Can iPhone Apps Solve Downtown Parking Problems?

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iPhone Parking Place Finder

Evansville Arena allegedly has plenty of parking, but finding needs to be made easy, BUT Does Evansville have the technical infrastructure to support this solution

Tired of driving around trying to find a place to park? Well, there’s an app for that. Parking in Motion is a free iPhone app that takes the stress out of parking by enabling users to find, reserve and pay for parking all through a few clicks on their phone.

The PIM app has a directory of 16,000 (and counting) garages and lots in over 300 cities and major airports in the US, plus top cities in Canada and Europe. In addition to loading the parking facility locations, which can be searched and mapped out instantly on your iphone through GPS to find the nearest one to you, the PIM database pulls up other useful information to help you on the spot.

Also available are rates, for price comparisons, hours of operation and driving directions, including arrows on the map indicating the parking facility’s exact entrance, which is extremely helpful since they can be difficult to find. If the parking garage shows up in green on the map you can also pull up a form to reserve and pay for a spot before you arrive.

A feature being developed is real time information t on which lots and garages are full, using data collected from garage operators directly. Also in the works is street parking intelligence. Meter locations, parking rules and restrictions are some of the features that will be gathered from meters and municipalities and augmented by users to uncover streets most likely to have open spots. These features are in beta now in some cities including Santa Monica, CA.

CNET spoke with Sam, Friedman, PIM co-founder, who describes an even further evolved future via PIM for street parking:

“Five years from now, you’ll be able to get in your car, find parking on the street, and pay for it from within your car. And then if you’re in a meeting and it’s running over, you’ll be able to re-up your meter from the conference table.”

The PIM iPhone app is available for free download from iTunes now. Give it a try to save on frustration and gas.

Source: CNET

Also See: New York Times article on San Francisco’s adoption of iPhone App for parking finder

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/technology/08parking.html?_r=1&hp

2 COMMENTS

  1. I do not think an app will increase the number of parking spaces. But it might be able to tell you where you can’t park. Kinda of like close the John.

  2. I do not own a phone. My primary means of communication are: 1) telegraph; 2) carrier pigeon; 3) smoke signals; 4) going to see someone. Will I be able to find parking when Metallica comes to town ?

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