hile, GPS geeks! to me!

[topaz]

At work we are exploring the possibility of using reverse geocoding to identify a VoIP user's location for 911 calls: we get their GPS coordinates, look them up in a GIS server and figure out which street address they're at.

There are a few sites which allow reverse geocoding lookups over the Web, mostly on a free-trial basis for evaluating someone's pricey GIS server software. I'm using these to determine how accurately we can get a user's fix. For that, I need data. And that, dear reader and owner of a handheld GPS device, is where you come in.

I need to collect a bunch of street addresses and the latitude/longitude that a GPS receiver reports at each of those locations. On this side I can do the reverse lookup and see how closely it matches your actual address. The more far-flung the locations, the better, as long as they're in the 50 U.S. states. (I'm not sure if we're required to provide 911 service in Puerto Rico or Guam.) I will be happy to tell you the results I get, if that makes it more appealing. :-)

If you'd like to help, please feel free either to post the results here or mail them to twp@rnktel.com, whatever you prefer :-)

Comments

[tugrik.livejournal.com]

I've passed your request on to one of the VPs here. They're all in boardmeeting stuff this week, but he should see it before the week is out. The reverse geocoding you speak of is very doable actually and is already part of the e911 infrastructure. Much of it you'd not have to do; it's handled on the emergency services' ends of things. You just pass them lat/long of the device.