Ever parked your car in a large mall like Santa Monica Place in Santa Monica, gone shopping, and then come back to realize that you have forgotten when you left it?
Santa Monica Place has installed the first camera-based "Find Your Car" system in the country.
How does it work?
You punch your license plate number into the touch screen of a kiosk. A photo comes of up your car's location. Park Assist is the company who developed the "Find Your Car" system along with the red and green lights above parking spaces, showing which ones available. These are also present at The Grove and Westfield Century City. The system has proved quite helpful and lowered the number of times a mall security person has to drive around a distraught shopper looking for their car. There is concern about the privacy of the "Find Your Car" system. If you are being stalked by an angry boyfriend, or the police, then they would have easy access. Park Assist is working on a new technology to allow the parking stub to be inserted into a machine which would show the location of the car. This would also help if you forget your license plate, or in the case of a new car, don't have one. Santa Monica Place in Santa Monica has seen business increase 3-5% because of the "Find Your Car" system. After all, wouldn't you rather visit a mall where you don't have to stress about remembering where you parked your car!
Map of Santa Monica Mall
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Jane - I've never lost my car before, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I do. I'm curious how many other malls/shopping centers are going to install this.
This sounds like a great system. I lost my car ( a rental) once when I was visiting Indianapolis. I can't tell you how frustrating it was trying to locate it again. I was exhausted from stress and walking around!
So silly, but so true!
kk
Jane, Another option, use the smartphone camera to take a shot of the nearest parking marker :) Pretty cool technology at work at the mall though!
Michelle, I am sure others will follow suit. Funnily enough this was just on the news.
Kristal, I have lost mine more than once. Very embarrassing.
Bill, that is an excellent idea. There goes the engineer in you again.
Good evening Jane,
Wow this is a great idea. I always make it a practice to look at something permanent to give me an idea of what I'm parked close to like a sign or Number or Letter they often have marking the isles. It's no fun and is plenty embarrassing to get lost!!
Wow, Jane. I'm never amazed at all the crazy technology changes - this one, for SURE, makes are lives easier!!!
Dorie, sometimes I forget to look. That is O.K. in malls I know, but not strange ones.
Juli, it sure does.
Jane, I haven't lost my car...but my husband has :-)
Rebecca, I bet he was embarrassed.
I have hunted and hunted before this is a great idea does it work in airports that is usually where I forget LOL
Marilyn, I am not sure that airport parking lots will spring for that. They have a captive audience. Shopping malls compete.
WOW Jane, I can see the advantage of this and at the same be sincerely troubled by it. More and more we are allowing people not to be responsible and the price exchanged is amazing and yet people seem to see the advantage of wandering aimlessly and have someone else direct their lives and tell them where they belong. Expand that a bit and your imagination can take you to some very uncomfortable places.
William, even the most responsible of us can have a lapse. I think it is a little overkill, but this is the direction we are going.
I had never even heard of this before. That is a fantastic system. One less thing to worry about. Especially if you are herding the "little ones".
Doug, I can imagine that would be distracting.
Brilliant! Nothing more frustrating than wandering around, having no idea where you parked your car. Bill had a great idea too..............those engineers!
Roger, yep, I love Bill's idea.
Jane,
The upsides are tremendous, yet I'm still skittish about all of the surveillance. Sometimes I do not want to be found... g
Hi Jane, I like the idea of the green lights above the empty spaces - that could really be helpful in busy parking lot. I usually can find the car, as long as I remember which side of the mall/store I entered. I'm sure the Kiosk will help a lot of people find their cars! Neat idea! Isn't there an app for that?
Gordon, why? What are you doing :)
Mary, I do believe there is. But not everyone carries smart phones.
Jane, Although I can see where some concerns could be raised, I LOVE it. I never can remember where I park so this is right up my ally! What a great concept! I think I like the idea of the ticket system for safety reasons but this is genius!
I've gone so far as to walk the parking lot, while TRYING to hear my car alarm. I'll hit my key fob alarm button over and over and over until I hear it and find my car. I'm really getting old, lol.
Elizabeth, this works great for a parking lot that takes tickets. I had this problem recently in an open parking lot and had to have the security guys drive me around. That is embarrassing.
Jane, Maybe this peaks to our "aging society" >??? I think its a great idea! Kathy
Jane - that is SO awesome. We have all had that experience. It's worth going to the mall just to test it out. I bet we will see this show up all over the place, at least at the higher end larger malls.
So, did you find your car?
Jeff
Kathy, ahem. Who are you calling old? :)
Jeff, I did eventually, although I had them drop me off at the wrong one first. :(
What a wonderful idea. I lose my car about once a week and I don't shop for much and never for fun. Since I am frequently on the phone when I park, or muttering to myself as I walk in and out of stores, I come out and all cars are grey and about the same size.
Leslie, LOL. I think I have read about you wandering around shopping malls muttering to yourself.
Very nice. Ionce worked for a company who had a national contract with Target (Also known as "Tarjay!") stores. I was a regional manager and I spent 2 1/2 to 3 weeks a month visiting stores in different states. All of the Target parking lots look alike and when you are driving rental cars, it is very easy to lose your car and not even know what kind of car it is! I finally learned to park in the same spot (or area) no matter what part of the country I was in. Then I would walk around the lot pushing the remote button to open the trunk. When I heard a POP and saw the trunk fly open, I knew that I had found my car.
Mark, that is hysterical. I do the remote door opener. Always am tempted to hit the alarm, but that is too embarrassing.
Jane,
Now that is a very amazing idea. It looks to be a necessity for that type of parking environment.
-Brent
Oh my gosh - what genius! My mother would love this...which sort of means to follow, so would I. I remember when I was a little girl, she'd open up the refrigerator all the time and look in, forgetting why she opened it. I'm a master of the same exact behavior now!
It's so easy to be on the phone when you park and then later, walk out totally clueless. What I want to know is, how come I seem to be the only one traipsing up and down the car aisles looking?
Ha! That could be great. My car is so non-descript, I can lose it most anywhere.
Brent, all our L.A. malls need this.
Cara, I can assure you you are not the only one. Everyone else is pretending they know where they are going :)
Lottie, :)