iPhone app tracks parking inspectors
Superman
Mapkats iPhone app tracks parking inspectors
* By Greg Thom
* From: Herald Sun
* December 22, 2009 12:47PM
A NEW free iPhone application claims to give motorists the drop on
parking inspectors before they can slap a ticket on their windscreen.
Mapkats enables users to report the location of grey ghosts and share
the information in real time with others via Google maps, anywhere in
the world.
Colour-coded, location-based pins - red when parking officers are at a
location, fading to yellow once they have moved on - stay live for two
hours, giving clued-in drivers plenty of time to avoid hot zones prowled
by trigger-happy ticket issuers.
Tech-savvy Sydneysider Andrew Tweedie said he came up with the idea
because he was sick of what he believed was councils' over-zealous
approach to revenue raising, rather than fixing parking problems.
Mr Tweedie said he started working with councils to come up with a
mobile software solution to improve parking management, but found they
were more interested in raking in cash.
"I thought, 'if that's how you want to be, I'll come up with a solution
that helps people'."
Mr Tweedie said he had spent the past three years researching parking
issues across the globe.
--
rgds,
Pete
=====
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Polly the Parrot
wrote:
>Mr Tweedie said he had spent the past three years researching parking
>issues across the globe.
He obviously has an enormous amount of spare time on his hands.
SG1
"Polly the Parrot" <flatula...@deadspam.com> wrote in message
news:lvo3j5hkfreb4ir57...@4ax.com...
As he has an iphone he must be unemployed/unemployable so has a lot of time
& government money to waste.
a
"Superman" <"c/- Lois.Lane"@metropolis.com> wrote in message news:IRbYm.64065$ze1....@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
Sylvia Else
> Awesome! Good on him.
>
>
>
Though there seems plenty of scope for councils using the system to
broadcast disinformation. If people are relying on the system to allow
them to park unlawfully without getting caught, the result could
actually be an increase in council revenue.
Sylvia.
me
"SG1" <lost...@the.races> wrote in message
news:aVlYm.104523$Wf2....@newsfe23.iad...
Obviously!
me
"Sylvia Else" <syl...@not.at.this.address> wrote in message
news:00eb2059$0$6588$c3e...@news.astraweb.com...
We like to catch the wankers where ever possible!
Sylvia Else
I confess to having little sympathy for people who get fined for parking
illegally.
But there's technology around that's providing grey ghosts with
information about overstayers, including at parking meters. Clearly that
same technology could be used to charge motorists for the time they
actually park, rather than the current situation where motorists have to
pay for the maximum time they think they'll be parked. Somehow I don't
see the latter change being implemented any time soon.
Sylvia.
Frank Slootweg
[...]
> I confess to having little sympathy for people who get fined for parking
> illegally.
>
> But there's technology around that's providing grey ghosts with
> information about overstayers, including at parking meters. Clearly that
> same technology could be used to charge motorists for the time they
> actually park, rather than the current situation where motorists have to
> pay for the maximum time they think they'll be parked. Somehow I don't
> see the latter change being implemented any time soon.
In our country - The Netherlands - some cities have such a system. You
check in and check out by sending an SMS message with the parking lot
number. I.e. they know your mobile phone number(s) and your car rego(s),
so when a parking inspector checks your vehicle, he can see whether
you're checked in or not.
I think that's a good system, but sadly enough it's not universally
used, and, AFAIK, not all cities have the exact same system.
Peter
ie he did a google search for parking issues three years ago then
another one six months ago