Australia phone number data base

Submitted: Friday, Jan 11, 2008 at 19:14
ThreadID: 53361 Views:3961 Replies:9 FollowUps:14
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This has come up before on this forum about Australian phone numbers that can be used whilst on holidays or 4Wding.

We should start up a data base of phone numbers for differant areas or services.

If every one helped it would not be to hard.

Example:
Hospitals
Dentists
Vets
Police
RFDS
Toyota dealers / service centers
Nissan dealers / service centers
Jeep Dealers / service centers
Road houses
National parks
Mechanical places
Auto electricians
Communications
Welding
Machining
Fabrication
Fuel stops
Pubs
Accomodation
Homesteads

It could be done in state by state order or area or service.

It could be done in a PDF file format for printing or a computer or a small program designed for it.

We could add fields like:
After hours numbers
Hours open
Days of the week open
Who to see
What they offer
Rating of service.

Regards Richard





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Reply By: ExplorOz Team - David - Friday, Jan 11, 2008 at 19:34

Friday, Jan 11, 2008 at 19:34
Richard,

How about places! I know you mentioned whilst travelling but this is a developing part of places. Members will be able to export places data in all sorts of formats and to all sorts of devices. Currently we have no fixed fields in places for this information but if it was though to be a useful idea places is certainly the area for this type of information, it has currently just be written into the description however dedicated fields could be added to the database simply and entry fields in the maintenance system can be added.

What is the concenses on this? We have a large number of places with address/phone already so we would need to also migrate the existing text into the dedicated fields. I also have several thousand waypoints yet to load for all service stations which have a large percentage of phone numbers. Anyway leave it to the group for views.
David (DM) & Michelle (MM)
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Always working not enough travelling!

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AnswerID: 281057

Follow Up By: Member - Olcoolone (S.A) - Friday, Jan 11, 2008 at 20:57

Friday, Jan 11, 2008 at 20:57
Sounds good and with the help of everyone you could soon get a good database going.

Perhaps it could be updated every three months or it could have "last update on"with a summary of what has been added like "Mt Isa Hospital, BP service station Yass" or something like that as people enter it.

You might even be able to have "a next available service is" so if you enter a location and if nothing is available there it gives the next closest location.

This would be a fantastic long term project.

Nobody has done this before on a 4Wdrive forum.

If it is designed to work like wikipedia where every one can input information and every one can scrutinise it or change it.

Regards Richard
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Reply By: Kev & Darkie - Friday, Jan 11, 2008 at 19:40

Friday, Jan 11, 2008 at 19:40
Richard,

In the members file swap area under Radio and Communications there is already an extensive list of those numbers in a PDF format.

Cheers Kev
Russell Coight:
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AnswerID: 281058

Follow Up By: Member - Olcoolone (S.A) - Friday, Jan 11, 2008 at 20:43

Friday, Jan 11, 2008 at 20:43
It's there but pretty basic and the information is all over the place.

You need specific fields with more information that is searchable.

Regards Richard
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FollowupID: 545394

Follow Up By: Kev & Darkie - Friday, Jan 11, 2008 at 20:48

Friday, Jan 11, 2008 at 20:48
At least it is a start although most of the numbers would have to be checked to see if they are still current :)

Cheers Kev
Russell Coight:
He was presented with a difficult decision: push on into the stretching deserts, or return home to his wife.

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Reply By: Member - Crazy Dog (QLD) - Friday, Jan 11, 2008 at 21:02

Friday, Jan 11, 2008 at 21:02
Love the idea David but how do you think Sensis would view this?

Are they likely to be an impediment?

Grrr!!!
AnswerID: 281076

Follow Up By: Member - Pedro the One (QLD) - Saturday, Jan 12, 2008 at 01:03

Saturday, Jan 12, 2008 at 01:03
Just can't help mesel' ....

Maybe we could just take leave of our Sensis ..... ???
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Follow Up By: Member - Crazy Dog (QLD) - Saturday, Jan 12, 2008 at 16:06

Saturday, Jan 12, 2008 at 16:06
Oh - how very Optus!!!

Grrr!!!
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Reply By: Willem - Friday, Jan 11, 2008 at 21:02

Friday, Jan 11, 2008 at 21:02
I dunno

When I go bush I want to get away from all these places. One ends up with too much information on a whole range of subjects. How would you carry this info? On a flash card or CD rom? Then you need a laptop etc. Maybe a book as large as a phone directory. More weight more space taken up....lol

I'll vote against it.

