[SOLVED] I'm curious about OpenCelliD. What's it for? Could it be useful to me?

mark_alfred · 08-02-2018, 03:13 PM

Hello. As the title says, I became aware of OpenCelliD just a while ago. I have contributed to its database of cell towers with the app Tower Collector.

I have a Galaxy Nexus running LineageOS 13. I've walked around with the Tower Collector app turned on, gathering data, and I've submitted this data to the OpenCelliD site. I've searched the internet, and read some stuff about OpenCelliD, but I still can't get a grip on what exactly it's aiming to do, and whether it could be of any use to me. Anyone have any idea as to what this is about? And how it could be useful to people?

jefro · 08-02-2018, 07:03 PM

Not sure what all it could be used for. A technician or other tech type may need that data. Contractors that work in this field may need it.

I've only used it to ID the exact tower I should be on and the info about that tower.

I supposed one could find rogue towers.

The wiki on it is generic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenCellID

ondoho · 08-03-2018, 06:20 AM

well, it says right there on their web page:

Quote:

This cellular data is used for a multitude of commercial/private purposes by patrons worldwide. From locating devices to understanding network coverage patterns; OpenCelliD enables it by providing convenient access to the data via an API and data dumps.

i think it's good & important to make this sort of data (we all rely on cell coverage) publicly accessible.
personally i have no use for it.

mark_alfred · 08-04-2018, 10:50 AM

I read that but I didn't really understand it.

Someone in another site stated it was to help nogapos/microG/UnifiedNlp component that can use OpenCelliD data for network location on phones. I looked at the UnifiedNlp stuff in my phone, and it states OpenCelliD can be used as a GSM location service, which is a new thing I've discovered. Previously I had chosen "lacells", which stated that "data may be old". Otherwise I had the choice of Mozilla Location services, which never worked. Recently I've noticed that OpenCelliD is also an option. It didn't work until I entered my recently obtained token to use the OpenCelliD API. Having done this, the download did start, but midway through it coughed up some errors and stopped. I'm not sure why. The file is 900 MB, and I have more than enough space for it. So, I'm still with lacells, which has been reasonable (though I'd like to improve the location stuff, as I find it somewhat lacking on my phone sometimes in the couple of apps that rely on it). Anyway, I do now sort of have an idea as to what OpenCelliD is for. Seems to be something to do with helping UnifiedNlp or MicroG. For me, at least, I now can actually associate it with an app on my phone. [edit] I did today get the database from OpenCelliD installed. I'll see if it works any better than my former set-up with lacells.