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[Iky]

[INFO] How to match GPS to Phones

[Iky]

Just for the record

[AngriBuddhist]

Mapping GPS Coords

[AngriBuddhist]

Woops

[Iky]

Re: Mapping GPS Coords

[Iky]

Re: Woops

[chulo333]

one of my sites worked perfectly (13:47) with this method
but one was off (9:32) it was one of the phones in front of trendy sunglasses in santa monica, cA.

[Iky]

[jitterBox]

Pittsburgh fired axon - geocode GPS match confirmed

[aliendial]

Well this method only seems to confirm the problem with the afternoon location in Dale City Virginia. Every payphone in Potomac Mills Outlet mall has the same address on the payphone site. From two in the Off 5th Nordstrom outlet (oops) that's closest the spot on the map, all the way to the other end on the back side. Yikes.

Interestingly, entering that address, "2700 Potomac Mills Circle" on mapquest gets you close to the spot that was on the orginal axons list. NOT the spot currently shown. But the goecode site indeed gets you the exact spot on the current list. With this methodology I think we confirm that the list points to a mall with approximately 60 pay phones spread across miles of mall.

It may be worth trying to stake out the phones at the nearest mall entrance (I think that's the Off 5th Nordstrom store) or the general entrance right down from that. Remote possibility: that Pizza Hut across the street from the "X". [edit: probably not; different address that maps a block away on the geocode site]

Now I'm worried about the morning one in Dale City because I think that's in a little plaza with (again) probably one main address but many phones.... I'll go look anyway.

[Kojubat]

Neither of my sites went hot (no phone calls received), but I was able to get exact coordinate matches with two likely phones (one that was covered but damaged, one that was not covered), so I feel safe in validating the results.

[weephun1]

This method matches the 16:27 Boise, ID "pillow" axon. Pizza Hut one that was missed but we know which phone it was from the freaked out front desk girl that answered it. We should have somebody there this afternoon.

It also matches perfectly the 11:53 Boise, ID "eyes" axon that was missed due to someone calling the phone at the exact time asking for "bob". I'll make sure I'm there to get this one hot.

[Kojubat]

One thing I noticed is that the payphone listing is prone to human error or update issues. One of the phones listed on that site that the process gives the exact coordinates is now someone's home phone number about five minutes away (based on the answer to 'where is this phone number located?'). The actual phone number at the McDonalds is different.

[SocialElite]

This thread makes me both very happy and very unhappy at the same time. Using these two sites does certainly seem to indicate exactly how the GPS coords were generated for my area, in New York, but it also tells me that while 15 people were standing at a pay phone across the street from Fordham University, a pay phone on the 4th floor of the Graduate School building (where *none* of us could have gotten without a Fordham ID) was ringing with no one to answer it. My guess is that similar things happened at the NYU location, and Rockefeller University. At least now I don't feel quite so bad that despite our best efforts the NYC crew only got 2 out of 7
With regards,

Ian Whalen

[johnny5]

I have a dissenting data point.
The phone I answered was not on the site, though other phones in close vicinity were listed as not being able to take incoming calls.
I didn't get the phone number though. Next time.

--john--