Underground car park: find your car or the exit, with no GPS
Updated October 5, 2026
A shopping-centre or station car park on five levels, identical pillars, no signal and a silent GPS: everyone has circled for a long time before finding their car. Lidark was not built for this, but its principle applies: a LiDAR survey draws your path and an arrow leads you back to the starting point, offline. It is a secondary, honest use, with limits this page spells out.
The principle: a starting point, a path, a way back
Lidark remembers the path you walk from the point where you start the survey. From it, it works out the real distance to walk back along your path, and an arrow to the next stretch. Offline, with no GPS. The guidance works as long as the survey is running.
The most natural case: you are at the lift or the ramp, you know the car is somewhere, and you set off to find it. Start the survey at the point you know: wherever you go, the arrow leads you back to the exit. The survey knows nothing about the car itself: it only recognises the starting point.
How to go about it
On foot, never at the wheel:
- Start a survey from the lift, the stairs or the ramp, holding the iPhone in front of you.
- Look for your car, walking normally, keeping the screen within sight.
- Drop a free marker when you find it if you want to place it on the plan.
- When you want to get out, follow the arrow: the distance shown is that of the path to retrace, not as the crow flies.
When it helps, when it is overkill
In a car park where levels and aisles are well signed, a photo of the bay or a note is enough, and lighter. Lidark’s value appears in large structures that are hard to read, or when you mainly want the exit on foot from a place where you are already lost.
Scanning uses battery and warms the iPhone: for a simple ten-minute stop, it is not what we recommend. See it as a curiosity use, not a main feature. The core of the app remains mapping underground, with no GPS.
Limits to know
Be clear about what the app can and cannot do:
- iPhone Pro with LiDAR required: iPhone 12 Pro and later Pro models.
- Visual tracking: long, smooth, dimly lit concrete walls can degrade tracking. A vibration warns you when it drops.
- No recognition of the car or of levels: Lidark does not read floor numbers and does not know which car park you are in.
- Not a driving aid: never use your phone while driving, and follow the car park’s signs.
A useful detour: the building’s garage or cellar
The same move applies to cellars, basement garages and private car parks: see scan a basement, attic or crawl space. To keep a survey readable offline, open it in the free web viewer.
Frequently asked questions
Does Lidark find my car automatically?
No. Lidark does not recognise the car: it remembers a path from the point where you start the survey and leads you back to that point as long as the survey is running. Start it somewhere you know, like the lift.
Does it work with no signal in an underground car park?
Yes. Everything is computed on the iPhone, with no signal, no GPS and no account. You need an iPhone Pro with LiDAR and a minimum of light.
Is it better than a photo of the bay number?
Not for an ordinary stop: a photo is simpler and uses almost nothing. Lidark makes sense in big, hard-to-read car parks, or to find the exit on foot.
Can I use it while driving?
No, never. Lidark is used on foot. It is neither a GPS nor a driving aid, and the survey needs you to hold the iPhone in front of you.
What if the battery is low?
Scanning uses battery and warms the iPhone. The app prompts you to think about the way back when the battery is low. Never rely on Lidark as your only way to find your route.