How to find a parked car with a smartphone?

In some places, parking spaces are marked with special numbers and letters for easier orientation, but if we are in a hurry, we can miss these signs or not even notice them. There were also quite a few surprising cases when acquaintances or online records warned us that parking in Ljubljana is not exactly easy, especially for those who are not frequent visitors to the capital. Public and organized parking lots are often full or too expensive, so irregular drivers use side streets, which may be harder to find a few hours later and in the dark.

Don't worry, for every problem there are applications that make our lives easier. In this case, the well-known Google Maps and Apple Maps can be our saviors, but then there are quite a few third-party applications that approach the same problem from a different angle. Let's see the easiest way to find a parked car with a smartphone.

Google Maps

Google Zemljevidi so fantastična aplikacija, ki jo najpogosteje uporabljamo za orientiranje po novih krajih. O najbolj skritih trikih Google lokacijske aplikacije smo že pisali, prav tako o alternativnih aplikacijah, če slučajno nismo zadovoljni z Googlovo rešitvijo. Takrat pa nismo omenili funkcije, ki si zapomni lokacijo parkiranega avtomobila. Trik deluje tako za Android kot tudi iOS uporabnike.

How It Works? First, find an empty parking spot, open Google Maps on your phone and click on the blue pin (or circle on the bottom right) that will locate your current location (you must have Location turned on). Then you click on the location where you are (blue circle on the map). A toolbar will appear where you can select the Save Parking function. You will then notice a red pin on the Map that indicates a parking spot.

Android users can enter a bit more information, such as how many hours you've paid for a parking space and other additional notes, such as license plates of nearby cars, if you're paranoid about someone scratching your car. Of course, it is not a 100 % reliable solution. You can also share the location of the parked car with others, for example with a partner who might get tired of exploring the mall sooner.

When it's time to return to your parked car, click on the marked location or pin on the map and select Directions.

Apple Maps

Preden lahko uporabite Apple Maps za iskanje parkiranega avtomobila, morate najprej spremeniti nekaj nastavitev. V iPhonu pojdite v Nastavitve > Zasebnost in varnost > Lokacijske storitve in se prepričajte, da so lokacijske storitve vklopljene.

Pomaknite se na dno zaslona lokacijskih storitev, izberite Sistemske storitve in nato tapnite Pomembne lokacije. Morda bo sistem zahteval vnos gesla, Touch ID ali Face ID. Nato vklopite stikalo poleg funkcije Pomembne lokacije. Nato pojdite v Nastavitve > Zemljevidi in vklopite funkcijo Pokaži parkirno lokacijo.

Now you can track your car's location when it's parked. Your iPhone will do this automatically if you connect it via Bluetooth or CarPlay. When you disconnect from the car, your phone should display a notification indicating that the Apple Maps app has marked the location of the parked car. If the notification does not appear, you are not using CarPlay or your phone is not connected to the car via Bluetooth.

In this case, you can locate the parking space manually. Open Apple Maps and find a blue pin for a parked vehicle on the map, then tap it. If you don't see it, type "parked car" into the search box and the location of the car should appear.

Tap the Edit Location button to see a picture of your car's surroundings. You can also create a note with more details and tap the Add Photo button to take a photo of your car and location.

When you need to find your car, open Apple Maps and tap the pin for the parked vehicle. Select Directions, then tap Go to follow the walking directions to your parked car.

Third-party applications

ParKing

Samooklicani kralj med parkirnimi aplikacijami je ParKing. Aplikacija samodejno označi, kje ste parkirali svoj avto. Kako? V aplikaciji morate najprej v nastavitvah vklopiti samodejno označevanje parkiranega avtomobila. Ko aplikacija zazna, da je vaš telefon prekinil Bluetooth povezavo z avtomobilom, bo to mesto označila kot parkirno mesto. ParKing ne deluje v ozadju, zato vam ni potrebno skrbeti, da bo pretirano požrešen z baterijo telefona.

It also saves all previously marked parking spaces (either manually or automatically marked). You can edit, delete or add notes to each tag. Where there is no GPS signal available, you can add a picture of the parking space and all other necessary instructions to reliably find the car.

Find my Car, Parked Car Locator...

Parked Car Locator in Find my Car sta osnovni aplikaciji, ki sta predvsem zelo enostavni za uporabo. Označite lokacijo parkirnega mesta, in ko je čas za vrnitev, sledite kompasu na zemljevidu. V aplikaciji Find my Car lahko dodate še koordinate in sliko parkiranega avtomobila.

Find your Car with AR

Postopek je podoben kot pri prejšnjih aplikacijah. Za vrnitev pa lahko uporabite tehnologijo razširjene resničnosti (AR), ki običajni zemljevid spremeni v AR zemljevid s prikazano dejansko okolico, kar pomeni, da se boste med iskanjem lažje orientirali po sosednjih zgradbah.

Waze

Waze je priljubljena alternativa aplikacije Google Zemljevidi, ki prav tako ponuja funkcijo samodejnega shranjevanja parkirnega mesta. Pogoj je, da ste pred tem aplikacijo uporabili za navigacijo do končnega cilja. Ko boste zaprli aplikacijo, bo ta na zemljevidu samodejno označila lokacijo avtomobila. Nato morate le slediti navodilom za vrnitev do avtomobila.

Samsung Bixby, Samsung SmartThings, Apple AirTags...

Digitalni asistent Bixby Samsung uporabnikom omogoča, da si namesto njih samodejno zapomni lokacijo parkiranega avtomobila. Funkcijo morate najprej vklopiti v Bixby nastavitvah.

Samsung ima priročno funkcijo SmartThings, s katero se lahko povežete z zunanjimi Bluetooth napravami, kot na primer Samsung SmartTag (40 € za dve sledilni napravi). Lokator pustite v avtu, na primer v predalu ali naslonjalu za roke. Vzemite v roke telefon, povežite se s sledilno napravo s pomočjo funkcije SmartThings in poiščite svoj avto. To je tudi odlična preventivna rešitev v primeru kraje avtomobila.

Applova alternativa so lokatorji AirTags, ki delujejo na zelo podoben način (36 € za 1 sledilno napravo). Priročni so tudi za lociranje drugih predmetov, na primer prtljage v primeru izgube na letališčih in podobno.