1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for mapping vehicle parking remotely through use of a receiver that collects information from nearby transmitters at a parking site.
2. Background of the Invention
Time has become an increasingly precious commodity in today's society. Thus, businesses continually devise timesaving processes to decrease customer idle time during service. While decreasing idle time, customers may spend additional time shopping or other activities that promote more business. Furthermore, businesses that have increased their efficiency by decreasing customer idle time in time-consuming processes tend to attract more customers who are drawn by the efficiency of such businesses.
One such time-consuming process that tends to detract some customers from going to shopping centers is the inevitable search for a parking space. Often times, a customer will spend an unnecessary and excessive amount of time driving through rows of parked vehicles to locate an open parking space. This process may waste an inordinate amount of time and frustrate the customer. Holidays and sales periods increase the scarcity of open parking spaces. It is common for multiple drivers to seek the same parking space, thereby creating a stress related to being the first to pull a vehicle into an empty space. It has been increasingly common for disputes to occur between drivers that are seeking the same parking space.
The resulting search to find that elusive parking space often wastes fuel and time. For example, sometimes customers will avoid the chore of shopping because of the difficulty in finding a parking space. Thus, it is desirable to provide a method and system to improve the efficiency of seeking open parking spaces thereby preventing customer search time for a parking space or idle time waiting for a parking space to become available.