System and method for determining parking availability

1. A computer-implemented method for managing vehicle parking availability, the method comprising:

receiving, from a device, an indication of a transportation-behavior change associated with a user, wherein the indication of the transportation-behavior change specifies a change from a first transportation behavior to a second transportation behavior at a location,

the transportation-behavior change being indicative of the user having left a parking space in a vicinity of the location, thereby rendering the parking space available;

identifying, using records of parking spaces stored in a database, an available parking space based on the received indication of the transportation-behavior change, the available parking space having been vacated by the user, and being indicated by the transportation behavior change, the identifying including:

identifying one or more candidate parking spaces based on the received indication of the transportation-behavior change at the location;

calculating, for each of the candidate parking spaces, a confidence level that the user has left a respective candidate parking space, thereby forming a set of confidence levels;

identifying, based on a maximal confidence level, the available parking space being the parking space having been vacated by the user and available for parking;

transmitting a notification of the available parking space to at least one navigation user different from the user.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining one or more navigation users having a destination proximate to the available parking space, the available parking space having been identified based on the maximal confidence level;

calculating, for each navigation user, a parking-availability probability that the respective navigation user will obtain the available parking space; and

transmitting, to at least one navigation user, a notification of the available parking space according to the calculated parking-availability probabilities.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the transmitting the notification of the available parking space further comprises:

identifying a set of other devices having routes with a destination proximate to the location of the available parking space; and

transmitting the notification to the identified other devices.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the transmitting, to at least one of the navigation users, the notification of the available parking space according to the calculated parking-availability probabilities further comprises:

selecting a subset of the navigation users having an associated parking-availability probability of obtaining the available parking space that exceeds a first threshold value; and

transmitting the notification to the selected subset.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the transmitting, to at least one of the navigation users, the notification of the available parking space according to the calculated parking-availability probabilities further comprises:

ranking the navigation users according to the associated parking-availability probability of obtaining the available parking space; and

transmitting the notification to a subset of the ranked navigation users.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the calculating, for each of the candidate parking spaces, a confidence level that the user has left a respective candidate parking space is based on at least one of a set of factors including a size of a parking lot, a distance of a parking space to the location of the transportation-behavior change, a type of parking, a number of times other users have been associated with the parking space, and a number of previously-recorded locations have been associated with the respective parking space in a prior time period.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining one or more navigation users having a destination proximate to the available parking space;

calculating, for a given navigation user, a set of parking-availability probabilities, each one of the set of parking-availability probability representing a likelihood that the given navigation user will obtain a respective candidate parking space;

calculating a cumulative probability based on at least one from the set of confidence levels associated with the candidate parking spaces and on at least one from the set of parking-availability probabilities associated with a given navigation user, wherein the cumulative probability represents a likelihood that the respective candidate parking space is available and that the given navigation user will obtain the respective candidate parking space;

transmitting, to at least one navigation user, a notification of the available parking space according to the calculated cumulative probabilities.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying the one or more candidate parking spaces comprises:

determining a map section associated with the location of the transportation-behavior change; and

identifying the candidate parking spaces contained within the map section.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transportation-behavior change is determined based on a behavior pattern of a plurality of predetermined behavior patterns.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transportation-behavior change specifies a change from a first transportation behavior of walking to a second transportation behavior of driving.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining the location of the transportation-behavior change to be within a predetermined area threshold of at least one of previous device-associated locations; and

responsive to determining that the location is out of the predetermined area threshold, adjusting the location of the transportation-behavior change with the at least one of previous device-associated locations.

12. A system for managing vehicle parking availability, the system comprising:

a hardware processor configured to:

receive, from a device, an indication of a transportation-behavior change associated with a first user, wherein the indication of the transportation-behavior change specifies a change from a first transportation behavior to a second transportation behavior at a location,

the transportation-behavior change being indicative of the user having left a parking space in a vicinity of the location, thereby rendering the parking space available;

identify, using records of parking spaces stored in a database, an available parking space based on the received indication of the transportation-behavior change, the available parking space having been vacated by the user, and being indicated by the transportation behavior change, the identifying including:

identifying one or more candidate parking spaces based on the received indication of the transportation-behavior change at the location;

calculating, for each of the candidate parking spaces, a confidence level that the user has left a respective candidate parking space, thereby forming a set of confidence levels; and

identifying, based on a maximal confidence level, the available parking space being the parking space having been vacated by the user and available for parking;

transmitting a notification of the available parking space to at least one navigation user different from the user.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine one or more navigation users having a destination proximate to the available parking space, the available parking space having been identified based on the maximal confidence level;

calculate, for each navigation user, a parking-availability probability that the respective navigation user will obtain the available parking space; and

transmit, to at least one navigation user, a notification of the available parking space according to the calculated parking-availability probabilities.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the system is configured to calculate, for each of the candidate parking spaces, a confidence level that the user has left a respective candidate parking space based on at least one of a set of factors including a size of a parking lot, a distance of a parking space to the location of the transportation-behavior change, a type of parking, a number of times other users have been associated with the parking space, and a number of previously-recorded locations have been associated with the respective parking space in a prior time period.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the processor configured to transmit, to at least one of the navigation users, the notification of the available parking space according to the calculated parking-availability probabilities is further configured to:

select a subset of the navigation users having an associated parking-availability probability of obtaining the available parking space that exceeds a first threshold value; and

transmit the notification to the selected subset.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the processor configured to transmit, to at least one of the navigation users, the notification of the available parking space according to the calculated parking-availability probabilities is further configured to:

rank the navigation users according to the associated parking-availability probability of obtaining the available parking space; and

transmit the notification to a subset of the ranked navigation users.

17. The system of claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine one or more navigation users having a destination proximate to the available parking space;

calculate, for a given navigation user, a set of parking-availability probabilities, each one of the set of parking-availability probability representing a likelihood that the given navigation user will obtain a respective candidate parking space;

calculate a cumulative probability based on at least one from the set of confidence levels associated with the candidate parking spaces and on at least one from the set of parking-availability probabilities associated with a given navigation user, wherein the cumulative probability represents a likelihood that the respective candidate parking space is available and that the given navigation user will obtain the respective candidate parking space;

transmit, to at least one navigation user, a notification of the available parking space according to the calculated cumulative probabilities.