In big cities parking can be a real struggle especially during rush hour or at times when there are specific holiday events on the go. Driving around to look for a parking space is a waste of time. One wants to be able to track parking and for private lots to be able to book in advance. Or, at least utilize geo-location to track an empty spot within an urban grid. Linked Data could play a part in this as well. Firstly, to build an ontology of public and private parking. Then to utilize linked data to build resource query through the web of interlinked data. Other resources like geonames could come in handy. One could then build a mobile application to consume the services and that looks up nearest empty parking spot in the vicinity of a particular location as well as to find out parking spaces within private lots for where advanced booking options may be available. In certain areas, there may even be schemes where private residences offer their parking spaces for rent which could also provide an additional point of lookup. These services become handy for the traveller who needs to get a parking space in a densely populated city area and avoid much frustration. They also help in reducing double parking as well as traffic when movement of vehicles is slowed down by the lack of parking availability. Even the idea of monitoring congestion and events in area could enlighten most during their travel and to inform as to whether parking spaces might be challenging at a particular time of day or season. Linking such methods to Sat-Navs would be quite useful too.
IBM Global Parking Survey
Ordinance Survey
Data.gov.uk
Data.gov
Freebase
IBM Global Parking Survey
Ordinance Survey
Data.gov.uk
Data.gov
Freebase
