According to an article from today's San Francisco Chronicle, the SF city government is considering a system that would embed sensors in the pavement below parking spaces and free spaces would be broadcast to people over the web or onto your cell phone.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/13/MNTO104818.DTL
Well wouldn't that be handy! Maybe it's because I've actually spent a fair amount of time looking for parking in San Francisco, but it's notorious reputation for limited parking is well deserved.
Some thoughts sprung to mind for me:
The last thing we need is another reason for cell phone users to be staring at their tiny little screens instead of focusing on the road. The cell phone parking application really needs to give you turn by turn directions to the closest spot. Voice input to tell it that you want "the closest spot to 463 Market St."
I can see a scenario where a spot opens and 10 different drivers all have their cell phones telling them to drive to same spot. It gets taken by the first driver and the other 9 are no better off than they would be today.
A mobile parking application that focused on higher level questions such as "what area near my destination tends to have the best parking?" or "Should I pay to park or will I have an easy time finding street parking?" Either of those could end up being quite interesting.
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