Thousands of people pour into the Christiana Mall every holiday season to take advantage of Delaware’s tax-free shopping. And that can make parking a nightmare.
But now there’s a new tool to help you avoid parking pandemonium.
The app is called GGP Malls (named for Christiana Mall owner General Growth Properties) and it uses the same type of algorithm that powers navigational apps like like WAZE or Google Maps.
But this algorithm helps you find a parking spot.
“We went talking to those same companies and said, ‘geez, if you’re doing algorithms that are being used by a bunch of mapping companies for driving. Can you do those same algorithms for parking?'" said Scott Morey, executive vice president of General Growth Properties.
The answer was a clear “yes.” Those algorithms can be used for parking.
The algorithm that powers the Christiana Mall app compares historical parking data with current traffic flow and determines the statistical likelihood of you finding a spot at that exact moment.
And then it represents that on a map of the mall’s eight main lots.
A green lot is less than 50 percent full. A yellow lot is 50 to 75 percent full. And a red lot is more than 75 percent full.
Morey said the goal is to ultimately integrate the parking map data into popular navigational apps like WAZE or Google Maps.
"It's about convenience. It's nice that we have the parking information in our app, but we want to be where people already are," Morey said.
Apple app HERE.
Android app HERE.
