Open University research assistant Jacek Kopecky has developed a free Android app, which can direct you to the car parks with spaces and it is being trialled at the OU’s Milton Keynes campus.
The info is relayed to an on-screen map of your town on an Android phone.
At Milton Keynes and by arrangement with Estates, Security is monitoring the empty parking spaces at Walton Hall via CCTV and updates the app.
Jacek, who works in the Knowledge Media Institute (KMI) says regional office staff can use it too.
He has been developing ParkJam for a year and it was born from his frustration at not being able to find a parking space.
He is working on a voice alert notifying if your favourite car park is full while you drive.
He says regional office staff can use it too and claims ParkJam is global – it even covers, as he checked at the request of a colleague, car parks in Senegal. “Though not many,” Jacek admits. Soon ParkJam will let users add car parks that are not yet covered.
Launched a few weeks ago ParkJam already has users but Jacek acknowledges that with the summer holidays there is currently plenty of parking at Milton Keynes. “It is terrible – the car parks are just not full enough,” he joked. But with darker mornings and bad weather come the autumn he anticipates a big interest. Not least, because the driver in front who nabs the last parking space before you, might be using ParkJam!
Find out more:
- About ParkJam
- ParkJam on Google Play (formerly Android Market)
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Comments
An amazing discovery, I know few people who would pay good money for this kind of application. The passat I just bought already has some scratches from the parking lot, there's little space left for moves in there...