing the number of remaining class spots for the second class of vehicles when the vehicle entering the facility is determined to belong to the second class of vehicles;
• decreasing the number of used class spots for the first class of vehicles and increasing the number of remaining class spots for the first class of vehicles when the vehicle exiting the facility is determined to belong to the first class of vehicles;
• and
• decreasing the number of used class spots for the second class of vehicles and increasing the number of remaining class spots for the second class of vehicles when the vehicle exiting the facility is determined to belong to the second class of vehicles.

A method of managing a parking facility, the method comprising:

• determining by a central control computer a classification of a vehicle as the vehicle enters the parking facility;
• storing in memory of the central control computer a plurality of parking parameters for at least a first and a second class of vehicle, the parking parameters including a total number of class spots, a number of used class spots and a number of remaining class spots;
• increasing the number of used class spots for the first class of vehicles and decreasing the number of remaining class spots for the first class of vehicles when the vehicle entering the facility is determined to belong to the first class of vehicles;
• increasing the number of used class spots for the second class of vehicles and decreasing the number of remaining class spots for the second class of vehicles when the vehicle entering the facility is determined to belong to the second class of vehicles;
• decreasing the number of used class spots for the first class of vehicles and increasing the number of remaining class spots for the first class of vehicles when the vehicle exiting the facility is determined to belong to the first class of vehicles;
• and
• decreasing the number of used class spots for the second class of vehicles and increasing the number of remaining class spots for the second class of vehicles when the vehicle exiting the facility is determined to belong to the second class of vehicles.