But you go ahead and do it. Will keep you busy for a while :-)

Cheers
AnswerID: 281077

Follow Up By: Member - Pedro the One (QLD) - Saturday, Jan 12, 2008 at 01:00

Saturday, Jan 12, 2008 at 01:00
Hi Willem ... and all:

Yep, we can go a bit overboard with some the things we would like to have to make our trekking/camping easier ..........

BUT .......... there could be some provision in the concept to say :

1/ search out SOME info and phone numbers relevant to our individual proposed trips

2/ print them out and keep them with your maps,
[we all take maps, eh?].

A bit like EPIRBs/Flares/LifeJackets/loud panicky screams/etc... we don't really want to use them, butttttt ???

After all, we do it with all the RACV/RACQ/NRMA/etc. booklets we carry ....... most of which are usually out of date by the time we get to use them !! And the large format Accom Guides which have every knowm place in Australia. Our print-out wcould be formatted to our particular areas/trips/destinations ....

Why not a readily searchable base of info. which would [hopefully] be much more up to date and specifically tailored to our own needs ??

Food for thought only ....

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FollowupID: 545453

Follow Up By: Member - Pedro the One (QLD) - Saturday, Jan 12, 2008 at 01:19

Saturday, Jan 12, 2008 at 01:19
And furthermore .......

Regarding the validity of the info. being downloaded :

Iffen there are any doubtful or gray areas .... could we not have provision for 'member revision' ..... not specifically Members, of course. [or maybe so ??? ']

Iffen your planning a trip anyway, it would be good sense to check any of the 'gray' numbers yourself .........n'est ci pas ?? [Dunno what that means but it sounds cool ! ]

Then you could be rewarded for updating by ' the Grand PooBah David ' with some 'brownie-points ??
[ like say, a new Laptop with OzieExplorer for every 500 updates ??]

some desert for thought ???
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FollowupID: 545457

Follow Up By: Mainey (wa) - Saturday, Jan 12, 2008 at 03:32

Saturday, Jan 12, 2008 at 03:32
Yes, "Members" only revision - reason being:
if the skoolies had a chance to "revise" the list it would contain every worthless bit of information available, it would be like their own personal "graffiti area" but I suppose it would keep them away from the train windows and the shop fronts, grr.

Non-members could (maybe) email the relevant information into a specific 'email address' or post to a 'special area' and then it could be (maybe) accessed by "members" and be posted if legitimate.

Members are traceable via their ISP address so have to behave as adults, skoolies - don't!
Mainey...
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Follow Up By: Member - Pedro the One (QLD) - Saturday, Jan 12, 2008 at 04:34

Saturday, Jan 12, 2008 at 04:34
I'm not quite with you there, old son ??

Can't grasp the intent of the follow-up .....

The phrase "could we not have provision for 'member revision' " was fairly clear, in that it encompassed ALL 'members' of the forum, not specifically 'the officially registered Members.'
Note the Capitalisation .... couched it that way so that nobody could take offence.....

The phrase " [or maybe so ??? '] " was added solely for discussion ...... which is what David had asked for, surely.

Not quite sure of the intent of "the skoolies " reference ... ?

Or have I missed something here ???
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FollowupID: 545462

Reply By: Footloose - Friday, Jan 11, 2008 at 21:41

Friday, Jan 11, 2008 at 21:41
I agree with the notion, although I know how difficult it's going to be. It has to be regionalized and searchable. It could be made availiable on CD.
The Landrover Club of Aust or Vic I think has a great mob of useful tel numbers on their site, which can easily be exported into Excel.
Last time I took a sat phone and 10 pages of numbers with me!
AnswerID: 281088

Follow Up By: Member - Olcoolone (S.A) - Friday, Jan 11, 2008 at 22:17

Friday, Jan 11, 2008 at 22:17
Just had a look at their site, they have a fair few numbes but the only thing is it was last updated June 2001.

The only downfall with making it on CD is how current it can be, if you made it downloadable and it was updated every three months or when a new entery or correcting was made you could down load the current version every time you went away.

look at it this way if every member / user put in two numbers a week and say there was 100 members thats over 10,000 number and information added evey year, some members / users may only put in 1 number every 6 months and some may not put any in then others might put 20 numbers in.

