Skip to main content

Study calls Inrix off-street parking the ‘clear winner’ in US and Europe

An independent off-street parking benchmark study carried out by automotive technology research firm SBD has concluded that ParkMe, an Inrix company, beat Parkopedia in data accuracy across the key attribute categories in five cities in the US and Germany. According to the study, overall, ParkMe was 12 per cent more accurate than Parkopedia across a set of core attributes that are essential to automakers for customer satisfaction. Most important, ParkMe was 23 per cent more accurate providing the precise
January 21, 2016 Read time: 3 mins
An independent off-street parking benchmark study carried out by automotive technology research firm 4263 SBD has concluded that 6114 ParkMe, an 163 Inrix company, beat 7374 Parkopedia in data accuracy across the key attribute categories in five cities in the US and Germany.

According to the study, overall, ParkMe was 12 per cent more accurate than Parkopedia across a set of core attributes that are essential to automakers for customer satisfaction. Most important, ParkMe was 23 per cent more accurate providing the precise entrance location to parking lots as compared to Parkopedia. ParkMe was the ‘clear winner’ across parking attributes including pricing information accuracy (91 percent versus 81 percent) and correct parking lot operating hours (87 per cent versus 83 per cent).

ParkMe, acquired by Inrix in September 2015, has built the world’s most comprehensive parking database that includes more than 29 million confirmed spaces in over 90,000 accessible locations spanning 4,000 cities in 64 countries. ParkMe only displays publicly accessible, non-restricted lots, including both free and fee parking locations, unlike Parkopedia, which also displays restricted-access lots. By excluding restricted lots from its worldwide dataset, consumers using ParkMe are not misrouted to locations that are unavailable to the general public.

SBD’s assessment looked at 488 random parking lots in November 2015 across Berlin, Munich and Stuttgart in Germany, as well as Boston and San Francisco in the United States. SBD’s trained data collectors evaluated on-site attributes lot by lot (backed by photographic evidence), then compared the field results to published information on respective ParkMe and Parkopedia websites. From the findings, SBD assessed overall accuracy scores, and scores per attribute, lot and city. SBD was compensated for collecting the data, but the assessments and scoring were completed on an objective and independent basis.

“SBD’s off-street parking study tells a very compelling story about the quality of ParkMe’s coverage in the US and Europe,” said Mark St Andrew, senior connected car analyst at SBD North America and the study’s author. “These results reinforce the importance of automotive OEMs and service providers focusing on the end-to-end experience for consumers, the foundation of which is starting with the most accurate data possible.”

“Inrix has always striven to have the most complete and reliable dynamic driver services worldwide,” said Steve Banfield, chief marketing officer of Inrix. “SBD has confirmed what we were already very confident in – that ParkMe has the most accurate parking service in the industry, which ultimately leads to very happy drivers.”

Inrix has also announced a new licensing agreement with Parknav to expand its on-street parking services to more than 20 German cities, bringing its total coverage to over 40 cities worldwide.

Parknav uses machine learning, big data and predictive analytics to determine what streets will have open parking in real-time. The solution works on all road types and covers all on-street parking categories including free, metered and permit parking. BMW will be the first automaker to include Inrix’s breakthrough service into its ConnectedDrive cars.

Related Content

  • May 23, 2017
    Survey finds drivers trust traditional car makers more than tech companies to build AVs
    Research by connected car services and location analytics provider Inrix indicates that consumers are more likely to trust a traditional car maker than a leading technology company when it comes to making autonomous vehicles (AVs).
  • March 11, 2015
    Data exploits parking potential
    David Crawford parallel parks with innovations in two continents. Surveys of US cities indicate that drivers searching for parking can account for up to 37% of all urban traffic congestion. A 2011 study by IBM of 20 cities around the world found that nearly six out of ten drivers had abandoned their search for a parking space at least once; while motorists generally spent on average 20 minutes looking for a sought-after spot.
  • November 12, 2012
    Telematics in south-east Asia
    According to the latest report by independent technical consultancy SBD, End User Survey for Consumer Needs in South East Asia, 85 per cent of south-east Asian drivers already use some form of navigation each month. SBD surveyed 2,400 drivers in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand and implemented its consumer profiling tool to find out what connected services these drivers likely to need. South-east Asia has long been an afterthought market for the telematics industry, largely due to its poor road infrastruct
  • February 1, 2017
    Inrix and ParkU partner on in-car connected parking
    Inrix and German off-street parking reservations provider ParkU have formed a partnership to integrate payment transactions directly into car navigation systems for 55 cities in ten European countries. ParkU’s reservation and payment locations will be incorporated into Inrix’s automotive parking solution to enable European drivers to find, route to, reserve and pay for parking at participating ParkU locations directly from their car’s dashboard, ParkU’s parking app enables drivers to find, book and pa