Redbox Discussion

as a maintainer I don't split my files. I find they are easier to maintain. Let the user split them out if they wish to.

Well I certainly agree that would be simpler for me. I have seen some POI's here that maintainer's have split by State or Region due to their size. But if nobody really cares, I'm happy to save myself the effort.

I personally would have kept my Offbeat poi as one big one but I did have some requests at the time to break them up (this was before it was a gpx file and Extra Poi Editor (EPE) was not around) But now that it is in the GPX format and now use EPE, I only break them down every time there is a large update.. Most time I just update the 1 big file and let other break the file down as to what they want.

This file has so many different things in it, that you could break it down many ways.. In fact I am thinking of cataloging the items so that people can break them down even more. (Like if you want to see just a statue, not museums) then you could. Not sure yet, maybe if I get a lot of request to do it, I might.

I, myself do not see the need for this POI
We all know that just about every McDonald's and Wall-mart have a REDBOX inside. Just my 2 cents.

Redbox is great for portable DVD players when taking long trips with children. If you borrow movies from the library then you have to worry about them getting lost during the trip (very likely).

I see this as being helpful in making those McDonald's or Walmart stops more efficent.

~Angela

I suppose these stores have Redbox according to states. I have two Walmarts near and plenty of McDonalds, none have Redbox. Mostly Seven Eleven, Stop & Shop super markets & Walgreens.

I too would not need A Redbox POI since I know where they are near me and don't rent any while traveling.

Angela does make a good point though, if your traveling with kids, Redbox is a good babysitter until the next stop.

No need to split since it will show what is nearby

I've got their app on my phone so there's no reason to clutter my GPS with the file. I find the nearest location having the video I want, reserve it then input the address in the GPS for directions.

Thanks for the feedback. Some people have downloaded it, so I'm guessing a few people are using it. FYI, the locations are not just McDonalds and Walmart. There are many local super markets depending on your location. I'll keep the updates coming. There are certainly many options for people to get this data. I for one don't like messing with my phone while driving. I mess with my GPS while driving.

This information is certainly useful to have in the form of a POI, but I think there are a few limitations:

* I would think it would be more dynamic than other POI lists (RB locations can be added or removed easily. Unlike brick and mortor locations like fast food or pharmacies.

* I would think updates would have to come from a RB source (be able to download locations from their web site).

* At 35,722 it is certainly one of the largest POIs that I have seen (free wifi being one of the exceptions).

* Location of the actual Red Box may need to be more accurate than a business location, more like an ATM location. Geocoding may not be sufficient.

Like others, I know that there are usually RB located at the local 7-11, Walgreens, or Wal*Mart so I can use those locations as a fallback if I didn't want to clutter my GPS with the RB POI.

Thanks for your efforts, Dade!
Jim

I will probably down load the RB POI, I just won't make them display on the screen. That will make the locations available without impacting performance.

Hey Jim,

Just for the record, these locations are from Redbox.com, as are the coordinates. I wrote an app that parses Redbox.com for all the locations and also reads their lat/lon coordinates from their website. Most of the coordinates have six decimal places, which is pretty accurate. If the Geocoding is incorrect, it is incorrect on Redbox.com. I am merging duplicates such as Kiosk A, Kiosk B, into one location. The POI also indicates if it is Indoor or Outdoor. While this is a rather large csv file, one could easily keep just their State, as the list is sorted by State, City, Zipcode. Thanks.

Thanks!!!

I created 2 icons for RB that I will send you.

Jim

I think you'll find that many of those 6 digit locations are very accurate in displaying a location based either on a zip code , city or state center as most web sites don't check for error codes being returned.

It appears that most of the locations that I've seen are located in the middle of the road. With 6 significant figures it is a very percise location in the road.

I wonder how Redbox populates the coordinates in their database? I thought each box might have a GPS unit in it and transmit the coordinates back to Redbox HQ. They appear to be networked wirelessly (either wifi or the cell phone network, I can't tell).

Regardless of how they get the coordinates, they are a point in a nearby road and not the actual location of the Redbox.

Well that sucks. I have seen some near me that were better than others, but I agree that after watching it for the past week, they are not as precise as I wish they were. Short of modifying the ones I notice, I'm not sure how I can resolve this programmatically.

When you get to a Redbox, here are some promo codes for a free 1 night rental:

REDBOX (new customers only)
DVDONME
BREAKROOM
DVDATWAG (limited to Walgreens locations)

These codes may not work at all locations, and are one time use per email and credit card.

That would be awesome if you could split this data by state and city. It would be very helpful for what I'm trying to find.

And using a full file will not save that much space in the memory.