Where Can I Park My Vehicle? Don't Worry, Google My Maps can help You

Using public transport especially in Klang Valley has been seen as a convenient solution to avoid traffic jams, at least for now.

One of the components in public transport system is park and ride (PnR). PnR is a hub or a point where a person can switch their traveling mode from private vehicle to public transport. In other words, the person can simply park their vehicle over there and use public transport (either LRT or buses). Generally, PnR can be seen nearby the LRT and bus stations. Some of them are operated by third party companies, the others  impose certain charges and some others are free of charge.

The question now is, how near is "near"?. Do the user knows where is the nearest PnR? How much will it costs them? Is there any platforms or tools that can show the person instantly the nearest PnR, along with fare information?

This post intends to demonstrate the utilization of Google My Maps  features to display any information regarding PnR. Consider this situation, lets say that a random person wants to take LRT from Setiawangsa. He drives his own vehicle from his house and wants to park his vehicle at the nearest PnR. He has no idea about what is the parking rates at these PnR and their location.

LRT Setiawangsa station on Google My Maps (Green box)

we used "layer" feature to construct different types of information on the map. In this case, we used four layers to represent four types of information which is "parking areas", "LRT station", "photos", and "pedestrian walk". in each layer, we simply drew lines and shapes to represent the mentioned information.

Parking spaces nearby LRT station (blue box)

To differentiate parking rates between these parking spots on this map, we used "layer style" features provided by Google.  The tool then automatically generates colour range according to parking rates information entered in data table. In this case, we differentiate parking rates between these parking spots according to total fares if user parks his vehicle for 10 hours.

You can see that the darker the colour, more expensive the parking charges. Users can instantly differentiate parking rates as well as know where to park his vehicle by referring to this map.

Another layer constructed is pedestrian access from PnR to LRT station. This layer shows user the walking routes to and from PnR and LRT station. Not only allowing user to draw shapes and lines, Google My Maps also automatically calculates the distance between PnR and LRT station.

Pedestrian route to and from LRT stn and PnR (brown lines)

No matter how far is the distance from PnR and LRT station, users can instantly notify how to get there by the aid of Google My Maps.

Simply click one of the walking route and GMyMaps will show you the distance.

Google My Maps also enables us to customize our own map by adding photo to any point in the map. For instance. we want to show transit users the actual view of where is the entrance of the parking lot or where to pay their fares. Google Street View is another option to get visual information on PnR location.

You guys can contribute also by doing the same process, but with different LRT stations / bus stops.

Happy traveling..!!