How Sydney’s notoriously difficult parking spots are being mapped

Finding parking is often sore point among many of Sydney’s inner city residents, but one dedicated volunteer map artist is on a mission to change that.

It’s an unusual citizen project that has been hailed as a wonderful help for the frustrated motorists of inner-city Sydney – but not all residents are happy at having their secret parking spots revealed.

Professional map artist Jonathan Xia, a born and bred Sydneysider, has undertaken a very unusual project to document by hand all available parking spots in suburbs close to the city.

Every night he comes home from his day job and zooms through Google Maps for an hour, panning around the streets and parking signs, then marks it all out on a piece of A4 piece of paper with different coloured pens.

He then posts his homemade maps to local community social media groups – where the reception has been either one of admiration and thanks from residents keen to avoid fines and find parking for visitors – or frosty – from those annoyed at the publicity given to hard-to-find spots.

Mr Xia started off at Bondi last year, then did Randwick, which both took a month to document.

Jonathan Xia with his maps in North Sydney. Jonathan has painstakingly spent months mapping parking spots on Sydney's inner city streets and those of Bondi and Randwick by pen and paper so the public can know where they can park. Photograph: Gaye Gerard

He has just finished Newtown, which took two months because it has so many tiny streets and lanes.

“I want to help the community to help use their time and know where to park properly and avoid fines,” he said.

“So the residents’ visitors and business owners can know where the best place is for people who want to come into Newtown.”

Mr Xia, from Sydney’s Hills district, has an accounting background and says he’s very good on details.

“The movie Forrest Gump inspired me when I was little – I’m a person with autism and that’s why I have a very good spatial analysis,” he says.

“I enjoy reading maps.”

One of Sydney map artist Jonathan Xia's documentations of the parking in Newtown.

“Since I was young, before Google maps existed, I have always liked reading street directories.

“People say that’s an incredible piece of work you have done.”

Disabled people have thanked him for helping them find hard-to-locate spots, and he’s been told his work should be turned into an app or provided by Transport NSW.

But some other residents have said the spots should be kept as “local knowledge”.

“As someone who lived for seven years on a street with a few ‘secret parking’ spots and often couldn’t find my own space to park to unload kids and groceries, I resent this,” one Newtown resident complained.

“What we need to be doing is encouraging people coming to eat and shop to use public transport.”