2c:null 2d:["$","title",null,{"children":"How many QMS advertising panels in Sydney are near a Telstra public telephone? - an analysis | Max Bo | Observable"}] 32:T564,# How many QMS advertising panels in Sydney are near a Telstra public telephone? - an analysis ## And is the City of Sydney engaging in a municipal tit for tat? [Jake Coppinger](https://jakecoppinger.com/) - whom I'm privileged to call a friend - recently dropped a fantastic blog post, [_Mapping Sydney Billboards: Every QMS advertising panel in Sydney_](https://jakecoppinger.com/2022/10/mapping-sydney-billboards-a-map-of-every-qms-advertising-screen-in-sydney-with-photographs/). After installation by the [City of Sydney](https://cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au) council generated [significant public backlash](https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/balance-isn-t-right-clover-moore-hits-pause-on-screens-that-ate-sydney-20221014-p5bpuy.html), Jake methodically visited and photographed each and every advertising panel, then logged them in [OpenStreetMap](https://www.openstreetmap.org/about). Curiously he noted that: > Many panels are placed next to an existing Telstra public telephone (though many are not). In these cases, the City of Sydney information side is facing the Telephone, and obstructed by the telephone. The commercial advertising side is *always* unobstructed by the telephone. I also surveyed nearby telephones on OSM while surveying the panels – **I have not yet queried the percentage of panels near a telephone but this is possible.** Let's investigate.33:T603,map = { const container = htl.html`

`; const figure = yield htl.html`

${container}

Click the panel dots (blue) to view a photo of the panel. Imagery is sparse, so if you see nothing try clicking another panel.

