While Moscow streets and sidewalks are crippled by haphazardly and illegally parked automobiles, an online city magazine, The-Village.ru, has launched a sophisticated e-campaign to identify and shame the offenders.
Using a free Android application named ‘Parking Douche,’ smartphone users can take a picture of the culprit. The app then uses the user’s IP address, taps into a database of license plates, and creates an online banner featuring the illegally parked car.
The picture of the car is then featured on a banner ad that appears on the screens of all those visiting The-Village.ru and other sites from the same publisher and located in the same area. Visitors – who are targeted through their IP addresses – can remove the ad from the screen by sharing the picture of the car with their social network.
Parking Douche from Parking Douche on Vimeo.
The application has attracted more than 8,000 active users since its launch in early April, the publisher told East-West Digital News. More than 30,000 pictures have been taken, generating over two million banner ads. No complaints have been received to date, according to the publisher.
A number of web resources around the world are dedicated to this issue (see here and here), but the Russian ‘Parking Douche’ app is bolder and more technically sophisticated.
The app has created an online buzz in tech media and blogs around the world, with many calling for localizing the app in their country, and won gold among ten other mobile apps at Cannes Lions earlier this month.
“Parking offenses are an issue all over the world, and we are holding discussions with a range of foreign websites and other potential partners,” Alya Gabdurakhmanova, Senior Division Manager of The-Village.ru, said to EWDN.
The-Village.ru is part of Lookatme.ru, a portal targeting an active urban audience. The site was launched in April 2010 and claims 600,000 unique users monthly.
