On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 1:54 PM, Felix Baumann <[email protected]> wrote:
> Oh it's not confusing at all, > but I thought it would be nice as well to build a database where people > could see the real position of cell towers and take a look at them. > Right now we could only provide an estimated area where the cell sends. > > Of course this wouldn't be available in all areas and so on. > But it would be available in regions where people care about it. > > And we could import other databases which collect only the positions of > cell towers. > > Of course the data might get old over time but it is still trusted data, > which could be used varify submits. > A submit telling the server Cell XY is at place B -> Cell XY has a trusted > position already but this position is A and not B. > The user who submitted the position gets a request to update the tower if > there is no new data the upload of position B will get deleted. > > It was just just an idea after all, the verifying process might be not > efficient > but it would be nice at least to have a database which is open available > so that you can take a look at it. (as a table online) > I wonder if OpenStreetMap would make a good repository for cell tower locations? Communications antennas data is collected and displayed. While the tagging[1] is limited to just type of tower, it could be expanded to include more information. For example, power networks data includes voltage, tower type, number of cables and operator. ITO World has even has a nice map of the power network. [3] Using OSM as a repository would all the entire mapping community to contribute to maintaining the data. While retrieving the data is non-trivial, it can be done. Disclaimer, I'm an active contributor to OSM. However, I also support this project. [1] https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:man_made%3Dcommunications_tower [2] https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:power%3Dline [3] http://www.itoworld.com/map/4 Clifford -- @osm_seattle osm_seattle.snowandsnow.us OpenStreetMap: Maps with a human touch _______________________________________________ dev-geolocation mailing list [email protected] https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-geolocation
