Case Study
Smart Parking Guidance Technology for Manhattan Village Shopping Center
EnSight’s Groundbreaking Parking Guidance Technology Improves the Shopping Experience at Manhattan Village Shopping Center
PROJECT CHALLENGE:
The City of Stamford operates structured parking for one of Connecticut’s busiest downtown districts, including multi-level garages on South State Street and Atlantic Street. These garages were already equipped with Signal Tech wayfinding signs at their entries and ramp transition points, but the signs were not backed by live, accurate occupancy data.
Without real-time, level-by-level vehicle counts, drivers entering the garages had no reliable way to know where open spaces were located, contributing to unnecessary circling and a less efficient parking experience. The City also lacked a centralized way to monitor utilization across levels and assets, and wanted the flexibility to add visibility into specialty spaces and total occupancy as its needs grew.
The City needed an accurate, real-time parking guidance system that could be retrofitted into its existing garages with minimal new infrastructure – reusing the signage already in place – while delivering a cloud dashboard for live and historical occupancy data and a platform that could scale to additional garages and use cases over time.
THE SOLUTION:
EnSight Technologies partnered with integration specialist Amano McGann to bring a smart, camera-based parking guidance system to the City’s downtown garages. Rather than tearing out existing infrastructure, the system uses discreet cameras placed at the entrance and at each ramp to count vehicles accurately, level by level, in real time.
These real-time counts feed the garages’ existing Signal Tech signs to direct drivers toward open spaces, while the same data flows into EnSight’s cloud portal, where City staff can monitor live occupancy, pull historical reports, and verify counting accuracy. The EnSight Connect API ties this data into the City’s broader systems.
After a successful first roll-out, the City expanded the platform with upgraded signage, EnSight Spaces specialty-space monitoring, and total-occupancy tracking. It also added a new installation at the Atlantic & State Street garage – all backed by a multi-year service agreement with EnSight.
“The installation of our advanced parking guidance technology will make parking at the shopping center a breeze and significantly improve the shopping experience. Parking guidance technology is a wonderful amenity for shopping centers and malls to offer visiting shoppers and diners. It’s a cost-effective way to improve the shopping experience for customers, while providing critical traffic flow and asset utilization business intelligence for mall management and ownership.”Chris Scheppmann Managing Member, EnSight Technologies
RESULTS:
Since going live, the vision-based system has given the City of Stamford real-time occupancy guidance across its downtown garages, displayed on the existing entry and ramp signage and accessible to staff through the EnSightful Portal. A 99%+ counting accuracy has been achieved at each camera, continuously monitored and visible to the City through the portal’s Truthing report. As of 2026, the City has continued to expand its EnSight footprint, adding specialty-space monitoring, total-occupancy tracking, and a new garage installation – reflecting ongoing confidence in the platform.
“The installation of our advanced parking guidance technology will make parking at the shopping center a breeze and significantly improve the shopping experience. Parking guidance technology is a wonderful amenity for shopping centers and malls to offer visiting shoppers and diners. It’s a cost-effective way to improve the shopping experience for customers, while providing critical traffic flow and asset utilization business intelligence for mall management and ownership.”Chris Scheppmann Managing Member, EnSight Technologies