A vehicle parking assistance method involves storing an occupancy map indicating a likely occupancy of parking areas within a car park and receiving obstacle data from one or more vehicles 20 driving around the car park. The obstacle data gives an indication of the presence or absence of obstacles in the vicinity of the vehicle and an indication of the location of the vehicle. The received obstacle data is compared with the location of parking areas within the car park to identify which parking areas or parts of parking areas within the car park are expected to be occupied and/or unoccupied. The occupancy map is updated based on the identified occupied and/or unoccupied parking areas or parts of parking areas. As a result, as vehicles progress around the car park, either to find a space, or as it heads towards the exit of the car park, those vehicles are able to provide obstacle data to a car park management function, which is then able to dynamically update an occupancy map to reflect a most recent (likely) occupancy of parking spaces within the car park.
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