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Park-Information This is a parking lot. It was never built but is a project pertinent to this discussion of database. It is a database writ large. The entire surface of the lot is a grid of magnetic induction loops: a cheap, ubiquitous technology exactly like those used to trigger traffic lights. It is a smart surface that knows where the large metal objects, cars, are. (When we started calling things smart, smart cards, smart buildings, smart everything, we started referring to ourselves as dummies. Simultaneously, that yellow series of Books for Dummies appeared: "Quicken for Dummies," "The Web for Dummies," "Personal Finance for Dummies.") When you enter the lot, a colorimeter scans the color of your car and issues a parking ticket assigning your space. Cars are arranged according to color, transforming the mundane act of parking the car into a large public spectacle. The parking lot, a site that might be considered culturally bereft, becomes a display of public participation. It is a project that makes tangible the extent of vehicular obedience.

		Moreover, by using an adaptive system, an optimized packing algorithm can increase the capacity of the lot. It also allows a more fragile surface to support this activity because surface wear can be distributed. The magnetic induction loops in this design are embedded in a cell structure, while supporting the weight of a car allows grass to grow through. It's a display surface, or a monitor, disguised as a grass parking lot.
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