Mobile payments continue to find an unlikely friend in parking lots, a fact made evident by news today from the National Parking Association.

The NPA, the trade association for the parking lot industry, announced it has formed a strategic alliance with Parking in Motion (PIM), a provider of parking data to garage operators, meter manufacturers and other members of the parking lot market.

According to the announcement, the alliance will give NPA members access to consumers by making parking locations more visible and accessible to the public.

PIM's database of parking locations and its search functionality will let NPA members give information to consumers through navigation devices and mobile apps. In other words, drivers in the 500 cities and 19 countries covered by PIM's database will have access to information on 25,000 parking spots directly to mobile devices, along with information on rates, hours of operation, etc. And parking operators can update use PIM's information to update their websites and applications.

"Location-based services, mobile search, mobile payment and social networking are converging to enhance the parking experience for consumers," said NPA President Christine Banning.

"NPA is at the forefront of one of the most important trends in business to consumer outreach and technology," Banning said.