To give an idea of what the project's about, here's the abstract from our proposal:
UCSD has a serious problem with undergraduate student parking. Most students must resort to parking in far corners of the campus and taking shuttle buses to their classes. When arriving at campus, people generally search for vacant parking spaces from the closest spaces to the farthest, unnecessarily wasting time. We propose a solution whereby students can determine whether a parking space is about to become vacant, reducing the time spent searching. A camera is pointed at a group of parking spaces in a given lot. The faces of drivers and their passengers will be detected through existing software, and their movements will be tracked. If the movements correspond with entry into a vehicle, then the parking space is about to become vacant. This information will be displayed both on a publicly accessible Web site (for use by mobile phones) and possibly on a sign readable from a distance.We hope you enjoy your visit!
