Via The New York Times: Using wireless sensors embedded in streets and city garages, a smartphone app now will show San Francisco motorists where there are parking spaces available — in many cases up to the second.
With SFpark, San Francisco motorists can see real-time availability and prices for parking spaces on streets and in City garages across eight SFpark pilot areas.
The $20 million parking project here, called SFpark, is backed by the Transportation Department and the Federal Highway Administration, which are looking into how to ease congestion and driver angst by making the most of limited parking.
San Francisco has put sensors into 7,000 metered parking spots and 12,250 spots in city garages. If spaces in an area open up, the sensors communicate wirelessly with computers that in turn make the information available to app users within a minute, said Mr. Ford, of the transportation agency. On the app, a map shows which blocks have lots of places (blue) and which are full (red).
San Francisco’s is by far the most widespread approach that several cities, universities and private parking garages are experimenting with.
Of course safety advocates are concerned about anything that will cause motorists to spend more time looking at their phone as opposed to paying attention. And The Times reports that city officials have urged motorists to pull over to the curb before launching the app.
Still…
“It could be really distracting,” said Daniel Simons, a professor of psychology at the University of Illinois, where he studies the science of attention. And, he said, it could also be dangerous: “Most people are looking for parking spaces in places that have a lot of traffic and a lot of pedestrians.”