GA Tech Students Use Cell Phone Pings To Find Missing Person (ajc.com)

Posted by samzenpus on Monday October 19, 2015 @12:18PM from the follow-the-pings dept.

McGruber writes: Georgia Authorities are giving kudos to technology – and the perseverance of Georgia Tech students – for the safe return of a fellow student who disappeared after a Friday night party. The missing student was found Monday morning along railroad tracks, in northeast Atlanta. He had been beaten, was unconscious and was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. Georgia Tech Police Chief Robert Connolly said "The students rallied together and then they started searching. The students stayed out until midnight last night, putting out pamphlets and combing the area, anywhere they could possibly find [cell phone] pings along the route." The students "were not going to stop. They checked every hospital, every hotel, they checked everywhere. They didn't give up on their friend."

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Re:what is a "cell phone ping"? by Wycliffe · 2015-10-19 14:01 · Score: 5, Informative

I'm curious how a bunch of students were able to get past the two restrictions - I can imagine a uni having some portable towers lying around for research purposes, but how would they have found out his IMEI number?
From the article (hiding in the header), I don't think that they did. It sounds like the police gave the students the last known cell phone towers and they canvased the area on foot around those towers.