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Google Cloud is just the ticket for JustPark

JustPark are the nice guys of the parking world. For the uninitiated, the company exists to make parking more affordable, more convenient, and more sustainable. It started with one simple idea: to create societal change by tapping into the potential of unused spaces. And since 2006, the marketplace has allowed homeowners to get value from…

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JustPark are the nice guys of the parking world. For the uninitiated, the company exists to make parking more affordable, more convenient, and more sustainable. It started with one simple idea: to create societal change by tapping into the potential of unused spaces. And since 2006, the marketplace has allowed homeowners to get value from their empty garages and spaces while connecting drivers to otherwise underutilised parking spots all around the UK and US.

Today, JustPark connects a thriving community of some 45,000 space owners to over 5.5 million UK drivers, and 8 million worldwide, and manages parking spaces for some of the UK’s biggest Local Authorities and car parking companies. In the last year alone, they have partnered with London’s largest private transport provider, equipping it with access to off-street parking points and mobile payments technologies. In other words, it’s growing and growing fast.

But growth means increased demand. To meet this demand, JustPark needed a technology partner that would enable it to scale up sustainably and improve its existing services while taking over management of its software infrastructure to save on time and admin costs — and all without compromising on reliability or quality of service. It found the right partner in Google Cloud.

From a tight spot to the right one

With a small and agile software team of 40, JustPark needed a managed offering to take care of its software infrastructure. The company started off using Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), a managed, production-ready environment for running containerised applications, in a way that was scalable and extensible.

More recently, it’s adopted Google BigQuery and Looker to provide scalable analysis of its data, helping to uncover the insights it needs to hone its business model and improve its services. “This was the first time we started gaining real business insight,” explains Jack Wall, Head of Engineering at JustPark. “Using these tools, we were able to use our own data to guide us to the most commercially viable decisions, especially regarding supply and demand.”

“Our adoption of GKE meant that the transition to other Google products was a no-brainer. Since we started using GKE, everything became so much easier — we could build on our services, improve the customer experience and crucially, we realised that we could leave our IT and cloud infrastructure in the hands of the experts at Google. That meant we could concentrate on continuing to perfect our business model.”

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Why over 140,000 developers took our five-day generative AI course

Google and Kaggle recently launched a five-day intensive course about generative AI. Source

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Google and Kaggle recently launched a five-day intensive course about generative AI.

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5 ways our latest Gemini models are changing retail

Here are five ways Gemini models and generative AI are helping retailers modernize their businesses. Source

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Here are five ways Gemini models and generative AI are helping retailers modernize their businesses.

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Inspiring the next generation of women engineers

Editor’s note: Google and Girlguiding are building on their partnership with the launch of new co-created AI activities and badges, designed to help girls understand how AI-powered tools work and encourage more girls and young women across the country to explore STEM subjects. Nicole McWilliams, Engineering Director, Android Large Screens at Google shares why it’s…

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Editor’s note: Google and Girlguiding are building on their partnership with the launch of new co-created AI activities and badges, designed to help girls understand how AI-powered tools work and encourage more girls and young women across the country to explore STEM subjects. Nicole McWilliams, Engineering Director, Android Large Screens at Google shares why it’s important for more girls and young women to learn about technology and AI.When I was a little girl, my father and I would spend our weekends in his garage taking apart and rebuilding household appliances, like our toasters and alarm clocks. I found the process fascinating. It sparked my interest in understanding why these appliances worked this way, and brainstorming tweaks that might improve them. I’d always loved working with gadgets, so when selecting my university course I thought it made perfect sense to study engineering…until I was told that it might not.The university admissions team nudged me to consider alternative options, concerned that I might be out of place in such a male dominated field. Now that I lead Android’s large screen engineering teams for Google here in the UK, working to incorporate AI-driven features into our products, it’s hard to imagine that at 17 years old, my ability to excel in a field that I love was called into question, purely because of my gender.Stereotypes still persistWe set up Google’s partnership with Girlguiding in 2018 to shatter these longstanding stereotypes and counter the influence of society’s longstanding biases. While so much has changed since my experience in the 90s, sadly, the discouragement I faced isn’t unique. Girlguiding’s Girls Attitude Survey highlights the fact that many outdated ideas still persist:More than half (52%) of girls between the ages of 11 – 18 still feel like STEM subjects are for boys.42% of girls feel that there aren’t enough women role models in STEM.41% of girls are teased for their interest in STEM subjects.We can’t afford for these antiquated assumptions to hold girls back from having the opportunity to shape the AI-powered technologies of the future. AI has the potential to improve how we live, work and interact with the world. From the phones in our pockets to the cars we drive, AI is already everywhere. Technology can be made by anyone, and is for everyone. That’s why we’ve partnered with Girlguiding to empower more girls with the skills needed to create this technology in future.Encouraging more young women to help shape the future of AIThese new activities will showcase how AI can solve real-world problems and encourage the girls to eventually become the innovators and leaders of a technology which is being used to improve health outcomes and tackle climate change. Girls aged 4 – 18 across each of Girlguiding’s sections will learn about generative AI and concepts like machine learning. The activities will enable leaders to demonstrate how AI can boost creativity and gradually build the girls’ confidence in technology.AI Story Writers: Rainbows aged 4 – 7 will work with group leaders to create interactive ‘choose your own adventure’ stories with the help of AI.AI Game Writers: Brownies aged 7 – 10 will work with group leaders to create and play new real-world games with the help of AI.Teach the AI Machine: Guides aged 10 – 14 will explore how machine learning works through a fun real-world game.Accelerate with AI: Rangers aged 14 – 18 will work with group leaders to plan a personalised party or event with the help of AI.We’re excited for over 300,000 Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers across the country to gain valuable insights that will help them in future, whether they decide to build these AI-powered technologies or even just use these tools to achieve their ambitions.Lasting impactBoth the teams at Google and Girlguiding have worked hard to create the sorts of fun and engaging activities that I would have loved to take part in when I was a Brownie. Our hope is that these activities spark an interest in technology for girls across the country, inviting them to challenge and exceed society’s expectations, while inspiring the next generation of female engineers.Check out Girlguiding’s website to learn more about the new AI badge and our other co-created digital discovery activities.

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