`; const map = L.map(container).setView(midpoint, 14); // Found at https://leaflet-extras.github.io/leaflet-providers/preview/ L.tileLayer( "https://{s}.basemaps.cartocdn.com/rastertiles/voyager/{z}/{x}/{y}{r}.png", { attribution: '© OpenStreetMap contributors © CARTO', subdomains: "abcd", maxZoom: 20 } ).addTo(map); L.geoJson(cityofSydneyBoundary, { style: { color: "black", fill: false, weight: 1 } }).addTo(map); L.geoJSON(osmtogeojson(panels), { pointToLayer: (feature, latlng) => { return L.circleMarker(latlng, { radius: 6, color: distanceMap.scale("color").apply("panel") }).bindPopup( ` ` ); } }).addTo(map); L.geoJSON(osmtogeojson(telephones), { pointToLayer: (feature, latlng) => { return L.circleMarker(latlng, { radius: 6, color: distanceMap.scale("color").apply("telephone") }); } }).addTo(map); }34:T56b,distanceMap = addTooltips( Plot.plot({ // projection: { // // domain: cityofSydneyBoundary // }, color: { legend: true }, caption: md`Hover to see distance. Click for photo of panel. The border defines the boundary of the City of Sydney LGA (Local Government Area).`, width, aspectRatio: 1, marks: [ Plot.geo(cityofSydneyBoundary), // Plot.geo(harbor, { fill: "#bee", clip: true }), Plot.dot(panels.elements, { x: "lon", y: "lat", fill: (d) => "panel" }), Plot.dot(telephones.elements, { x: "lon", y: "lat", filter: (d) => hideDistantTelephones ? !!nearestVectors.find((v) => v.nearestTelephone.id === d.id) : true, fill: (d) => "telephone" }), Plot.arrow(nearestVectors, { x1: (d) => d.panel.lon, y1: (d) => d.panel.lat, x2: (d) => d.nearestTelephone.lon, y2: (d) => d.nearestTelephone.lat, strokeWidth: (d) => (d.distanceInMetres < 10 ? 5 : 1.5), title: (d) => d.distanceInMetres.toFixed(0) + "m" + (d.panel.tags.mapillary ? "\nClick for panel photo" : ""), href: (d) => "https://www.mapillary.com/app/?focus=photo&pKey=" + d.panel.tags.mapillary, target: (d) => "_blank" }) ] }) )35:T6d9,But why? We have a hypothesis: [_Court green lights 1800 Telstra phone booth screens_ (2020)](https://www.afr.com/companies/telecommunications/councils-lose-fight-against-telstra-over-phone-booths-20200309-p548c5) - ([permalink](https://web.archive.org/web/20211020032329/https://www.afr.com/companies/telecommunications/councils-lose-fight-against-telstra-over-phone-booths-20200309-p548c5)) > [...] > Because access to telephones is considered a fundamental public and business need, Telstra has the power to build phone booths without requiring council approval, as long as they are defined as "low-impact facilities." > The councils claimed Telstra had abused its power to build billboards with phones attached to generate revenue through third-party advertising, which were not low-impact facilities. > On Tuesday Justice David O'Callaghan ruled Telstra was within its rights to build the phone booths without needing consent from the councils. > [...] Whilst Telstra [lost a later appeal](https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/telstra-loses-payphone-fight-in-federal-court-appeal-20201120-p56ggj) ([permalink](https://web.archive.org/web/20201128110130/https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/telstra-loses-payphone-fight-in-federal-court-appeal-20201120-p56ggj)) to construct newer phone booths, we suspect that the QMS panels are deliberately placed by the council to obscure any advertising mounted on the backs of the existing phone booths. This is further corroborated by Jake's observation that: > The commercial advertising side [of the QMS panel] is *always* unobstructed by the telephone. This implies that the QMS panel is always positioned so that its advertising obscures any advertising on the phone booth.36:T65d,## Open questions I have some unresolved questions that may poke holes in the "tit for tat" theory that I'd like answers for: Does the City of Sydney decide where to place the panels? Or does QMS? Or both? Not a lot of the Telstra phone booths in the City of Sydney LGA _currently_ have any advertising on them. While courts [blocked the installation of a new model with a 75 inch LCD advertising screen on its back](https://www.ashurst.com/en/news-and-insights/legal-updates/installation-of-telstras-payphone-cabinets-not-exempt-from-planning-approval/), does Telstra retain the right to mount advertising to their current fleet of phone booths? If yes, then our theory holds water. If not, why did the City of Sydney bother to obscure the Telstra booths? In case the law changed? Was the phone booth advertising removed in response to the installation of the QMS panels? When was it removed? Or does no-one want to buy it