Parking Data Reveals San Francisco's Most Expensive Lots

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Jun 16 (MARKET WIRE) --
San Franciscans know they live in an expensive city, but many may not
realize how much they're overpaying for parking. A collection of parking
data from a local company is shedding some light. According to Urban
Mapping(R) and its URBANWARE(R) Parking database, prices for off-street
parking in the same general area of the city can vary greatly from one
lot to another. For example, the city's most expensive lot for a weekday
morning costs $17.75 for the first hour, while a lot one block away costs
$7.50 for the same hour and another option six blocks away is only $2.

Further evidence is the large disparity between prices for all-day
parking. To park from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on a weekday, the priciest lot
costs $54. A lot 200 feet away charges less than half that amount ($25
for the day) and a spot five blocks away results in even greater savings
($11/day).

"Technology is supposed to improve our lives, yet something as rudimentary
as where to park has largely been overlooked," stated Ian White, CEO of
San Francisco-based Urban Mapping. "Solutions to help get us from Point A
to Point B are becoming mainstream, and some do provide basic parking
data, but many of the important attributes of a lot are overlooked. How
do the rates change depending on the day of the week or time of day? Does
the lot accept credit cards or just cash? Does it validate? Where do I
actually enter and exit? We've put people on the streets to collect all
this data, not just for San Francisco, but for the top 50 metropolitan
areas across the country."

Other highlights from the San Francisco data include:

-- The city's most expensive hour of parking on a weekday morning
($17.75) can be found in the Nob Hill area (1000 block of California
Street)
-- Parking during the same time in New York City can cost up to twice
as much ($34.63/hr)
-- The priciest lot for all day parking during the week ($54) is near the
Ferry Building (100 block of Spear Street)
-- Equivalent parking options in New York go as high as $73.50
-- Parking from noon to 2 p.m. at the Westin St.-Francis on Union Square
costs $18; for the same times, the lot under Union Square goes for $5
-- Two hours of parking near the Transamerica Pyramid on a weekday costs
$24 at the priciest lot; an option one block away is only $4.50
-- Parking mid-day near AT&T Park for two hours on a non-game day can
range from $3 up to $16 within a three block radius

Creative consumers can find even better bargains. For example, two
and half hours of parking at the Embarcadero Center on a weekday
afternoon costs $30. Alternatively, parking is $8 with validation from
the movie theater. After paying for parking and two matinee tickets, a
consumer would still have $5.50 left to spend on a small popcorn or soda.

About URBANWARE Parking

The URBANWARE Parking database provides thorough coverage of both public
and privately-owned off-street and airport parking lots in the top 50 U.S.
metropolitan areas and a level of data content that is unmatched in the
industry. URBANWARE Parking may be licensed by periodic updates or via an
API. All customers may take advantage of the product's rate calculator,
which allows for highly accurate parking fees to be known when the journey
is planned.

About Urban Mapping, Inc.

Urban Mapping's location-rich URBANWARE products enhance the value of
local content for interactive applications. The company's flagship
product, URBANWARE Neighborhoods, is a database of informal space and is
used by all major portals, map platforms and Internet yellow page
publishers, including Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft's Virtual Earth, Idearc's
SuperPages.com, MapQuest and AT&T's YellowPages.com. Urban Mapping also
offers databases of mass transit systems and off-street parking lots, as
well as a novel geotargeting solution focused on the needs of local
search. For more information about Urban Mapping, visit
http://www.urbanmapping.com or call 415.946.8170.

Urban Mapping and URBANWARE are registered trademarks of Urban Mapping,
Inc. All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their
respective owners.

Company contact:
Lindsay Hong
lindsay@urbanmapping.com
415-946-8170 x812

PR contact:
Dean Fisk
dean@xfactorsportsmedia.com
707-837-1745

Copyright 2009, Market Wire, All rights reserved.

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