SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
The next time you're hunting for a parking spot, mathematics could help you identify the most efficient strategy, according to a recent paper in the Journal of Statistical Mechanics. It's basically an optimization problem: weighing different variables and crunching the numbers to find the optimal combination of those factors. In the case of where to put your car, the goal is to strike the optimal balance of parking close to the target—a building entrance, for example—without having to waste too much time circling the lot hunting for the closest space.
Paul Krapivsky of Boston University and Sidney Redner of the Santa Fe Institute decided to build their analysis around an idealized parking lot with a single row (a semi-infinite line), and they focused on three basic parking strategies. A driver who employs a "meek" strategy will take the first available spot, preferring to park as quickly as possible even if there might be open spots closer to the entrance. A driver employing an "optimistic" strategy will go right to the entrance and then backtrack to find the closest possible spot.
Finally, drivers implementing a "prudent" strategy will split the difference. They might not grab the first available spot, figuring there will be at least one more open spot a bit closer to the entrance. If there isn't, they will backtrack to the space a meek driver would have claimed immediately.
[...] Based on their model, the scientists concluded that the meek strategy is the least effective of the three, calling it "risibly inefficient" because "many good parking spots are unfilled and most cars are parked far from the target."
[...] "On average, the prudent strategy is less costly," the authors concluded. "Thus, even though the prudent strategy does not allow the driver to take advantage of the presence of many prime parking spots close to the target, the backtracking that must always occur in the optimistic strategy outweighs the benefit." Plenty of people might indeed decide that walking a bit farther is an acceptable tradeoff to avoid endlessly circling a crowded lot hunting for an elusive closer space. Or maybe they just want to rack up a few extra steps on their FitBit.
Source: https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/09/to-find-the-best-parking-spot-do-the-math/
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 27 2019, @01:52PM (5 children)
The study is limited. It only factors in one goal for their strategy. When I park, getting closest to the door isn't even in the top three. The top goal is to find a spot where someone won't door ding me when they get in/out of their car. The next goal is a spot where I can get in/out of my car easily. The third goal is finding a spot that is best for the weather (shade in the sun, for example). How long it takes to walk to the door of the shop is of no concern. I like exercise.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Friday September 27 2019, @02:06PM (3 children)
> The top goal is to find a spot where someone won't door ding me when they get in/out of their car.
You need these: https://www.amazon.com/Door-Guard-Magnetic-Protector-Protection/dp/B0182JDD54 [amazon.com]
(Score: 2) by Snow on Friday September 27 2019, @03:15PM (2 children)
I'd rather have the door dings than those ugly things on my car.
The picture has them on a Jeep Patriot. If anything, the paint from other cars that scrape off on your doors will increase the value of that car...
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Saturday September 28 2019, @01:44AM (1 child)
What? You don't want to preserve the beauty of your car by desecrating it?
Do you remember the car bras that went viral many moons ago? Every BMW and Porsche owner had one. In fact, I think they only made them for BMW and Porsche. Something about marketing.
(sorry to any BMW or Porsche owners here- I like them and most of their owners.)
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday September 28 2019, @07:12PM
Saw a lot of the sportier Nissans with them too out on the east coast.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 4, Informative) by richtopia on Friday September 27 2019, @02:27PM
Admittedly, this optimization study could be applied in similar situations elsewhere. When I first started reading the summary, I thought the researchers were looking for a car analogy of some computer science problem, but alas, it was actually just a car problem.
For me, the externality is the safety associated with parking lots. I wish there would be a way to redesign parking lots so humans and cars do not need to cross paths directly in-front of the store. In my parking strategy, I follow the meek strategy in part to avoid the front of the lot with the high foot traffic. I also am in my 30s with long legs so I typically can get to the store faster than a car crawling through the foot traffic.