2015 IEEE Student Conference on Research and Development (SCOReD)
Interactive Android-Based Indoor Parking Lot
Vehicle Locator Using QR-code
Siti Fatimah Abdul Razak, Choon Lin Liew, Chin Poo Lee, Kian Ming Lim
Faculty of Information Science and Technology
Multimedia University
Jln Ayer Keroh Lama, 75450 Bukit Beruang, Melaka, Malaysia
fatimah.razak@mmu.edu.my, taikunseng@gmail.com, cplee@mmu.edu.my, kmlim@mmu.edu.my
Abstract— QR code has been applied in many ways from
marketing products, locating promotional items on shelves,
finding stores and etc. In this study, we report on an android
based application development aimed to provide navigation
services to locate parked vehicles in an indoor parking space of
shopping malls. We utilise the motion sensor, bar code scanner
function and camera function built in smartphones. This
application is able to show the route from user current location to
his parked vehicle based on an indoor map of the parking area
stored in a database. In addition, it is also able to automatically
detect user’s current movement based on steps calculation. A
field test was conducted in a shopping mall indoor parking space
to evaluate the performance of the application. In general, the
application has shown promising results.
Keywords— mobile navigator; vehicle navigator; indoor
positioning; QR-code
I. INTRODUCTION
Recent years have seen an explosion in the number of
smartphone users worldwide. In line with this, numerous
applications have been developed to provide various types of
services to its users. These applications employ different
approaches in order to address different goals. Shopping malls
have also looked into this perspective in providing assistance
to visitors especially those who are absent-minded or
forgetful. The most common problem faced by shopping mall
visitors is remembering the exact location where they have
parked their vehicle upon entering the shopping mall. Hence, a
cost-effective android-based application which can mitigate
this problem is sought by a number of shopping malls
especially those with multi-level indoor parking area.
Quick Response (QR) code is one available option for this
purpose. It is claimed as the easiest, least expensive and easy
to implement which may be coupled with android technology.
Generally, QR code is a type of two-dimensional barcode
which may be read using smartphones and dedicated QR
readers to provide information in just one scan. It can store
massive amount of data which may be linked directly to
videos, text, websites, emails, database, and etc. [1].
Compared to a traditional two-dimensional barcode normally
printed on products, QR code stores data in both directions
instead of only vertical lines. Since it can also be scanned
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either vertically or horizontally, the constraints of a traditional
bar code is removed. So far, QR code has been implemented
to find details of a product, provide store address or phone
numbers and etc.
II. PROBLEM STATEMENT
Locating parked vehicles in a multi-level indoor parking
space which spans over a huge area has proven to be a
challenging task. Imagine after spending a few hours happily
in a shopping mall, a visitor may lose sight or forget the exact
location where he has parked earlier. Valuable time will be
wasted to search for the exact location of his vehicle before
finally able to leave the shopping mall. Even more frustrating
if the search was in vain after a few hours of search. A report
need to be lodge to customer service team in order to acquire
assistance, causing loss of more time.
Nowadays, most vehicle owners apply the Global
Positioning System (GPS) which receives position signal from
satellites to determine the approximate location of a vehicle
[2]. However, GPS does not work well within an indoor
parking area [3]. This is because the position signal from
satellites are attenuated and scattered by roofs, walls and other
objects. Hence, one may acquire inaccurate position of his
vehicle in the indoor parking area. Without any assistance, a
person who parked his vehicle in an unfamiliar indoor parking
area may find it time consuming to locate his vehicle,
especially when he did not give attention to the details before
leaving his vehicle in the first place.
Therefore, an interactive android-based indoor car park
vehicle locator application using QR code is developed. A
field test was conducted to evaluate the performance of the
application. The application has been tested in a real
environment, i.e. in a shopping mall indoor parking area. The
result shows that the application is capable of locating parked
vehicle using QR codes.
III. THE DESIGN
The design of this application is based on the SQL request
architecture (Fig. 1). The android mobile phone is integrated
with a SQL database which allows user to record information
 2015 IEEE Student Conference on Research and Development (SCOReD)

acquired by motion sensor as well as store the information

related to indoor map along with the coordinates [4].
Furthermore, the android device will act as a client to display
information on user’s current position (Fig. 2). Figure 3 to 5
illustrates the data flow of the application.

