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An automated (car) parking system (APS) is a mechanical system designed to minimize the area and/or volume required for parking cars. Like a multi-story parking garage, an APS provides parking for cars on multiple levels stacked vertically to maximize the number of parking spaces while minimizing land usage. The APS, however, utilizes a mechanical system to transport cars to and from parking spaces (rather than the driver) in order to eliminate much of the space wasted in a multi-story parking garage. While a multi-story parking garage is similar to multiple parking lots stacked vertically, an APS is more similar to an automated storage and retrieval system for cars.〔 The paternoster (shown animated at the right) is an example of one of the earliest and most common types of APS.〔Sanders McDonald, Shannon.("Cars, Parking and Sustainability" ), ''The Transportation Research Forum http://www.trforum.org/''.Retrieved on 16 October 2012.〕 APS are generically known by a variety of names, including: * Automatic parking system (not to be confused with in-car parking guidance systems) * Automated parking facility (APF) * Automated vehicle storage & retrieval system (AVSRS) * Car parking system * Mechanical parking * Robotic parking garage ==History == The concept for the automated parking system was and is driven by two factors: a need for parking spaces and a scarcity of available land. The earliest use of an APS was in Paris, France in 1905 at the Garage Rue de Ponthieu.〔 The APS consisted of a groundbreaking〔 multi-story concrete structure with an internal elevator to transport cars to upper levels where attendants parked the cars. In the 1920s, a Ferris wheel-like APS (for cars rather than people) called a paternoster system became popular as it could park eight cars in the ground space normally used for parking two cars.〔 Mechanically simple with a small footprint, the paternoster was easy to use in many places, including inside buildings. At the same time, Kent Automatic Garages was installing APS with capacities exceeding more than a 1,000 cars. APS saw a spurt of interest in the U.S. in the late 1940s and 1950s with the Bowser, Pigeon Hole and Roto Park systems.〔 In 1957, 74 Bowser, Pigeon Hole systems were installed,〔 and some of these systems remain in operation. However, interest in APS in the U.S. waned due to frequent mechanical problems and long waiting times for patrons to retrieve their cars. Interest in APS in the U.S. was renewed in the 1990s, and there are 25 major current and planned APS projects (representing nearly 6,000 parking spaces) in 2012. While interest in the APS in the U.S. languished until the 1990s,〔 Europe, Asia and Central America had been installing more technically advanced APS since the 1970s.〔 In the early 1990s, nearly 40,000 parking spaces were being built annually using the paternoster APS in Japan.〔 In 2012, there are an estimated 1.6 million APS parking spaces in Japan.〔 The ever-increasing scarcity of available urban land (urbanization) and increase of the number of cars in use (motorization) have combined with sustainability and other quality-of-life issues〔 to renew interest in APS as alternatives to multi-story parking garages, on-street parking and parking lots.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「automated parking system」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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