Cellumap - People Power - Lets create our own coverage maps

[Hands0n]

Time for a revolution methinks.

We have all been led, and misled, by the UK mobile network operator's coverage maps. There is some truth to them, but I'm sure we've all been sitting in a radio black hole wondering why our fave network operator thinks that we should be neck deep in glowing 3G. Frustrating as hell, isn't it?

So what can we ordinary people do about it? Well, not a lot really, except that perhaps we can establish our own coverage maps with some factual data. That is, data that comes direct from consumer's own devices and that are probably much more representative than the maps that any operator can put out.

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce to you Cellumap (http://www.cellumap.com/). A public initiative that has the potential to "name and shame". Or at the very least, it could give a completely arbitrary non-partisan view of the various signal quality around the country.

Currently available for Symbian, BlackBerry and Android devices the app works by taking a reading and then uploading it to a central website where the results can be viewed against a Google map of the area.

Here is what the chaps at Cellumap have to say about their service in their About section.


Cellumap is a revolution in cellular coverage maps, in that the coverage maps here are not created by the network operators, but rather by the users of the network (ie: you!). The coverage maps that are given publicly by the network operators are usually very high-level (ie: not very detailed, no signal strength info) and become quickly out-of-date as the network changes almost daily. Cellumap allows people to plot accurate points (using GPS) and with actual recorded signal strength (and other information) in real-time! Your privacy is also guaranteed, as there is no phone number or account info ever recorded or displayed.

The Cellumap phone app can be used on Android, BlackBerry and Symbian phones that are GPS enabled.
The application and maps are all FREE. Just download it and start. No registration required.


I have it loaded on my Dell Streak on the Three network. At home I'm currently getting -55dBm sitting in the front room :)

[Ben]

Must put this on the Nexus One and take a look!

I like the idea. Whether it really could be useful I'm not so sure, but something needs to be done about the networks' complete inability to provide accurate coverage information.

[miffed]

Brilliant idea !
I remember musing about the potential of such an app a while back on this very site !! ( great minds must think alike ? )

I'd love this to take off , and it would be really great if enough data could be collected to created something that could be waved under OFCOM's nose , but I imagine getting enough people to use it would be a major stumbling block

I am it will draw enough results to be interesting though if nothing else !

[Hands0n]

I have it installed on my Dell Streak right now - measuring the Three network coverage. I'll be adding Cellumap on my Nexus One to cover Vodafone also.

It is interesting to note what is out there already on the web page maps for the various networks. T-Mobile and Three are getting good results so far. O2 is entirely predictable both for UMTS and GSM even at the few measurements that are there.

This all seems to be a fairly recent venture and so it is reasonable to expect it to be very low-key right now. I have Tweeted about it and will do so occasionally to keep it current in people's minds. Hopefully more will pick it up as time goes on. I've Facebook'd it also.

I do love the notion of "people power" - OFCOM and the mobile network operators cannot hide away from this, particularly where the evidence of users belies what is on their official coverage maps.

[miffed]

Imagine this takes off ?

Who'd be the first Network with the balls to refer customers to an INDEPENDENT coverage map ?

They needn't have flawless coverage , but making such a move and being able to point out that their competitors use "their own" coverage maps would be a pretty hefty tool to work with (assuming it doesn't backfire in your face !)

[getti]

Just installed on a Nexus One. Checked the map and I have popped up on there already (77 score)

[Hands0n]

The key seems to be to "seed" the map with as many readings as we can make as we move around - both good and bad signal areas.

There is a feature for the device to auto-update to the website. I'm not sure how it works yet. Maybe it sends an update each time you register into a new cell. And there is a drive-along setting but that does not seem to function at this time.

[getti]

If you search for 'Ipplepen' which is near where I live and choose Vodafone it looks like someone was taking a drive along a long road and it picked up different strengths

[Ben]

Any idea how long it takes for updates to appear on the website?

[DBMandrake]

I have it loaded on my Dell Streak on the Three network. At home I'm currently getting -55dBm sitting in the front room :)
-55dBm is an exceptionally strong signal, especially for indoors - is the Three mast literally just outside your property ? :D

(no I'm not being facetious - you would normally have to be within about 50 metres of a mast to get that signal level - unless the phone is reporting it incorrectly....)

[Hands0n]

Any idea how long it takes for updates to appear on the website?

In my experience the updates have been on the website instantly, within seconds of the transmit completing.

I took a walk around London's Aldgate East area today armed with my Dell Streak busily taking readings as I walked to get my lunch. If you take a look you'll see about 6 or 7 such readings. Also interesting that the signal strength was generally quite even all through the walk.

[Hands0n]

-55dBm is an exceptionally strong signal, especially for indoors - is the Three mast literally just outside your property ? :D

(no I'm not being facetious - you would normally have to be within about 50 metres of a mast to get that signal level - unless the phone is reporting it incorrectly....)

LOL - yes, the mast is across the road from my house, it is about 120m from where I was standing, line of sight about 45 degrees to the house. :)

[Ben]

Hm, I don't think mine's working. I've submitted loads for Pean Hill but nothing comes up on the map for me.

