LSU professor Manos Chatzopoulos developed an app to help students find parking on campus.

As an assistant professor of computational astrophysics, Chatzopoulos has experience working with machine learning, software engineering and data analysis. He decided to use these skills to solve the ultimate problem: campus parking.

“I’ve always been bothered by the time I spend driving around the loop to find parking,” Chatzopoulos said. “Bringing my data analysis and software background into this, I thought it would be a good idea to create an innovative solution that would help the community.”

The idea for a parking app came to fruition over the past few years during the pandemic, when Chatzopoulos had more free time at home. With this extra time, he was able to refine the algorithm of the app, known as ParkZen, and teach himself iOS development. 

Chatzopoulos teamed up with computer science junior Haron Temam, who helped with the app’s development and optimization.

“It was two years of a lot of work,” Chatzopoulos said. “To be able to calculate when parking becomes available without having to bother the user… [we] spent hours and days and miles driving around campus [to find] parking.”

When users enter campus, ParkZen processes motion activity data. With its algorithm, the app can tell when users are driving and when they are parked. ParkZen uses this data to mark parking spots in real time and provide turn-by-turn directions to available spots.

Chatzopoulos and Temam put measures in place to maintain user privacy. ParkZen users have to have their location always on for the app to work so the app knows when people are approaching and leaving campus. ParkZen does not track user identity or their cars. 

Chatzopoulos hopes his app provides a more effective solution not just for students, but for LSU Parking and Transportation Services as well. With ParkZen, LSU can better allocate their resources to improve parking.

With LSU Parking and Transportation Services and the dean of the LSU Law Center, ParkZen did a soft launch in January with the four parking lots around the Law Center. The only advertising for the app was a promotional email from the dean and app QR codes in the lots.

Chatzopoulos noticed a “spillover effect” when collecting data from students. He says that students outside the law school were beginning to take notice of the app, which increased downloads.

Because ParkZen is based on smart crowd sourcing, Chatzopoulos says the more people who use it, the better. With more data, the app can more accurately show where parking is available.

ParkZen did a full-scale launch on campus last Monday. According to ParkZen’s Twitter page, they have already surpassed 3,000 downloads in their first week.

Chatzopoulos says the app’s success wouldn’t be possible without the help he received from LSU.

“It’s an effort LSU Parking and Transportation was committed to — improving mobility and parking experiences for students,” Chatzopoulos said. “I do want to thank [LSU Parking and Transportation] for having trust in homegrown technology built at LSU to try and help the problem.”

ParkZen recently won a $100,000 investment from Nexus Louisiana at Baton Rouge Entrepreneur week to help improve the app.

Chatzopoulos hopes the app doesn’t just help with parking, but with the environment too. 

“People spend an average of 30% of their time in traffic circling around the block… This 30% of time translates to an added footprint in carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere,” Chatzopoulos said. “Looking for parking contributes to global warming.”

By minimizing the time people are searching for a parking spot, Chatzopoulos believes the app can help decrease these carbon dioxide emissions.  

Despite living on campus, biology freshman Ella Cochran has experienced problems finding parking.

“Parking on campus is the worst nightmare,” Cochran said. “It’s so stressful — especially in the morning when there’s commuter students on campus. An app like this was definitely needed.”

Cochran initially found that the app was confusing.

“While I do like the interface, the lack of a guide makes it difficult to drive around and use right away,” she said. 

Cochran suggested the app could have a tutorial upon download to make it more user-friendly. She also feels it would be better if more people were also on the app so more data would be available.

“It did direct me to where there was an open spot, but I ended up choosing another spot that wasn’t documented on the app,” Cochran said. “It’s a good starting point, and I do think it’ll get better over time with more downloads.”

Chatzopoulos believes that ParkZen is a “team effort” that he hopes to keep improving on over the years. He hopes to expand to more universities in Louisiana and the South and other organizations that have parking issues, like sports stadiums and hospitals.

“This is going to be an ongoing effort, and we’re always going to keep refining and adding more and more features,” Chatzopoulos said.