San Francisco Testing Smartphone Parking ProgramSan Francisco Testing Smartphone Parking Program

Finding a parking spot in San Francisco can be a laborious process that's about as fun as a root canal.

But, the city is utilizing wireless technology from Streetline to test a program that will let motorists use their smartphones to find empty parking spots nearby.

As part of a $95.9 million SFpark program to ease traffic congestion on the city's busy streets, 4-by-4-inch sensors will be glued to the pavement on 6,000 of the 24,000 metered parking spaces this fall. These devices, called "bumps," are battery operated, and are embedded with a wireless sensor that can determine in real time whether the spaces are occupied or vacant.

This information is transmitted to city transit offices, and the data can then be sent to Web sites that can be checked on an iPhone 3G, BlackBerry, or any smartphone with mobile Internet access. Streetline is also working on a battery-operated street display that notifies motorists of nearby open parking spaces.

Gavin Newsom, San Francisco's mayor, said the parking program is part of a larger sensor network initiative that could be used for a variety of services. He said drivers will quickly take to the parking technology, and hopes to expand it to all of the city's on-street parking and garage spaces by 2010.

"There isn't a person who hasn't experienced the travails of going around the block multiple times searching for a parking space, using gas and wasting time and generating greenhouse gases," Newsom told The New York Times. "It will scale in people's consciousness to the point that the public will demand more."