anymore (because no-one can see it)? Are panels installed near phone booths not for nefarious reasons but because they utilize existing power and data connections? If the placement is only because these locations are particularly good for pedestrian advertising, why has QMS placed them in effectively identical locations? This would entail QMS "agreeing" with Telstra about efficient pedestrian advertising placement. Surely QMS has a higher fidelity foot traffic model than Telstra that would recommend higher yield locations. Are many of these hypotheses true simultaneously? If anyone has these answers, leave a comment or chuck me a [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/max-bo/) message. 37:[{"id":"7581e713df4b692cdb22134304f9cd166a8e180fe7f9e67ca7a526d02b87b2c02c503c90522390f83877bd95534330ebbfa3e45b237485c5a263506739833aa8","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/7581e713df4b692cdb22134304f9cd166a8e180fe7f9e67ca7a526d02b87b2c02c503c90522390f83877bd95534330ebbfa3e45b237485c5a263506739833aa8","name":"harbor.json","type":"application/json","lastModified":1671955565201.967,"size":143810},{"id":"f9a88006aebaeec911eade9a48a6f1bc696f69dda516d19acf472e4994794347dd557a81b7f640b73964376a44791f8a29c1beefb1c3659a9a110220b5a13133","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/f9a88006aebaeec911eade9a48a6f1bc696f69dda516d19acf472e4994794347dd557a81b7f640b73964376a44791f8a29c1beefb1c3659a9a110220b5a13133","name":"pairing.png","type":"image/png","lastModified":1671929739684.16,"size":1352826},{"id":"a3f4ac10d94911d92b9e48c04332fdfce68fc681bbac9992afbd92d8ae2618373cf0d22685e42c7dfbb58f71b1226d7707c03735f5140ffd14ebe9d4aab490ab","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/a3f4ac10d94911d92b9e48c04332fdfce68fc681bbac9992afbd92d8ae2618373cf0d22685e42c7dfbb58f71b1226d7707c03735f5140ffd14ebe9d4aab490ab","name":"1251066.json","type":"application/json","lastModified":1671953756688.172,"size":39865},{"id":"2ddf888f9ab458a7efcd164618c1da5b7ca92f26339f65869dfc8a66206b4db3f8e40ef3b7355966e6719a2f0330737ff204fe2a913085e3e7c64d190a45f40b","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/2ddf888f9ab458a7efcd164618c1da5b7ca92f26339f65869dfc8a66206b4db3f8e40ef3b7355966e6719a2f0330737ff204fe2a913085e3e7c64d190a45f40b","name":"telephones.json","type":"application/json","lastModified":1672375510591.345,"size":27182},{"id":"f9910fb7b2d10d47146c95b8b074d733c9f6becb4453384822ad2e92106c26de103518d9a7a2c6f07b5c3cdba1d51bb8319e9c6817756a7f387ab06e4e744ae8","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/f9910fb7b2d10d47146c95b8b074d733c9f6becb4453384822ad2e92106c26de103518d9a7a2c6f07b5c3cdba1d51bb8319e9c6817756a7f387ab06e4e744ae8","name":"panels.json","type":"application/json","lastModified":1672375525564.756,"size":39003}] 30:{"id":"afa53a31a375a4ec","slug":"sydney-qms-panel-public-telephone-pairings","title":"How many QMS advertising panels in Sydney are near a Telstra public telephone? - an analysis","thumbnail":"87edbb3b0bdba52d702d742dbf078f571acd6c6eb9f84edc542c5cdc53024842","access_level":"public","create_time":"$D2022-12-22T11:32:55.354Z","update_time":"$D2026-03-27T00:06:54.900Z","view_time":null,"first_public_time":"$D2022-12-22T11:32:55.354Z","has_unpublished_edits":null,"fork":false,"stars":4,"starred":false,"owner":{"type":"team","id":"cc48459e4293f942","login":"mjbo","name":"Max Bo","avatar_url":"https://avatars-next.observableusercontent.com/05ae9baba40510a4a22fa7d179f29dd4ffd85fcff859c54a31d42e166ae61dfa","tier":"starter_2024"},"version":1348,"publish_version":null,"role":null,"authored":false,"authors":[{"type":"individual","id":"5bb83a6e9493ea1d","login":"mjbo","name":"Max Bo","avatar_url":"https://avatars-next.observableusercontent.com/05ae9baba40510a4a22fa7d179f29dd4ffd85fcff859c54a31d42e166ae61dfa","tier":null}],"members":[{"type":"individual","id":"5bb83a6e9493ea1d","login":"mjbo","name":"Max Bo","avatar_url":"https://avatars-next.observableusercontent.com/05ae9baba40510a4a22fa7d179f29dd4ffd85fcff859c54a31d42e166ae61dfa","tier":null,"role":"editor"}],"comments":[],"custom_thumbnail":true,"trashed":false,"lapsed":null,"subscribed":null,"forks":3,"collection":{"id":"4ed9baa9c017e827","slug":"auspol","title":"auspol","owner":{"id":"cc48459e4293f942","login":"mjbo","name":"Max Bo"}},"type":"notebook","body":{"titling":"auto","title":"How many QMS advertising panels in Sydney are near a Telstra public telephone? - an analysis","cells":[{"id":241,"value":"$32","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":462,"value":"

\"An — An example of a panel-telephone pairing. Ref: P1061