Context Sensitive Search Tools Now in MeterFeeder
Pittsburgh (PA) – MeterFeeder’s mission statement since our inception has been to make parking as simple as possible. When we hear from our users that we could be doing something better, we do our best to make it a reality. Starting this Friday, November 16th, finding the right parking lot in the MeterFeeder app just got even easier! After listening to user feedback on the manual location search feature, improvements have been made and we are pleased to announce that location searches should be much easier from now on!
Our log data has shown us that most users find their location via the built in GPS feature of MeterFeeder. The MeterFeeder app primarily uses the GPS of the user’s phone to automatically assign the user to the correct zone. The intention here is that the process is completely effortless. MeterFeeder’s goal has always been to make parking as easy as possible and require as little user input as possible.
However, both Android and iOS phones both allow users to disable GPS and location services. Not to mention, sometimes GPS is not 100% accurate. A user who has walked away from their car and wishes to add more time might not be able to rely on their GPS to put them back in the same zone when they are now blocks away. In these situations, users can use the search bar within the app to search for the areas, city, or zone that they are parked in.
But what should users be searching for? Depending on the area, they might be able to tell what street they are on, or they might not. What if it’s a brand new road or parking lot? Typically we have signs in these sorts of locations to display the name the the zone, and what should be searched – but what if the user doesn’t see one of these signs? They will rely on their best guess to complete their reservation.
Previously, the app required users to input the name of the zone exactly, with only a few typos still showing the correct zone. Now, the MeterFeeder team can assign tags to each location, to account for even more potential entries that return the zone that the user is looking for. For example, someone searching for the private Waterfront Place on-street parking, can now type things like “Strip District” or “Convention Center” and still see Waterfront Place as a top recommendation.
Our goal with this update was to create context sensitive search tools. Future updates could include things such as referencing a user’s IP address to further pinpoint the area that they are in, even without GPS assistance. The MeterFeeder team hopes that this will make things even easier for users who can’t see the signage in each zone, or can’t rely on GPS for any of the reasons mentioned above. We see this new change continuing to be useful as people from out of town visit a city they don’t know, they’ll be able to see multiple results with more general search keywords.
Learn more about Meter Feeder at www.meterfeeder.com
Learn more about Pay-By-Vehicle at www.meterfeeder.com/pbv