Primospot

PrimoSpot featured on CBS Radio Show Dishin Digital

Mike — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:01:00 GMT

We were featured on the CBS radio show Dishin Digital.

Paul Murnane explores a new Web site that helps New Yorkers search for parking options in the city.

Thanks Paul and the crew over at CBS radio for the great mention!

Compare Garage Prices in Real Time

Mike — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:31:00 GMT

We are proud to announce our newest feature on the site, the Real-Time Garage Price Chart. While browsing the map for parking garages, the left hand column of the site will show the hourly, daily, and monthly prices in a comparison chart. These prices load fast as you move the map!

The chart is sorted by hourly price, so zooming out the map means that you see cheaper prices. Clicking on the column headers will sort by that type. To see the best monthly parking for a given area, search or move the map, then click monthly column header on top of the chart. Try it out (and let us know what you think in our Feedback section).

Check out a screen shot of some garages around union square:

Park Yourself at Katz's

Mike — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:17:00 GMT

You can now find a place to park using one of our embedded parking maps on the Katz's delicatessen website.

If you have never heard about Katz's, check out this documentary about Katz's by Yura Dashevsky.

Parking Garages to Become Slightly More Bike-Friendly?

Mike — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 03:32:00 GMT

The New York City Council’s committees on Transportation and Consumer Affairs held a joint hearing on June 15, 2009, to discuss a proposed amendment to existing zoning laws that would create thousands of parking spaces for bicycles around the city.

The amendment proposes that, "The operator of every garage and parking lot that has an authorized capacity of fifty-one or more motor vehicle spots shall provide and maintain parking spaces for bicycles."

The amendment was first introduced in 2008 and has been the subject of several hearings by the committees on Transportation, Housing and Buildings and Consumer Affairs in the past; however, co-sponsor Councilman David Yassky (D-33) said that he hoped the bill could “get passed quickly” before the Council breaks for the summer.

PrimoSpot is planning on launching a bicycle specific mobile app in the near future. We will be updating the story as it develops.

One Step Closer to Less Parking Confusion

Mike — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:31:00 GMT

Ralph Blumenthal recently wrote an interesting and witty article for the New York Times focusing on how confusing parking can be in Manhattan:

article on NYTimes cityroom blog

The piece reinforced what we already knew: that parking has become a gigantic problem for commuters on a daily basis, particularly in a crowded metropolitan area like New York City. And the city certainly does not make it easy to understand. One of the main reasons we created PrimoSpot was to make parking less painful - to simplify the signs and regulations, and help people find parking more easily. Less driving, less wasted gas and time!

Printed Garage Guides and Maps

Mike — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:07:00 GMT

We are proud to announce that we have partnered with parkitguides.com to provide you with printed guides and maps of over 1100 parking garages in NYC. Parkit! Guides also offers many other useful maps showing where all of the gas stations and highway entrances are located and more. The site has great parking and driving advice to avoid traffic tickets, parking tickets, and EZ-Pass Violations.

Check out a sample chapter from the book.

Coverage of Coney Island

Mike — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:54:00 GMT

We just finished the Coney Island area in Brooklyn. Bay Ridge coming soon!

Thanks for the feedback

Mike — Fri, 08 May 2009 00:33:00 GMT

Sending a big "thank you" to all our users who have been providing us with great feedback! You're our connection to keeping the information on the site as up-to-date as possible. Whenever we receive any changes or updates to the regulations, we verify them before making any edits. Please be patient, sometimes it may take awhile for feedback to go into effect. That being said, we really appreciate the comments. Keep them coming!

No Sleep 'Till Brooklyn...is Updated

Mike — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:26:00 GMT

As a follow-up to our earlier July '08 blog posts, starting several months ago, the city has been overhauling the parking regulations in various Brooklyn neighborhoods, including Park Slope, Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus and Red Hook. Thank you everyone for informing us of parking updates in these areas! We are aware of the changes. Our pigeons and wing flapping generators are working at maximum capacity to bring you the updated information. In the meantime, check out the following NY Times articles for details about the affected neighborhoods:

Red Hook Parking Rules Will Be Suspended Next Monday

Next Step in Easing of Brooklyn Parking Rules

Random Sarah video review of our iPhone app

Mike — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 20:03:00 GMT

Thanks Sarah! We are glad you like it.

Find parking with your iPhone

Mike — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:03:00 GMT

You can now find free parking and garages with our new iPhone application:

Fast native iPhone app with interactive map
Parking information loads in as you pan and zoom
Use current location and our unique driving mode which moves the map as you move
Search history saved for later use
Save where you are parked and add notes
Much more -- see full description and screen shots

Need Help Finding A Garage ?

