Parking app can predict when a spot will open up

[Nipuna]

Quick! (Image: Anja Bäcker/Plainpicture)

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SICK of searching for a city parking spot? Let your phone do the work. An app can automatically determine when its user has parked, and can alert others when the spot comes open again, all without manual input.

Built by Wen-Yuah Shih and Kun-Chan Lan of National Cheng Kung University in Tainan City, Taiwan, the app uses a phone's accelerometer to recognise when a motorist is driving, when the car stops, and when they get out of the car and start walking – inferring from this sequence that they have parked. The GPS position of the parking spot is then broadcast to other users of the app and marked as "occupied" on their street map (Expert Systems with Applications, doi.org/pjd).

The app uses the phone's compass to note a driver's walking path and waits for them to return in the direction of the parking space. If the user is then sensed moving away from the spot at driving speed the app broadcasts a "parking spot empty" message.

The app could also be programmed to predict when a driver is heading back to their car and send out notice that a parking space is about to become free. This could lead to a system in which fees for paid parking spots can be settled in advance, the researchers suggest.

This article appeared in print under the headline "Smart parking app finds you all the best spots"