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VoIP Data and Google Maps Mashup Shows Live Calls

Posted by timothy on from the visualization-is-cool dept.

damianwayne writes "OnSIP, a provider of hosted Voice over IP business communications, announced today the latest addition to their website: a visualization of live calls made using the OnSIP service, made possible by an integration of real time OnSIP data and Google Maps API. Each time an OnSIP customer makes or receives a call, a pin is dropped on the live call map, openly displaying call volume peak and trend information." This is all from one company's VoIP network, though — would be interesting to see an overlay of heatmaps from various providers.

15 of 34 comments (clear)

  1. Interesting, but... by lscotte · · Score: 2

    Too expensive... https://www.callcentric.com/ and others are still cheaper by a significant margin...

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    1. Re:Interesting, but... by operator_error · · Score: 1

      www.12voip.com

      Been using them well over 1 year, they are a betamax company: http://backsla.sh/betamax

      When I buy in 10 euro amounts, I get 10 free days. Seems I only my use credit to call Dutch mobile phones at $.06 per minute. The free days cover pretty much cover all my landline calls in 'most modern VOIP countires' such as NL, US, UK, etc. Check out the rates yourself. I don't limit how much I call or for how long and my costs are like a few euros over several months, not tens of dollars.

      Bought a Polycom IP-650 phone, but the codecs also work great using my Nokia phones. www.voipcheap.com is #2 in my book.

      People flinch at the betamax voip service, but no one seems to bother to sort out the correct asterisk settings, although the SIP termination configuration is fairly well documented on all the betamax sites. My quality is perfect, and my callers/callees agree.

    2. Re:Interesting, but... by Guspaz · · Score: 1

      voip.ms is not per minute, they bill by 6 second increments.

  2. How carefully do their customers read the TOS? by JustinFreid · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'd like to think my VoIP provider doesn't have the latitude to publish my and my receiver's location in realtime, even anonymously.
    Certainly the content of the calls is still private, but maybe a lot of chatter between let's say Redmond, WA and Espoo, Finland could have suggested the recent deal placing Windows Phone 7 on Nokia handsets.
    Better read my terms of service...

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    1. Re:How carefully do their customers read the TOS? by drolli · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yes. and if you actually live in a rural area then this is perfect for stalking. Call your ex-girlfriend and look where the pin drops. In a rural area you then know where she is.

    2. Re:How carefully do their customers read the TOS? by dissy · · Score: 2

      then this is perfect for stalking. Call your ex-girlfriend and look where the pin drops.

      Looking at the map, it is clear each call is only identified as one of seven of the phone company POPs (points of presence)

      For example there are two pin locations in California, one at Santa Cruz, and another at San Diego.
      That does not narrow down a location any further than a state, since each POP services at least many cities, if not many states (They are IP phones after all.) The above example covers all of California, and would only tell you northern or southern assuming only covering many cities. If covering many states, it only tells you she is somewhere in South Western in America.

      It in no way allows someone to stalk anyone, any more than me saying "I live within a three state radius from New York", without you even knowing I actually live in Ohio

      It is the frequency of the pins dropping that is the interesting part. Seeing roughly two calls a second in northern Cali, and even more in New York, they are clearly the most active locations.

    3. Re:How carefully do their customers read the TOS? by drolli · · Score: 1

      Nevertheless, it may reveal when somebody whom you knwo travels between known locations.

    4. Re:How carefully do their customers read the TOS? by one-egg · · Score: 1

      It's even worse than you think. It's midnight right now in California, and the number of calls on the map is tiny. And since you can use Google Maps to zoom in, I had no trouble learning that there was an onSIP customer at the headquarters of the Los Angeles Police Department. Just think of the fun: you can zoom in on somebody's house and tell that they're awake...

  3. Just to be sure by phantomfive · · Score: 1

    Did it look to anyone else like there were fewer than 100 calls going on? Just to be sure, has anyone heard of this company before? Is this mashup an attempt to get some free publicity on the web? Because there map isn't all that interesting, either......

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  4. Some people in Seattle and New York talking ... by Jaro · · Score: 1

    ... not much to see here. 5 talks in the last few minutes? When are they going out of business? Is this their last try at a publicity stunt to acquire customers? Might be the best way to frighten them off.

  5. Definition of Slashvertisement by Dynedain · · Score: 2

    Hmmm... so it's a very basic mashup running on an advertising page for a VOIP server to show how spread out their population is.

    And coincidentally, the ad in Slashdot's sidebar is for that exact same VOIP service.

    Let me guess, the submitter works for them or is getting compensation from their marketing department?

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    1. Re:Definition of Slashvertisement by Dynedain · · Score: 1

      Adblock was off while I was doing compatibility testing on some sites I am building.

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  6. Are these even real? by Jaro · · Score: 1

    On a second note: do we know that the markers popping up are real? There could be just random US cities being choosen. If the're smart they might be even using some statistical data or at least populations size to influence the randomness.

  7. Yawn by Dolphinzilla · · Score: 1

    I watched for a little bit, seriously, watching paint dry is more stimulating....

  8. Interesting by kelemvor4 · · Score: 1

    There's a guy on the phone about a block from my house. I think I'll go see what he's chatting about.