Real world estimate of DC rally crowd

[Solaryellow]

using actual science and not bloviating.

Using Ohio Stadium as a reference, capacity (102,000)

Open google earth and use the ruler tool.

Ohio stadium minus the playing field is about 500,000 square feet of seating. give or take a little. So about 5 square feet per person. The park service uses a similar number, so we are on par so far. NOW,,, Lets measure the actual lawn space in downtown DC.. Take the measure tool and measure the actual space of the Capitol lawn. using a block to keep it simple, the maximum area is 517,000 square feet. that is from extreme edge to extreme edge. Just past the reflecting pool staging area 2 for events is another 304,000 square feet.

From there it gets even easier. Each square of the Mall, (GRASS CENTER) not including woods is about 650'X 250'

Simple and easy to do. add it all up and divide by 5..

If the Mall was completely full and spilling out onto each side road, then double the square footage, or just do the math.

Some DC rally pics show the Mall completely covered shoulder to shouler, something Obama inauguration satellite pics DO NOT SHOW. If they claim 2 million, I claim shenanigans.

But from my extensive measuring and research, I can say that the DC rally was in excess of 500,000 people. Obama's inauguration about that as well.

http://www.tonyrogers.com/news/images/inauguration_3_large.jpg Lots of space in between there.

BTW, thanks to all who marched, the voice was heard.

[dynachrome]

Welcome to FR.

Good analysis. closer to 1 million, depending, I believe, but the fact that that many ordinary people, not astroturfed thugs, came out has to give obozo and his minions pause.

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

that is based on the pics taken at one time.what about the fact that many people came and left, and many could not get there till later?

[xjcsa]

I wasn’t there, but my understanding was that the march used Pennsylvania Avenue, **not** the mall. Photos showing a full mall were from Promise Keepers in 1997.

[bayliving]

Actually, the Parks Services uses a 2.5 square foot per person number to calculate crowd size. (shoulder to shoulder)

Please plug this new number in and it will give you a better representation of the actual crowd size.

[mad_as_he$$]

0’s inauguration would of had people packed into 2 square feet. trains in Japan are not even packed that tight.

[bayliving]

march used Pennsylvania Avenue,

Constitution Ave., Independence Ave. and Pennsylvania Ave were all closed.

Independence and Constitution were closed all the way from Capitol Hill to the Washington Monument for the rally. The distance from the Monument to Capitol Hill is 2 miles.

Pennsylvania Ave was used for the march only and for crowd spill over.

[Krodg]

I’m glad that’s settled. Why didn’t you sign on yesterday to put us out of our misery?

[madison10]

Good analysis. closer to 1 million, depending, I believe, but the fact that that many ordinary people, not astroturfed thugs, came out has to give obozo and his minions pause.

...but, but they didn't even know it was happening according to Gibbs.

[xjcsa]

Thanks for the clarification; I’m obviously not an expert, not having been there. Still though, it seems the method given in this post is still not valid, since again, we’re not talking about a full mall. The numbers may be in that same range or they may not, but the method doesn’t work.

[Rapunzel]

And even without many MSM coverage the message will spread. The old fashioned way...Word of Mouth!

Pictures speak louder than words sometimes.

[A.Hun]

Bad answer...

We were on the Capitol grounds and Pennsylvania Ave..not the Mall.

[Turborules]

your math is correct for a static Stadium reference, or a snap shot in time...the event was all day, people coming and going, that is where the bias is one way or the other

time lapse video shows Patriot traffic past a single point of view, walking breast to breast over time, awsome!

[editor-surveyor]

Five square feet may work in stadiums, but for crowds the numbers are 2.5 SF if in motion, and 1.8 SF if standing.

[Freddd]

Yes they were, you just couldn’t see them on the other side of the Capitol...

[mylife]

I was over a million. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-01-19-crowd_N.htm

The crowd stretched back to the Washington memorial

[GloriaJane]

I read yesterday, I believe it was in the “Daily Mall” from the UK that reported they had spoken with Homeland Security and were told by them that there were 2 million.

[fso301]

Some DC rally pics show the Mall completely covered shoulder to shouler,

I have seen no such photo's could you please post them?

Using the same Google earth ruler, Pennsylvania Ave is about 160 feet wide including sidewalks. From the intersection of 14 St NW and E St NW to the Capitol Steps is 1.25 miles or, 6,600 feet. Using a park service metric of 2.5 square feet per marcher would yield 169,000 marchers on Pennsylvania Ave.

Unfortunately, I can't go beyond that number because I've not seen any photos of Pennsylvania Ave and The Mall at the same time.

[A.Hun]

Nope...I walked right down Madison about 1:30 to get out.

There were people around the Capitol Reflecting pool, but not on the Mall.

[dandiegirl]

O’Reilly just said there were 75,000. I couldn’t believe it. Now he’s trying to put a race spin on it by saying there weren’t many blacks or Mexicans there.