Open Spot to Help Android Users Find Parking
Google also wants to help you find the best park spots.
Currently available only in the U.S., Canada, and the Netherlands, Open Spot is a Google Labs project that aims to help Android OS users with parking. Relying on a mix of community spirit, Assisted GPS, and Google Maps, Open Spot plots out open parking slots within a 1.5km (or 0.9 miles).
Each plot is color-coded to reflect "freshness"—or when they were declared as open—and eventually disappear of the grid after 20 minutes. When the user pulls out from the parking slot, they can now mark it as open for other Open Spot users.
Clearly, Open Spot is a great idea but will only become truly useful if end users contribute to its cause. This means interested users who want to see the service fly will have to evangelize the app to friends, family, and other Android OS users. At least Open Spot is a free download available from Google Labs.
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it could be a very good thing to do, if it doesn't work, you could always use something called your eyes to look for more spots
Not a bad idea at all, this could really catch on. It's literally the parking version of Pay it Forward.
i found it usefull when i go to other than my town
Could be nice if it can link up with GPS to automatically mark the spot empty when the user pulls away. Otherwise the user might forget!
Damn that could be useful for city parking.
Nothing I hate more than coming home from work and spending 20min driving around looking for a spot.
I love the idea, but the idea of pulling your phone out when you pull away doesn't really seem like it will work. I only see it being useful if it is integrated into the car. I imagine the only people using it will be those looking for spots.
On a busy day, won't spots be gone within 2 minutes of leaving?
I could see someone having prank fun with this marking back alleys and loading docks as open parking spots then watching to see who wanders into them.
On a busy day, won't spots be gone within 2 minutes of leaving?
Try 45 seconds or so for some places downtown. I'm suprised a space would last more than a few minutes.
It sure seems that way near where I live.
Great idea. So when does it come to India?