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1.  

   

   Anonymous Coward, Jul 14th, 2008 @ 7:42pm

   
   

   Think beyond the moment though. The data collected from these "smart meters" will also alert the city to peoples parking habits. How long people park in certain areas and at what times. In addition, when this data gets streamed to in car GPS systems, people may decide to avoid trying to park on certain blocks, knowing that spaces are rarely open there.
   
   Of course, nothing will stop the lousy parker from taking up two spaces!!!

    

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2.  

   

   Zubin, Jul 14th, 2008 @ 8:05pm

   
   

   Mike, another interesting parking initiative in SF is in the two links below. It includes demand-based pricing, which seems like a very good idea for many (even most?) neighborhoods.
   
   http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/008113.html, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/article?f=/c/a/2008/04/14/MNTO104818.DTL

    

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3.  

   

   Lawrence D'Oliveiro, Jul 14th, 2008 @ 8:36pm

   
   

   Info Flow => Instabilities

   Increasing the flow of information in this way often exacerbates instabilities in the system. For instance, we could see larger flows of traffic converging on available spots, filling them up, and just as quickly turning en masse to the next spot.

    

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4.  

   

   artywah, Jul 14th, 2008 @ 9:13pm

   
   

   Next step - alert the parking inspectors when a spot has been taken for more than the posted time.
   
   This would allow them to go directly to cars that have been parked too long rather than trying to monitor when a car arrives in a spot

    

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5.  

   

   Anonymous Coward, Jul 14th, 2008 @ 10:14pm

   
   

   im curious to see what derives from that, because as mentioned in the article empty spot in popular areas will not stay empty for long.
   
   but good job on who ever came up with that, ill try to follow up its progress.

    

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6.  

   

   Raymond, Jul 14th, 2008 @ 11:24pm

   
   

   Good idea but...

   okay, just a couple of questions about it, how close to realtime is it, everybody brought up great points there most people will get there only to find that it has been taken by somebody.
   
   it is a great idea, if you think about it, that puts us another step closer to making automobiles automatic, and that i believe will be the day that accidents are a thing of the past.
   
   they should take the idea that they have there, and put research into that. everybody knows that automation like that is not just a science fiction theater special... it can be done would not be hard at all
   
   Great idea though again, keep up the good work!!

    

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7.  

   

   pbaka, Jul 15th, 2008 @ 4:33am

   
   

   Notify by phone....O great

   What brilliant advocate of safe driving included the ability to find the parking spot by phone?

    

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8.  

   

   Heath Ackley, Jul 15th, 2008 @ 6:18am

   
   

   We already have this

   We have this technology at one of our malls. The mall is designed like a small town and has lots and garages sprinkled around. On the corner of each street, there is a sign with the number of open spots in lots or garages. You can quickly see, oh Lot A has 7 open spots; but, Lot B only has 1. It makes it easy to figure out where to go.
   
   It is a heavy traffic area; but, it isn't as bad as a city street for parking.
   
   The mall is Easton Town Centre in Columbus, OH.

    

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9.  

   

   Matt Bennett, Jul 15th, 2008 @ 6:32am

   
   

   It seems to me even the information that AREN'T any spots within X blocks would be useful information. Then you know to give up and go to a parking garage sooner.
   
   Then of course you'll have the parking garages paying the city to advertise on the same network, displaying their open slots et cetera. Very Mercenary, but I can see it working.

    

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10.  

    

    Anonymous Coward, Jul 15th, 2008 @ 7:48am

    
    

    Re:

    "Of course, nothing will stop the lousy parker from taking up two spaces!!!"
    
    Why not if they have the sensor and can tell that one person is taking up more than one spot for ten min send a request for a cop to issue a ticket. This would work also for expired parking meters.

     

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11.  

    

    Anonymoose, Jul 15th, 2008 @ 7:09pm

    
    

    Can't wait til the hacks begin...

    Marking empty spots as taken to hold them, marking taken spots as empty to move traffic around.. Will the meter be on the same network? How vulnerable is that? Get cars towed, pre-load 4 hours, etc.
    
    Since these experiments usually work out to be so secure...

     

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12.  

    

    san francisco chiropractor, Dec 23rd, 2010 @ 6:07am

    
    

    reply

    garages are very important in a building because it is also for the safety of the people and their vehicles.

     

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