Fig. 4. Data Flow Diagram (Level 1)

Fig. 1. SQL Request Architecture

Fig. 5. Data Flow Dagram for first process

Fig. 2. Use case diagram

Fig. 6. Data Flow Dagram for second process

Fig. 3. Context diagram

IV. THE APPLICATION

In general, once users have downloaded the application,

they will be able to use the application directly. No prior
registration or password is required. Before leaving the
vehicle, users need to scan the designated QR codes on the
nearest pillar for their parking lot using their smartphone. For
example, if a user parked in G1-20, turn on the scanning
function and scan the QR code for G1-20 which is displayed

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 2015 IEEE Student Conference on Research and Development (SCOReD)
on the nearest pillar to the parking lot. This is enabled with
existing Bar Code Scanner App in most smartphones which is
free and readily available. The location will be stored for
locating the vehicle later. Details of the application are
explained in the next sub-sections.
A. Requirements
The application utilizes the motion sensor and camera
function which are both available in android devices. The
camera function is required to scan and capture displayed QR
code whereas the motion sensor is necessary in order to
calculate user steps and determine whether a user has reach
the destination or not.
This application consists of ten java files i.e.
DatabaseHelper, DBhelper, IntentIntegrator, IntentResult,
Location, LocationArrayAdapter, TouchImageView,
SensorService, MainActivity and MainActivity2. These java
files need to be compiled with android SDK for output APK
file which is the installation file of this android application. In
addition, it also includes one unique SQL LITE database
called TakeMeThere.db.
• MainActivity.java
This is the default launcher of the application. The
codes within this file are executed every time a user
launches this application. It calls the XML layout
using shared-preferences to enable the application to
store and retrieve user’s previous parking space. In
addition, it enables users to remove data of previous
parking space which is no longer required.
• DatabaseHelper.java
This enables navigation path to be displayed. It also
allows users to display all indoor map path
information as well as list all possible paths on the list
component. However, this will only work after a QR
code has been scanned.
• IntentIntegrator.java
The application relies on the IntentIntegrator to
convert QR code images into indoor map information.
It is able to convert several types of QR code data
which includes string data, byte array, integer and etc.
Therefore, in this application, it may obtain unique
data such as ‘4=1’ from the QR code which eventually
displayed as unique maps. Hence, it provides different
navigational path options for the users.
• IntentResult.java
The QR code format is determined and converted as
strings or text which is compatible for android
systems.
• Location.java
This java constructor allows the application to create a
new constructor for the purpose of relocating the
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position of indoor maps. It describes the indoor map
information along with its components.
• LocationArrayAdapter.java
Array adapter is implemented to display the list of
options and allow users to choose an option they need.
Furthermore, it provides specific navigational service
for android users.
• TouchImageView.java
The purpose of this function is to enable users to zoom
into the indoor map images based on two-touch-
points, i.e. device’s screen and sketch to enlarge the
indoor map image. This increase the visibility of the
indoor map.
• SensorService.java
Android device’s integrated motion sensor is required
to receive stimulus based on the device’s movement. It
calculates user’s steps between the starting point and
the destination point. Hence, it supports the navigation
service by detecting the user’s current position.
• MainActivity2.java
This java class contains updated GUI function which
receives computed user step and renders the
destination path in green colour. The path is updated
with user’s every step. This allows users to know their
current location as well as their estimated distance
from their vehicle’s exact location. When the user has
reached the destination, the application immediately
prompts user with a notification message.
B. Modules and functions
The interactive android-based indoor parking lot vehicle
locator application or also known as Cark Park Navigation
System aims to help android users locate parked vehicles and
provide navigation services.
• Main Menu
Once the application is launched, users will be
prompted with a main menu (Fig. 7). Users may either
record current vehicle location or get all possible
routes.
Fig. 7. Main Menu interface
• Record Vehicle Location
 2015 IEEE Student Conference on Research and Development (SCOReD)
This option is for user to record the location of his
parked vehicle. Users will be prompted to scan the
designated QR code image for the parking lot which is
displayed on the nearest pillar. In order to do this, user
has to scan and capture the image using his android
phone (Fig. 8). The scanned image will be matched to
the stored images in the database. Once a matching pair
is found, the process is considered a success and
specific navigation path will be retrieved from the local
SQL LITE database. Then, user will be directed to the
list view page.
Place a barcode inside the viewfinder rectangle to scan it.
Fig. 8. Barcode scanner
• View Location List
This function displays information on the indoor map
which is retrieved from the local database,
TakeMeThere.db. Example of an indoor map is shown
in Fig. 9. The motion sensor on user’s android device
will automatically be activated. When user clicks on an
option, the motion sensor will begin to receive
movements of android’s device and start to calculate
user’s steps. Hence, enabling the application to detect
user’s current position and walking movement. Upon
reaching the vehicle, a message will be prompted to
notify the user.
Fig. 9. Example of navigation
• Zoom function
This application also includes map zooming function
which is similar to other applications built for
navigation purposes in the android applications market.
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• Save, view, update and delete function
When a user accesses this application for the first time,
the application will check for any previous user vehicle
location data in the database. It will prompt the user to
refresh the database by removing the previous vehicle
location. However, user also has the option to view
and access previous QR code information using this
application. Users may use this function to recall
previous parking history in the same indoor parking
area. Imagine when a user is looking for a missed item
which he assumes he has accidently left it near the
parking space and would like to recall where he
recently parked. The user may use this function to
facilitate his search.
V. SYSTEM TESTING AND LIMITATIONS
The application was tested in a shopping mall indoor
parking space and benchmarked to a current application
applied in Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) [5]. Based on
the test, the interactive android-based indoor parking lot
vehicle locator application is able to display the navigation
path in the indoor map, detect steps or movements of the user
which involve real time navigation service and store the
location of parking lots. In addition, compared to KLCC’s
application, our application is more interactive in terms of
providing real time user movement (Fig. 9). QR code image is
per parking lot and not based on pillar boundary, i.e. KLCC
implements one QR code image for parking lots (usually
between three to five parking lots) between pillars. Besides,
we also provide indoor map of the whole parking space level
whereas KLCC implements text-based notification, i.e. “You
parked at level P2 between bays 45-47, 60-65”.
However, there are a few limitations which require future
improvements as well. In terms of detecting user’s steps, the
application is able to consider only acceleration and gravity
changes. When a user requests for a route or path change, the
application is not able to redirect and recalculate user steps in
real time. Apart from that, the application depends on a local
database which stores the location of each parking lot based
on a fixed location positioning approach. Hence, the indoor
map was designed with fixed position path which is not able to
provide recommendation of the shortest path for users i.e. only
one path for one parking lot.
VI. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
As a conclusion, this application has achieved its objective
in terms of providing a navigation service for android user to
locate his parked vehicle in an indoor parking space. However,
the application may be improved by increasing the accuracy of
the navigation. In future, the application may include features
which are able to receive different angles of android users in
real time and assist calculation of user steps. This could
provide direction navigate service in real time.
Besides that, an online based indoor map is desirable to
retrieve vehicle fixed location and update the indoor map. A
 2015 IEEE Student Conference on Research and Development (SCOReD)

dynamic position path which relates to calculation of the

shortest path is also preferable in order to minimise the time
for user to reach his parked vehicle.
A voice over navigator may also enhance user experience
in locating his parked vehicle.
REFERENCES
[1] T. W. Kan, C. H. Teng and W. S. Chou. “Applying qr code in
augmented reality applications”. In Proceedings of the 8th International
Conference on Virtual Reality Continuum and its Applications in
Industry (pp. 253-257). ACM, 2009.
[2] H. Liu, H. Darabi, P. Banerjee, and J. Liu, “Survey of Wireless Indoor
Positioning Techniques and Systems,” IEEE Transactions on Systems,
Man, and Cybernetics, Part C: Applications and Review, vol. 37, no. 6,
pp. 1067–1080, Nov. 2007.
[3] Kai-Florian Richter. “Prospects and challenges of landmarks in navigation
services”. In Cognitive and Linguistic Aspects of Geographic Space,
Springer, 2013, pp. 83-97.
[4] P. Kwanghyo, H. Shin and H. Cha. "Smartphone-based pedestrian
tracking in indoor corridor environments." Personal and ubiquitous
computing, vol. 17(2), pp. 359-370, 2013.
[5] KLCC Parking Management Sdn. Bhd. “Car locator with QR code”,
2015. http://www.parking.klcc.com.my/template.asp?menuid=13

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