Heh...oddly enough, I've been to Santana Row. It's the only mall in the entire US that I've been to that has anything even close, and while Santana Row does tell you what levels have free spots, the last time I was there they still didn't have indicator lights above each individual spot.
...but, again, it's not any one particular "invention" but rather the whole attitude that's different. The US has gotten complacent and seems to be spending more effort on justifying why it's the greatest than on actually, you know, being the greatest.