Mike — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:09:00 GMT

We have been busy collecting the information for all of the garages for our coverage area. We are proud to announce that we have basic garage information for Manhattan available. We are adding in new photos, phone numbers, operating hours, and pricing every day. Brooklyn, Queens, and Hoboken will be added soon too.

Try it out!

New Feature: Upcoming Spots

Mike — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 22:35:00 GMT

We just added a new feature to the site: you can now see when a spot is about to become available. These new markers have a star on them. When you are browsing the map and you see one of these, it means the parking rules for that spot are about to expire, and you'll be able to legally park there very soon (hopefully before anyone else realizes it!)

For example: if the current time is 9:35AM on Tuesday and the rule is No Parking Tuesday and Thursday from 9:00AM to 10:00AM, then this spot will have a star on it indicating that it will be available in 25 minutes. These spots are more likely to be free.

Coverage Area Maps

Mike — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 13:51:00 GMT

To quickly see all of the areas that we cover, check out the new page in the about section:
parking area coverage maps

This page has a list of each area we have captured parking information for. There are also maps with markers for each neighborhood and will update automatically as new areas come online.

Bushwick Completed

Mike — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 09:40:00 GMT

The rest of the Bushwick, Brooklyn area is completed. Follow the link and check out all the new on-street parking data.

Long Island City, Queens

Mike — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:31:00 GMT

You can search for parking in Long Island City in Queens now.

Here is an screenshot:

Check out some of these signs:

Washington Heights area Added

Mike — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:07:00 GMT

We added the Washington Heights area in upper Manhattan quite some time ago, but just in case you missed it:

Park for free in Astoria, Queens

Mike — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:19:00 GMT

PrimoSpot has gathered the parking information for Astoria, Queens.

To date, this area has more one week parking and spots free of any restrictions that we have seen for the NYC metro area.

Note all of the green spots:

Cut, Fold, Tape, then Play!

Mike — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:42:00 GMT

Bryan over at paperfoldables made us a cool foldable flyer. It has a retro green convertible with a detachable head and flip-out mobile phone. The driver inside is unhappy looking for parking, then she uses PrimoSpot on her mobile and finds a free place to park!

Before:	After:

Check it out:

Make Your Own:

Download the PDF.
Print it out on your best (color) printer.
Cut carefully along the dark lines.
Fold on the dotted lines.
Tape the flaps to the inside.
Have fun driving around your house and parking wherever you please!

Spots in West Bushwick

Mike — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:01:00 GMT

We have added on-street parking and bike rack information for the Western part of the Bushwick area, this is the part of Buswick that meets up with Williamsburg in Brooklyn. Follow the link and check it out.

More one week parking:

Go Green with PrimoSpot - Find Bike Racks!

Mike — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:04:00 GMT

Check out our new feature - bicycle rack locations and photos:

Just click the toggle bike racks link at the top while browsing the map and the bikes will drop in.

Please let us know what you think in the contact us section or add a comment to this posting.

We Hug Trees

Mike — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:18:00 GMT

We got a a mention in treehugger.com - 20 Ways Your iPhone Can Save You Gas, Energy, Time and Money.

"This website searches out nearly 20,000 listed street parking spots to tell you which are open, or which have meters that are about to run out. When you are ready to park, you can look up what's available on your phone and head to that spot, drastically cutting down the amount of frustration and wasted gas we experience prowling the streets for an open spot."

Our thanks go out to the people over at treehugger.com.

Google Maps Mania Posting

Mike — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 11:29:00 GMT

The google maps blog googlemapsmania.com wrote up a New York google maps round up and included us in the list.
Thanks!

Link and Embed

Mike — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 22:28:00 GMT

We added the ability to link to an exact point on the map, and embed PrimoSpot maps into your own site.

Use the link button on the right hand site of the map page:

The embeded maps look like this: (move it with your mouse)

View Larger Map

You can easily add maps to your site by pasting the embed code into your site or blog. Here is some example HTML that you would need to use:

<iframe width="500" height="400" src="http://primospot.com/spots/embed?width=500&height=400&lat=40.727324&lng=-73.979294&q=embeded+location" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://primospot.com/spots?lat=40.727324&lng=-73.979294&q=embeded+location" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>

The important parts are the width, height (notice these are in the iframe definition and the link parameters) and the lat and lng parameters. The q parameter in the link is what will show in the search box. The lat and lng paramaters can be omitted if a valid address is used in the q paramater.

Be sure to let us know using the contact us form if you own a site and embed our parking maps.

Added Fort Greene

Mike — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:53:00 GMT

We added in the parking information for Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Those of you who are headed there should have a little help now finding on-street parking.

PrimoSpot in Harlem

Mike — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:54:00 GMT

We have added in the on-street parking information for Harlem. Use the feedback form if you find any errors.

