A2 DDA Realtime Parking Data

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Description Real-time # of parking spaces available for 8-9 Ann Arbor parking structures
Data Provider Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority (DDA)
Site URL http://www.a2dda.org/parking__transportation/available_parking_spots/
Data URL http://a2dda.org/parking-rss.php
Format Description
embedded HTML table, RSS Feed

Additional Information

Screenshot of the A2 DDA page:

Data Feeds in Alternative Formats

Applications using this data

Application Description Technologies Used
(734) 272-0909 (currently forbidden by A2DDA) Phone access to available parking spaces Asterisk, Cepstral, Perl - code and description
A2-Park Web page for small screens (i.e. iPhone) Django, Google App Engine, IUI
annarbor_parking Adhearsion open source AnnArbor Application Adhearsion
AAPark SMS application YQL

Chronology of Events Related to Access to DDA Parking Data

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|| Date/Time || Description || Source/Link ||

4/11/2008 a Teeter Talk interview with Stephen Smith. Mr. Smith describes plans to roll out a "mobile phone version" (a small format webpage) and that "shortly the mobile phone version will be coming out".
Here are some excerpts, but read the entire interview for context.

HD: So have you noticed that there are folks who are taking the website data, and scraping it and dumping it into aggregate files?
SS: We are hoping that people do.

HD: And it happens to be that the IT you are doing is parking related.
SS: But it has been really exciting! You wouldn't believe the amount of IT equipment, machines, data, and just stuff there is involved in parking. It's a really complicated field that really has a lot of IT need, and it's been really exciting to work here. For this whole month I have been so busy, and I've worked a lot of hours and it's been fun. I have learned so many things about loops and gates, [laugh] card readers--everything talks to our central office. It's a whole lot of information to try to make sense of. There's a lot of exciting things that you can do with it, and ways that you can improve customer service. That's what we are looking to do. To make a parking experience better for the city of Ann Arbor.

 TT with HD: Stephen Smith
4/18/2008 blog post describing the use of scraped parking data time series (Ann Arbor Parking: Could You Be a Parking Nerd?)
12/18/2008 blog post describing an analysis of parking structure data The Paradox of Cheap Parking, in Real Time ]
1/08/2009 blog post describing how the a telephony application was created to share parking data, including the source code used Use Asterisk, Cepstral, and Perl to get Parking and Weather Updates
1/13/2009 a Teeter Talk interview with Fred Posner about creating the telephony application TT with HD: Fred Posner
1/13/2009 initial version of a2-park released http://a2-park.appspot.com/
1/16/2009 Ann Arbor News article describing the telephony application "Use your cell phone: Techies develop system for monitoring parking spaces at downtown Ann Arbor garages" (link)
1/16/2009 ArborUpdate.com article describing applications built using the DDA parking structure data A2 Parking Geeks
1/16/2009 changes are made to the DDA website which prevent access from certain clients (including Google App Engine, used by the a2-park application)  
1/18/2009 source code for http://a2-park.appspot.com released http://bitbucket.org/tylere/a2-park/wiki/Home
1/21/2009 4:04pm Susan Pollay sends email to Erickson, Posner, and Vielmetti describes how the DDA plans not to proceed with restoring access to blocked clients, citing a lack of DDA policy, security concerns, the concern that DDA should be providing this service (web pages formatted for mobile devices) if the project has value to parking patrons email message
1/30/2009 blog post describing how a developer created an open source component that allows other developers to more easily create telephony apps
Ann Arbor Parking Information by Phone - an Adhearsion Example
2/4/2009 Sir Tim Berners-Lee presents "The next Web of open linked data" at TED 2009; audience chants RAW DATA NOW  
3/12/2009 11:36am Susan Pollay sends email announcing DDA's resolution

... Their resolve was to provide information by phone to interested members of the public using real human beings answering phones at the Republic Parking office.

 email message
3/12/2009 blog post describing how DDA's decision in regards to sharing parking data (includes Susan Pollay's email and Fred Posner's response to the DDA) A2DDA Blocks Asterisk Parking Data
3/12/2009 Arbor Update publishes story DDA Blocks Parking Information via Phone Service
3/13/2009 TED talk from Tim Berners-Lee on "The next Web of open linked data" posted The next Web of open linked data
3/14/2009 blog post describing a FOIA request for the DDA parking data records request: ann arbor downtown development authority parking data
3/14/2009 7:01 am Ann Arbor News front page article on the DDA's decision "Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority pulls the plug on computerized parking spot program" (link)
3/14/2009 7:01 am open letter to the DDA DDA Info Policy
3/16/2009 8:21 am the DDA web page reports "Parking data is temporarily unavailable" web page: "DDA | On a Mission to Strengthen Downtown Ann Arbor - Available Parking Spots" (link)
3/16/2009 10:15 am blog post (Notional Slurry) describing the DDA parking issue Hey, I checked our records. You didn't say you wanted a revolution after all. Sorry! (link
3/16/2009 1:57 pm the international MetaFilter site links to the story. Ann Arbor Smackdown
3/16/2009 2:41 pm the DDA web page starts reporting parking data again web page: "DDA | On a Mission to Strengthen Downtown Ann Arbor - Available Parking Spots" (link)
3/21/2009 the DDA adds a disclaimer to their site

Parking availability is continuously updated throughout the day and night, Monday through Saturday. However, there may be times when updates are delayed. For the most up to date and accurate information available about parking in downtown Ann Arbor, please call our Customer Service Information Line at 734-761-9477. We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause.

 web page: "DDA | On a Mission to Strengthen Downtown Ann Arbor - Available Parking Spots" (link; see Accessibility section)
4/1/2009 Tyler Erickson talks at the DDA Board Meeting about the tech community's interest in free access to the DDA parking data Ann Arbor DDA Board Meeting Agenda
4/2/2009 Ann Arbor Chronicle article on the DDA Board Meeting DDA: No Character-District Zoning, Please link
6/9/2009 Fred Posner and Ed Vielmetti present the a2dda project to the Michigan Usr Group web page: "MUG Michigan Usr group (link)
6/20/2009 the DDA web page was down from 8am - 2pm web page: "DDA | On a Mission to Strengthen Downtown Ann Arbor - Available Parking Spots" (link)

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