What it does
Parking Finder lists the parking near you, or near any place in Ontario you type, nearest first. For each lot, garage or stretch of street parking it shows how far it is and how many minutes it takes to walk, which direction it is in, whether it is free or paid, its opening hours, the longest you may stay, how many spaces it has, and whether it is only for customers or permit holders. A small plot shows where everything sits around your spot, with north at the top.
It also shows the street rules for the city you are in: the longest you may park on a street with no signs, the overnight bans and the winter snow rules, for Toronto, Ottawa, Mississauga, Brampton, Kitchener, London and Niagara Falls, each with a link to the city’s own page. In Ottawa it goes further, because the city publishes every pay machine’s hours and rates: the tool tells you whether street parking is paid or free at the time you choose. To work out what a regular drive costs, use commute cost; for one trip’s fuel, fuel cost; and for a longer day out, road trip.
Your location never leaves your phone. The tool does not use a map company: the parking data is packed into small files on fibub, refreshed every month, and your phone downloads only the files for the area around your spot.
How to use it
- Press Use my location and allow it, or type a place: a town, a neighbourhood, a train or GO station, a hospital, a college or university, a mall or an airport. You can also paste coordinates such as 43.6453, -79.3806.
- Pick how far you are happy to walk. 500 m is about a 7-minute walk.
- Read the list, nearest first. Tap Open map to see the exact spot on OpenStreetMap or Directions to drive there with your maps app.
- Planning ahead? Set When to a time you choose, and fees, hours and Ottawa’s paid hours are checked for that time.
What each setting does
- Within: the straight-line distance from your spot. The list and the plot show only places inside it.
- Show: lots and garages, street parking, or both.
- When: now, or a date and time you choose. Open hours, paid hours and timed restrictions are checked for that moment.
- Free only: keeps only places that are free at that time. Places with an unknown fee are hidden, because unknown is not the same as free.
- Open or allowed then: hides lots that are closed and streets with a no-parking rule at that time.
- Hide customers-only and permit parking: hides store and office lots meant for their own customers, and residents’ permit streets.
Worked example
Say you are meeting a friend near a downtown station on a Friday at 8:00 p.m. You type the station’s name, choose 500 m, and set When to Friday 20:00. A lot tagged with the hours “Mo-Fr 07:00-19:00” now shows Closed, because 8:00 p.m. is after 7:00 p.m.; turn on Open or allowed then and it disappears from the list. A garage 640 m away shows as 640 m and about 8 minutes on foot (640 ÷ 80 = 8). In Ottawa, a pay machine with the hours “7:00am - 7:00pm” on weekdays shows Free at this time at 8:00 p.m., and Paid now with its hourly rate at 6:00 p.m.
What it cannot do
- It cannot show live free spaces. No Ontario city publishes them openly.
- Outside Ottawa, street parking hours and limits show only where volunteers have added them to OpenStreetMap, which is patchy. The city rules card covers the defaults, and the signs on the street always win.
- Fees and hours show only where they are recorded. Many private lots have neither, so the tool says Fee unknown instead of guessing.
FAQs
Is it really free to use? Yes. No sign-up, no ads on this page, and nothing about you is stored.
Does the tool know where I am? Only your own phone does. The page works out distances on your device. It downloads parking data for an area of about 20 km around your spot from fibub, the same way it downloads the page itself, and keeps no record.
How fresh is the data? It is refreshed once a month; the date is shown under the results. A new lot or a changed price may take up to a month to appear.
A lot is missing or wrong. Can I fix it? Yes. Anyone can edit OpenStreetMap at openstreetmap.org. Add the lot with its fee, hours and maximum stay, and it reaches this tool at the next monthly refresh.
What does “Customers only” mean? The lot belongs to a store, restaurant or office and is for its visitors. Parking there to go elsewhere can get you a ticket or a tow.
Why is my town’s street rules card missing? The tool lists only rules it has read on the city’s own page. For other towns, check the town’s website and the signs.
Does it work outside Ontario? Not yet. The data covers Ontario only.
Where the numbers come from
- Parking lots, garages and street parking: OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database Licence (openstreetmap.org/copyright). Read once a month from Geofabrik's Ontario extract of OpenStreetMap.
- Ottawa pay and display machines (hours and hourly rates), time-limited street parking and city lots: City of Ottawa open data, Parking map service (maps.ottawa.ca), Open Government Licence - City of Ottawa. Read once a month.
- City street rules, checked 14 November 2026 on the cities' own pages: City of Toronto Parking regulations; City of Ottawa Winter weather parking bans and Traffic and Parking By-law 2017-301 (3-hour default as reported by CTV News); City of Mississauga as quoted by Modern Mississauga 'Ask The City'; City of Brampton Parking enforcement; City of Kitchener Parking bylaws; City of London Overnight parking restrictions; City of Niagara Falls Overnight parking. Rules change: check the official source and the signs.
- Walking time uses 4.8 km/h (80 m a minute) in a straight line, so real walks are a little longer. The plot and wording are fibub's own.
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Last updated 2026-11-14.