This was mentioned in the three thread (perhaps somewhere else) but I think perhaps it deserves its own thread. I've searched and can't find one.

I downloaded the app today to my Android MotoG 4G and had a little drive, forcing the phone to switch between 2G 3G and 4G. Does that make me as sad as Devon Bloke? I might start taking some photographs too!

The results are quite interesting. It seems fairly clear that there are quite a lot of 2G masts in my area not outputting 4G. Perhaps old Orange masts but the MNC for them was 30 so I'm not sure?

I'm not sure how accurately it can triangulate the mast positions. It works by using the signal strength.

The great thing is that you upload your values from your phone and the map updates instantly with an updated mast location and ID.

The only thing is - I can't see the damn masts when I look on Google or Bing maps. Perhaps some are 'hidden' within or on buildings?

www.opencellid.org

the app for android is called inViu OpenCelllID - it doesn't have a map built in unfortunately so you need to get the app to 'send cells' and then look on the opencellID website.

There is another app that has a button to display the map position called CellID Info, but it doesn't seem to be reading the latitude longitude from the OpencellID database.

It's not too accurate. Looking at their map, I have 2 cell towers outside my place accross the road. If you see this screenshot of their map, you can see where they've placed the towers, compared to where they actually are. The inaccuracy is approx 500-600yrds.
SCREENSHOT

I have to agree one side near me is plotted in the middle of a lake They must be using some kind of calculation based on the GPS coordinates of the detections and signal strength to plot sites. Far from perfect but I guess a reasonably consistent way of esstimating the position for the thousands of sites around the world.

I've found these apps good for giving me a rough idea where masts are in the countryside as you only need a general area to look for one but a bit useless in city's where there are lots of masts together. A quick way to check how good they are is when driving on the motorway, the masts are normally close by the road. Can anyone explain a bit more about cell is id's please as sad as it may be It would be great to reference the cells against a database for information,sort of mast train spotting isn't really 😳

Doesn't seem to show any EE or Three masts in my area - I know there are though!

Seems to think my mast is 2000m away, rather than the one I can see through the window around 100-200m away :-/

I think the whole idea is that users install the app and it feeds the database. The database is user populated as the networks won't release their data without fees. Presumably Apple and Google have the databases as they use it to assist with gps location.

Oh I didn't realise that. I assumed the mast locations were taken from the carriers themselves.

Doesn't surprise me that there aren't many EE/Three readings around here. In my experience, most people are on O2 or Vodafone because in parts of rural Hampshire at least, signal on Three and EE is very poor.

Because of that, they assume they're bad everywhere and thus don't change.

If you read the FAQ you'll see why.
http://wiki.opencellid.org/wiki/FAQ#...other_position


What you are seeing is the centre of the cell area as pictured here http://wiki.opencellid.org/images/c/...a_segments.jpg

Agreed with GavinAshford it must be the signal strength measured in dBm and then the database sorts all the data by the lowest first.

You could email the local council for the database of phone mast under the the freedom of information act (FOIA) but some councils would charge you a fee for it

I'm still a bit confused as to how it is displaying cell locations that don't (I think) exist. I get that there will be discrepancies, etc. but it's listing cell locations miles away from where they really are.

How VERY dare you!!!!!
Hahahaha
I've just got back from the pub and saw this and I'm deeply offended... NOT!
I can point you in the direction of a fantastic range of anoraks in order to make your testing more accurate.

Seriously though Thine's post is the one to look at.
Sectored masts can confuse things a lot.
A mast is a mast. But that mast can have say, 3 or 4 cells.
I posted this Harbertonford mast porn link several times but it's a good example.
http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/harbertonford.php
Best shot is the third one. Here you can see 3 O2 2G antennas (the lower ones) all pointing in different directions.
Each one of these is a "cell". They could be all on the same frequency but more than likely they are broadcasting different frequencies based on adjacent masts (and cells) they are looking at.
At the top though you can see the MBNL omnidirectional cylinder.
This is a 360 degree single "cell" broadcasting the same frequency whatever angle you are looking at it.
This is why you can''t get an accurate reading from the app.
If ALL masts had omnidirectional antennas it would be simple but as the article says, this is fairly rare, most are sectored (3 or 4) so the number of "cells" is way more than the number of masts.
Does this make sense?
Am I correct Thine?
Just checking.

