Sensor Networks In San Francisco Finds Parking Spots 209
MrSeb writes "You've heard of smart cars, and now, rolling out in San Francisco, is a smart parking system that promises to eliminate the arduous process of finding a parking spot. SFpark is a network of magnetic sensors that have been installed under 8,200 street parking spaces, along with additional information from parking garages and parking meters. These sensors are all linked together in a mesh network, and ultimately link back to a central command center. Drivers can access this parking data via the SFpark website or smartphone app, and see in real-time where parking spaces are available. At any one time, a third of cars on the road in urban areas are looking for parking spots, consuming more fuel, creating more pollution, and causing more accidents. With SFpark, you can see at a glance where there's a parking spot — but in the future, you'll be able to hit a button and have your smartphone direct you to the nearest parking spot."
Parking tickets (Score:5, Insightful)
...now delivered with greater efficiency than ever before.
Race you to the nearest open spot (Score:5, Insightful)
Competition can be ugly (Score:5, Insightful)
Will the system be smart enough to only provide info to the two or three closest cars requesting information? I'd hate to see the carnage when a dozen spot-seekers show up simultaneously to claim "their" spot.
Convergence (Score:2, Insightful)
Oh good. (Score:5, Insightful)
Now we have a new reason for people to be paying attention to something other than the road while they're driving. I'm pretty sure that's just what we needed.
Re:Convergence (Score:5, Insightful)
I can see the owner of the system making additional income by only showing parking places to the highest bidder, so places would show to the guy who bid $50, but not to the guy who bid $20 until all the higher bidders are off the system.
Re:Oh good. (Score:2, Insightful)
Yes. Neck craning for open spots doesn't currently distract drivers from the road at all :-P
Re:One little detail... (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah. The article fails to elaborate on the true reason for this system: to raise or lower prices based on demand. I live in San Francisco and I love it. I drive a motorcycle so my parking is cheap. This system is not designed to help the consumer, it's to help the city government. Which is fine but I hate how they are presenting it as a boon to people looking for parking spaces.
They feed us some vision of people 'shopping' for cheaper parking spaces a bit further away, which will never happen. In this city, nobody will pass up a parking spot no matter how much it costs. So this is just a way for the City to squeeze more money out of you during certain times of day.
I still don't know how they can tout the smartphone apps but still have laws on the books making it illegal to use smartphones while you are driving. Are we to bring a 'spotter' with us everywhere we go?
Anyway, the novelty will wear off soon enough, I guess. Maybe one day this technology will be universally built into GPS units or something but for now I don't really see it catching on.
Re:Parking tickets (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:One little detail... (Score:4, Insightful)
That's really nasty.... so you can park to go to work, pay your parking $144 for 8 hours....
Actually, you probably can't. If it's a meter priced at that rate, it's probably time limited. Stay longer than an hour (or whatever) and you get a ticket.
For all-day parking you'd probably want a garage spot, which you might be able to find for $25. Some jobs also offer parking spaces as part of the benefits package. This is just one of the costs of doing business in a heavy congested city area. You wouldn't drive your own car around Manhattan, either.
Re:One little detail... (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, I'm lucky enough to live in an area of the city with parking, but even if I don't use my car for anything, I have to move it TWICE A WEEK to avoid those tickets.
Yeah. Who wants clean streets if it means people like you can't keep cars you never use? You're probably one of those people who bitch about the "bridge and tunnel crowd" taking all the parking spots, but if they'd let you, you'd abandon your junker in the same spot for six months and only move it when you have to tow it to the mechanic to get the engine to turn over. Pay much rent on that stretch of curb?