Regards Richard
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FollowupID: 545428

Follow Up By: Footloose - Friday, Jan 11, 2008 at 22:41

Friday, Jan 11, 2008 at 22:41
Yes, good points there. I hadn't considered the currency of the numbers. Still, I wonder how many numbers change very often in the bush at least?
I'd be happy to add some numbers when I had them to hand, and I'm only a visitor. I imagine many who visit from bush businesses etc would be more than happy to have their phone number on such a list.
A lot of work, but could be done, especially if it were easy to upload and download the numbers.
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FollowupID: 545433

Follow Up By: Willem - Friday, Jan 11, 2008 at 23:04

Friday, Jan 11, 2008 at 23:04
'Sabout time you coughed up membership fees, Footy, ya old skinflint....hahahahahahaha
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FollowupID: 545444

Follow Up By: Footloose - Saturday, Jan 12, 2008 at 11:52

Saturday, Jan 12, 2008 at 11:52
Willem, you're right of course, but then I'd be one of you guys:) Haven't really had time to think about it to be honest. Just pop on here from time to time to see wazzup. I do try and contribute, rather than just leeching. I'll see what I can do.
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FollowupID: 545512

Reply By: Member - Raoul (Snake) H (QLD) - Friday, Jan 11, 2008 at 23:27

Friday, Jan 11, 2008 at 23:27
Hi All, Had a thought(very dangerous) how about offering various service providers in each state a discount on advertising on this site in return for them keeping their details updated every 3 months.Food for thought?????? Cheers Snake & Josie
AnswerID: 281119

Reply By: Member - Mick T (QLD) - Saturday, Jan 12, 2008 at 08:41

Saturday, Jan 12, 2008 at 08:41
hi peoples,

Mrs Mick T here...I am going to have to get my own identity one of these days. Have discussed the issue with hubby & think it is a terrific idea. We live in a huge country & we are travelling to areas out of our local knowledge & in these instances having this kind of backup knowledge would be invaluable. Almost like insurance... you only use it when you need it. I use a similar database in my business & it doesn't take long to build or amend. I was able to access town council listings to initially create the database.... So I guess it is a big tick from us.

Ciao, Chelle
AnswerID: 281149

Reply By: Member - Duncs - Saturday, Jan 12, 2008 at 10:36

Saturday, Jan 12, 2008 at 10:36
I have to thoughts on this proposal.

The first is a simple yes. I would not propose to carry the list with me but having it available on the internet would be useful. I have often had the need of some sort of service when travelling. Being able to access a list of service providers that come with recommendations would be better than relying on the local yellow pages. For example, if I needed an auto elec in Darwin the phone book would list heaps of them, but who is the best? The EO data base would provide some guidance in that area.

The second thought is this what if a service provider objected to being listed here. While I can't work out why I know some would. Would we need to obtain permission from them before they were listed?

Duncs
AnswerID: 281165

Follow Up By: Member - Olcoolone (S.A) - Saturday, Jan 12, 2008 at 14:05

Saturday, Jan 12, 2008 at 14:05
Listed telephone number are public domain meaning you can not stop someone displaying your phone number unless it is in bad taste.

People who have non listed numbers are differant.

I think after a person had a couple of people say from NSW come into his business whilst they are holidaying in Perth who want somthing done and mentions where they got the number from might get him thinking hey this is free good publisity.

As it was said before when you are in a new town you don't know who is good and who is bad.

If someone does do the wrong thing and are listed you could place a silent tick against there company and after 5 ticks from differant members that company's name gets removed.

Regards Richard

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FollowupID: 545529

Reply By: Keith_A (Qld) - Sunday, Jan 13, 2008 at 11:43

Sunday, Jan 13, 2008 at 11:43
And should your wallet be lost or stolen :

Visa : 1800 621 199
Mastercard : 02 9466 3700
The major banks : Cweath 132221;
ANZ 133333; Westpac 1800230144; Suncorp 131155; etc;
Medicare : 132 011
Centrelink : 137 230
Seniors card: 1300 364 758
Drivers License (all states) : 131 444

Hopefully these wouldn't change too often................Keith
AnswerID: 281349

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