I VERY dare

Whats this other forum you keep linking too? TV masts with Mobile attached?

Yeah it's the Transmission galley by Mike Brown.
It's mainly for TV and Radio towers but of course a lot of these have cellular on them as well or in the case of the Totnes Orange mast down here, the other way around.
It has a South Hams Radio relay on it so it is included in the gallery.
Good way to get good pictures if you can't get near them.
http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/totnes-ilr.php
Here it is from the road
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.42...Cav4z_k4hg!2e0

Is this a O2 180 angle site?
5355O2 Barnet England Elizabeth House 54-58 High Street HA8 7EJ Site Built
CTIL (Vodafone and O2 share)

Left Side
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.61...9qIMjA8HWw!2e0
Right side of building
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.60...TlPnLhatwA!2e0

Vodafone (Different site)
2G 900Mhz - 3G 2100MHz
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.61...JkORVK8f0Q!2e0

Three & EE MBNL
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.61...tfOEZP0ABA!2e0

O2 3G 2100MHz
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.62...bljO47c3jQ!2e0

I do find it hilarious how despite Sitefinder being not updated for many years, it's pretty damn accurate for O2 - mostly because nothing has changed!

It still can be quite useful can't it.
I just used it to do some detective work for the mb21 site.
Mount vernon mast here http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/mount-vernon.php
States at the top it's 105m which clearly it's not. I was guessing 30ish.
Also in the text you can see they are not sure what the "cylinder" at the top is.
This is an omnidirectional MBNL antenna or at least I thought it was as it's the same as the Harbertonford one which they are also unsure of here http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/harbertonford.php

So went on Sitefinder, found Mount Vernon and sure enough TM/Three at 30 metres!!!
Result!!! Haha
Use postcode HA6 2RN to find it. You have to zoom right in to see both the O2 and MBNL markers.
To prove Sitefinder is not up to date, it also shows, as I said O2 at 22 metres (the lowest array I'm guessing) but when you look at the mast there is another array near the top (about 28/29 metres) that's not on Sitefinder.
I would hazard a guess this is either Orange or Vodafone.
Does anyone know?
I'm like a sleuth in an anorak me!! hahaha

I agree, I think the service is showing what it thinks is the centre of the cell service area which is based on the direction of the cell and is likely to be some distance away from it.

Rooftop cell location is likely to be very different in terms of the centre of the cell area vs the location of the cell on the roof as you usually can't get crowd-source data from the roof, you would only ever be running the app down on the ground. Below a building with a cell on the roof would be the worst place to receive a good signal from it. You would be better off being some distance away from it at the top of another tall building or somewhere with more relative height.

The monopoles in an open area seem to show 2 or 3 cells on the map just a short distance from the site which means the mast is in the middle of the 2 or 3, but it will be harder in built up areas to determine the cell site location, especially for rooftop sites.

Also by looking on some 3 cell sites, If you open them up on Microsoft CSV you can sometimes see GSM what is 2G to my understanding so the database is out of date as 2013 3 went to 3G @ 2100MHz

OpenSignal http://opensignal.com/index.php?lat=...kType%5B%5D=4G is out of date, has anyone eles noticed it?

On the map you showed I don't see any Three masts showing as 2G, they have never operated any 2G network at all, only a 2G backup arrangement first with O2 and then later when it moved to Orange 2G for backup in the earlier days when the 3G roll-out wasn't as extensive.

OpenSignal seems totally wrong to me.
Just put my postcode in and it shows an EE and an O2 mast very near me (like 500m away).
Well that's rubbish. The EE one is shown right in the middle of a 10 acre Solar array!!
Brilliant.

Cell site versus mast as posted before. Likely the 'centre point' of the transmission from a cell site sector on a mast. One mast could easily have 4 separate "cell site sectors".

Yeah, sorry... Duh!!!! I posted as whole thing about cells and then went and posted that.
I've lost it I think!

I think O2 is the only one updating as they also show masts on their coverage map.