[Hands0n]

Thats very odd Ben. You have to allow the GPS to stabilise before trying to upload. If it doesn't have your location it won't do that. Then once it locks on just press the "Send Data 1x" button to upload.

I just tried it on my Nexus One, Vodafone, Gravesend, UMTS and it appeared on the map in seconds.

[a_ukboy]

When is the app going to available on the Iphone? i'd love to update it, specially in London.. Signal here on Voadfone is shocking now!! I feel like im back on o2 when they first launched the iphone 3G

[DBMandrake]

Access to the required data (signal strength, Cell ID etc) is not possible for an App Store app - Apple's SDK simply doesn't provide that kind of low level access. It would only be possible to make a jailbroken version of this app.

There is currently one jailbreak app I know of which collects Cell ID and signal strength data - displaying the location of nearby Cell sites on a map - called "Signal". It's somewhat buggy and incomplete though.

[RadioRaiders]

Hey guys, glad you're having fun with my app :-) It's not really meant to "name and shame" any operators, but more to give an actual, live and independent view of all network operators coverage.

Any data sent from your phone will appear instantly on the map (maybe just refresh your browser). With the Android app, there's a "My Points" tab in the menu, you can use that to confirm if the server is receiving your data or not. Sometimes on the first day of the month, the server backs up and I need to restart something, so just beware the first of the month isn't a good day to send data ;-)

@Ben: what phone do you have? If BlackBerry, make sure you have your APN set correctly, as Cellumap doesn't use BIS/BES data, but straight TCP/IP (ie: needs the APN set)
@a_ukboy: sorry, no iPhone version in the works.
@Hands0n: If you enable the "Auto-send" button, data will be sent automatically when you move a certain distance (ie: you don't have to keep pressing the Send button). The "Drive-Mode" isn't ready yet, hopefully in a future version.

[Hands0n]

Hello RadioRaiders - Welcome to Talk3G, thanks for visiting too :)

Firstly let me say a big thank you for the whole Cellumap idea and delivery. It certainly is an excellent tool that I hope has a wider take up as the word spreads. I am certainly promoting it wherever and whenever I can.

Perhaps "name and shame" is a bit strong :) and it is really nice to be able to have access to a tool that is completely independent of the network operator's own maps.

Thanks for the app tip - I sort of accidentally discovered just that today :) I have been out for a drive between my home and a local hospital, to visit a relative, and decided to give the feature a tryout. It works really well. I had initially had it set for the default Medium "Auto send distance:" and on the drive extended it to Long as there was too much data being captured for the drive.

You can see the result of the drive by checking out the Three (3) UK network - I have added some 150 points to the map on the drive :D which have all been faithfully put.

The only odd thing that happened is that as we approached the dual carriageway the app crashed and I had to reload it (hence the gap near the three roundabouts). As we were on the move I didn't accept the Dell Streak's offer of taking a crash dump - in hindsight maybe I should have. But it worked fine for the rest of the short journey.

So, if Auto-Send does the stuff .. what is Drive-Mode going to do?

Next up is to take my Nexus One (on Vodafone) out on the road in parallel with the Dell Streak (on Three) to run a side-by-side comparison of the network's coverage along a set route.

[RadioRaiders]

Hey, thanks for the feedback. Yea, sometimes (in my case not too often) the Android app will freeze when in auto-send mode. Choose to "terminate" the program rather than "wait" when given the prompt. I think the bug happens when there's no HTTP response, it just hangs waiting for one. I have to look closer at it and see if I can fix it in a future version. Oh, the "Drive-Mode" will do the same as "auto-send" but just in a cooler way ;-) I'll update the Android app in a few weeks with some fixes and other odds and ends, maybe drive-mode, depends on how much time I have... oh, yea the auto-send distance needs to be corrected too, that's on my fix-list... oh, and yea, when going on dual-carriageways with 3 round-abouts, the app will always crash, sorry about that ;-)

[Ben]

Hey! :)

I'm using a Nexus One. Got some points to stick eventually, which is cool. Whenever I leave the app a message pops up saying auto-send paused; is that meant to happen?

It'll be amazing if an extensive database comes together - especially if the data is made available in a format that can easily be manipulated and plotted by third parties.

[Hands0n]

I noticed the "auto-send paused" pop up and ignored it - taking it as confidence that the app would not stay resident in the background, consuming battery and network. Something like this I think needs to terminate when not in the foreground.

@RadioRaiders - I think the app is probably more than adequate in Android as it is for now. Although getting rid of the bugs and unintended "features" would be nice ;) The route I used has got a couple of radio blackspots where there is no signal from any of the operators (successful local campaigning of the anti-mast brigade) and that would interrupt any http session with the server - meanwhile the GPS and the app are happily spinning away doing its stuff.

Its all good so far. So, looking forward to updated versions to come :)

[Hands0n]

So, today I went out with the Google Nexus One on the Vodafone network and added 127 new points (Kent, A2, Gravesend to nr. Dartford). This is the same route that I tracked on the Three network and it is quite interesting viewing the results from both journeys. Vodafone [UMTS] is clearly less 'available' along the same route. The Cellumap supports what I have long believed to be the case with regard to Vodafone on that particular route.