Hi

    Lars Sjögren
    Lars Sjögren15d ago

    Hey everyone! I’m Lars from Stockholm. By day I do B2B software sales, by night I build small web apps. My current project is ParkSpot — a free app that visualizes Stockholm’s parking rules in real time. The clever part: it shows recently finished and upcoming street cleaning, so you can spot the hidden gems where streets are empty. Glad to be here and swap notes on building and shipping.

    💬121

    Comments (12)

    Sergey Kargopolov
    Sergey Kargopolov15d ago

    Welcome to the community, Lars 🙋🏻‍♂️. I don't see your product published yet but I assume ParkSpot determines user's exact location and tells how long they are allowed to park, how much it costs and helps to pay? 🤔

    Lars Sjögren
    Lars Sjögren15d ago

    Nice to meet you, Sergey. The site goes live tomorrow.
    ParkSpot is a free web app for street parking in Stockholm, built on the city’s open parking data. Most parking tools are about paying. ParkSpot is about finding — it shows you which streets you’re actually allowed to park on right now, or overnight, with street-cleaning days filtered out. No login, no ads.
    The real edge is the next step: pointing you to the streets where you have the best chance of an open space not just where parking is legal . 👍

    Sergey Kargopolov
    Sergey Kargopolov15d agoReply

    Nice! 👍 Would be good if it starts a turn-by-turn navigation to the available parking spot if selected. I wish cities in Canada offered something like this for as well(at least downtown area). I would use it :). Looking forward to your launch!

    Lars Sjögren
    Lars Sjögren14d agoReply

    ↳ Replying to Sergey Kargopolov

    Actually already built that one, Sergey! Tap an available street on the map and it hands off straight to Google Maps for turn-by-turn to that spot. So it's not just "here's a legal street" — it's "here's the street, now go." Might be worth doing for Canadian cities too once the open data exists ;)

    Olga Kargopolova
    Olga Kargopolova14d ago

    Welcome Lars! I have no idea how street cleaning schedules work in Stockholm, sounds like something very local. But if it saves people from circling the block looking for parking, that's real time and frustration saved. Looking forward to the launch!

    Lars Sjögren
    Lars Sjögren14d ago

    Hi Olga,

    Yes, street parking in Stockholm is a bit complicated. On top of the normal rules, most streets also have a weekly cleaning day. Those streets are often empty both before and after the cleaning, so that’s usually where you have the best chance of finding a spot.
    ParkSpot points you to exactly those streets, and it turns the parking rules into simple colors so you can see at a glance where you’re allowed to park.

    Stacy Wycoff
    Stacy Wycoff13d ago

    The Google Maps handoff is the part that actually makes this useful instead of just informative, most parking apps stop at "here is a legal spot" and leave you to figure out how to get there. No login and no ads is an unusual choice too. What is the actual goal for you here, is this mainly a portfolio piece to show B2B buyers you can ship, or are you hoping the city or a parking operator eventually wants it?

    Lars Sjögren
    Lars Sjögren11d agoReply

    Hi Stacy,
    Good question – the Maps handover was intentional. Most parking apps stop at “here’s a legal spot”, which is useless if you still have to figure out how to get there. Another thing I haven’t seen anywhere else: showing streets that have just been cleaned along with those that are due to be cleaned next, if it’s a temporary parking spot for a movie in town, those streets have a much better chance of finding parking.

    The origins are less strategic than they sound: I built this because my wife was stressed out looking for legal parking - stressed out on her way to yoga :) , and it grew from there. I’m not sure this is “about money” yet – before a business model, I want to know if it solves a problem worth solving. Today about 1000 new users

    Stockholm now uses AI scanning cars that check ~4000-5000 parked cars per hour for violations. Maybe I'll help the city, residents and not least car and motorcycle drivers.

    So less "portfolio part", more "let's find out if it's useful before we decide what it's for".

    Jinny Moon
    Jinny Moon12d ago

    This is a very interesting idea, Lars! Showing recently finished and upcoming street cleaning turns complicated parking rules into something genuinely useful. I especially like that ParkSpot does more than help drivers avoid tickets—it helps them discover newly available parking spots. Welcome to the community, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the app develops!

    Lars Sjögren
    Lars Sjögren11d agoReply

    Thanks Jinny, really appreciate that — and yeah, that "newly available" angle is my favorite part too. It's live already: streets that just finished and upcoming ones are highlighted in green and orange on the map.

    Stacy Wycoff
    Stacy Wycoff11d ago

    Lars, 1000 users on day one for something you built because your wife was stressed hunting for parking on the way to yoga is a strong signal already. Curious what the early data shows, are people mostly checking before they leave the house, or opening it while already circling the block looking for a spot?

    Lars Sjögren
    Lars Sjögren10d agoReply

    1000 users is the total nr of new users. Of course alot of them are just checking in the app and leave it forever.
    My guess is they open up Parkspot when they are about to reach the adress. But me myself and I use it from start. Better to start with a good option.

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