Google Can Now Predict Parking Difficulty

The way Google predicts parking difficulty could make it easier to develop "smart city" applications in the future.

1 minute read

February 21, 2017, 2:00 PM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Parking

Franco Nadalin / Shutterstock

Earlier in February, "Google quietly launched a new parking feature for Google Maps on Android across 25 major US cities," according to Yitaek Hwang. "If you are in these metro areas, you will now see a red parking sign that indicates limited parking availability to help you plan your trip."

Hwang describes the machine learning process that Google used to determine parking difficulty before offering two lessons gleaned from Google's new parking predictor:

First, not all smart city applications require sensors. Sometimes the data is already available, and we don’t have to resort to adding new sensors to gather that information.

Second, even though neural networks are popular and accurate, sometimes simpler algorithms can fit the need just as well.

Tuesday, February 14, 2017 in IoT for All

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Use Code 25for25 at checkout for 25% off an annual plan!

Redlining map of Oakland and Berkeley.

Rethinking Redlining

For decades we have blamed 100-year-old maps for the patterns of spatial racial inequity that persist in American cities today. An esteemed researcher says: we’ve got it all wrong.

May 15, 2025 - Alan Mallach

Interior of Place Versailles mall in Montreal, Canada.

Montreal Mall to Become 6,000 Housing Units

Place Versailles will be transformed into a mixed-use complex over the next 25 years.

May 22, 2025 - CBC

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

May 21, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Flat modern glass office tower with "County of Santa Clara" sign.

Santa Clara County Dedicates Over $28M to Affordable Housing

The county is funding over 600 new affordable housing units via revenue from a 2016 bond measure.

May 23 - San Francisco Chronicle

Aerial view of dense urban center with lines indicating smart city concept.

Why a Failed ‘Smart City’ Is Still Relevant

A Google-backed proposal to turn an underused section of Toronto waterfront into a tech hub holds relevant lessons about privacy and data.

May 23 - Governing

Pale yellow Sears kit house with red tile roof in Sylva, North Carolina.

When Sears Pioneered Modular Housing

Kit homes sold in catalogs like Sears and Montgomery Ward made homeownership affordable for midcentury Americans.

May 23 - The Daily Yonder