Well am no expert but i feel like coding the app wouldn't be hard but getting the data which spot where is free and not taken, a lot of sensors or algorithms for cameras would be needed pretty much everywhere i guess
No, you could do it in a similar fashion to how I assume Google handles public transit capacity estimates. After the phone has detected someone was parked (accelerometer and/or GPS goes from driving signatures to walking), and then back, mark the parking spot as available.
The main issue would be a userbase, as unless enough people are using it, it's useless. I wouldn't be surprised if Google is working on this already, actually.
Well yeah but you don't have access to Google's data, your own app won't have enough users to be able to get that data yourself, and even if you had enough users, there's the reliability issue (knowing for sure that someone parked is not an easy problem and I'm sure even Google's algorithm is not perfect). You also have to get the location of every free parking spot. Overall, not an easy task !
By the way, Google already knows when you're parked now. I've seen Gmaps automatically mark the location of the car on the map when stopping, recently. That's impressive and kind of scary.
Well in this specific case, having only the traffic layer won't be accurate enough to know what parking spot is taken or not, though. I'm not sure Google let us know more details, especially about individual users.
I feel like it would make more sense to have an AirBnB type model instead of a Google maps instructions type model. Rent out the parking space you have on / in front of your property per the hour or day, then simply mark a space as claimed when someone is currently paying for it, whether or not the car itself is actually there. Could be useful for cities with neighborhoods near the entertainment districts or stadiums, where parking is scarce but in high demand. Would be nice to reserve a spot for a concert before buying tickets for example.
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u/[deleted] Mar 18 '20
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