????Zhang Qian ????zhqcindy@163.com ????EVIDENCE that the world will become dependent on big data and cloud technology is on display at the ongoing China Hi-Tech Fair. ????Cloud technology is now being used to optimize city parking. A Shenzhen-based company has designed a smartphone application that helps drivers navigate to open parking spaces. ????“The smart parking system uses big data to arrange and allocate parking resources around the city. Our clients will be able to enjoy a range of services related to parking,” said Zhang Wenliao, a staff member from ALK Electronic Co. Ltd. ????“Cloud technology has entered people’s lives in many industries and we are focusing on solving parking problems in big cities,” said Zhang at the Smart City Hall area at the high-tech fair in the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center. ????Zhang said the company used to mainly manufacture hardware before 2012, but transferred its core business to Internet and cloud technology over the past two years. ????The smart parking system, launched Tuesday, will display and send real-time parking information to its users via smartphone application. ????The system can now provide navigation services. People can use the app to book parking spaces early next year, according to Zhang. ????Zhang said the company is in negotiations with governmental departments, shopping malls and property management companies at residential compounds for cooperation. Zhang said they will open 100 trial parking spots in Shenzhen to test the system. ????According to the company’s research, there are approximately 100 million parking lots around the nation and 50 million of the parking spaces are vacant for at least part of the day. ????“We will work with residential compounds and monitor parking spaces that can be rented out,” said Zhang. “Individual clients can also upload their vacant space onto our platform so that other drivers can make use of the spare space.” ????Zhang said that if each parking space can help the owner earn 10 yuan (US$1.57) per day, renting vacant parking spaces around the country will be worth 185 billion yuan each year. ????Cloud computing is also being used for speech recognition. ????Beijing-based Unisound showed off products that rely on speech recognition at the high-tech fair this year, including a lamp that changed colors based on voice commands. ????“Cloud technology provides an immense database that can store an incredible amount of audio and the products they produce will detect and recognize the users’ instruction, like the advanced version of the iPhone Siri, but with more functions,” said Zou Xingwang, a product manager from the company. ????Zou said that last year there was an upsurge of cloud technology’s application into various aspects of people’s lives. ????“Though the use of big data dates back to a few years ago, the innovative application of cloud technology bloomed last year,” said Zou. ????The manager predicted that many more industries will begin to adopt cloud technology in the following years. | 