If you live around any big city and you have to commute, one of the biggest hassles can be finding a parking space.
Everyone’s favorite keeper of all of the world’s data, Google, is trying to make the process a little easier for you if you happen to live in California. In combination with the city of Santa Monica, Google is adding real-time parking information to Google Maps. Now, if you search for a parking garage, you’ll know just how many spots are available.
Index Me Baby
This information is culled from the sensors that the parking garages use to keep track of people entering and exiting.
While useful in a ,”wow what a good idea,” way — there is a question as to how practical it is. The space information will be completely different from the time you leave your house to the time you arrive at the lot.
For people with web enabled mobile devices, this would work out just fine, but for anyone tied to their landlines there is a question as to whether there is much value in knowing that a parking lot has 5 spaces an hour before you arrive.
An interesting addition might be trend data. That way, you could see whether that downtown garage is normally full at 1PM on Friday, and if it is you can plan your route accordingly.
What do you think?
This post is tagged
No Comments