More changes to parking regulations in Brooklyn

Mike — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:52:00 GMT

The rules are being temporarily suspended for Gowanus, Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill while the signs are being updated. The regulations for Park Slope which were previously suspended are back in effect on Monday. Check out the news post on wnbc.

Random Sarah does a screencast using the site

Mike — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 12:23:00 GMT

Sarah is now one of our favorite people on the web! We just found out about this, or we would have posted earlier:

Thank You Sarah.

P.S. Tell your little brother we said hi.

Added Greenwood Cemetery area in Brooklyn

Mike — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 17:42:00 GMT

We now have collected the information for the area around Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn.

There are some places where you can stay for one week, just south of Prospect Park.

Enjoy!

Hey, people live in Harlem, too!

Beth — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:20:00 GMT

It is on the way, trust us! There is no rest in the PrimoSpot bed.

No Stopping vs No Standing vs No Parking

Beth — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:33:00 GMT

One of the questions we get a lot is What does no standing mean, exactly?

Well, for the NYC metro area, here is your answer.

Is this confusing? Yes.

Why? We will let you draw your own conclusions on this.

Q: Will I get a ticket parking at a broken meter?

Beth — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:01:00 GMT

A: According to NYC.gov:

If a meter is broken, you can park for a maximum of one hour, even if the posted sign is for a longer time period. If the meter is missing, you can park for the maximum amount of time posted on the signs.

Short Answer:If the meter is broken, you can park for an hour. If the meter is missing, you still have to obey the posted hours of the parking sign.

Parking signs to change in Park Slope

Mike — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 12:57:00 GMT

It seems residents of Park Slope are not too happy about other people parking on their streets:

Check out this article in the New York Times

No standing except trucks loading and unloading defined

Beth — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:06:00 GMT

from the NYC.gov site: No standing except trucks loading and unloading. Where a posted sign reads "No Standing Except Trucks Loading and Unloading," no vehicle except a commercial vehicle, or a service vehicle as defined in the Section 4-01(b) (pdf) of the New York City Traffic Rules, may stand or park in that area, for the purpose of expeditiously making pickups, deliveries or service calls, and except that in the area from 35th St. to 41st St., Avenue of the Americas to 8th Avenue, inclusive, in the Borough of Manhattan between the hours of 7 am and 7 pm, no vehicle except a truck as defined in Section 4-13(a) (pdf) may stand or park for the purpose of expeditiously making pickups, deliveries or service calls.

Q: How did you guys get all of this information?

Beth — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 17:44:00 GMT

A: It is a very complicated method involving pigeons, wing flapping generators, and wireless cameras. The good news is that day old bagels and bread are cheap, which should help to keep our costs down. We tried squirrels at first, but they quickly formed a union and nuts are too expensive.

Next question ...

Should I Pay Meters on Sundays?

Beth — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:33:00 GMT

No, in the New York City metro area, you do not have to feed the meter. You will not get a ticket even if the sign says it is metered on Sunday, the sign may not have been replaced yet. Leave us a comment if you come across one still showing the older Sunday restrictions.

Prospect Park, Brooklyn anyone?

Mike — Tue, 27 May 2008 11:19:00 GMT

Due to our tireless hard work, we have added a new area to the database. Please join us in welcoming Prospect Park, Brooklyn into the mix!

Even if you do not live here, you might want to check out the map for this area. The regulations are very relaxed compared to Manhattan, allowing you to keep a vehicle for one week stretches.

Manhattan drivers, marvel in the beauty of this:

* We sincerely apologize to anyone who might happen to live on these streets and see an increase in cars trying to park there.

Q: How do I tell you when information is wrong or outdated?

Beth — Sun, 25 May 2008 18:20:00 GMT

A: You click the link provided on the window for that particular spot. It will open up a short form for you to give us some additional information.

It is the little link in the upper right that says incorrect info. If you know what the rules should be, by all means let us know!

Greenpoint, Brooklyn Up

Mike — Sun, 18 May 2008 16:02:00 GMT

We have added in information for Greenpoint in Brooklyn. Feel free to stop asking for it in the feedback form now. We love you guys too!

Williamsburg Added

Mike — Sat, 10 May 2008 16:24:00 GMT

Due to a high level of demand, the data for Williamsburg, Brooklyn is ready. Check it out.

Site Launches!

Mike — Thu, 01 May 2008 10:20:00 GMT

The site is up again with the map and the parking data. We took what we learned during the beta run and put it to good use. We will be sending out the email to all of you that requested to be notified in the coming weeks.

We also now have photos for each of the locations on the map and Brooklyn is well on the way. The photos of the parking rules are all unique and we aim to take photos of every parking sign added to our web site.

You can see the photos on the map by clicking on a spot, then clicking the photo tab. Here is a sample: