GSM Cell ID

A GSM Cell ID (CID) is a generally unique number used to identify each base transceiver station (BTS) or sector of a BTS within a location area code (LAC) if not within a GSM
network.

In some cases the first or last digit of CID represents cells' Sector ID:

value 0 is used for omnidirectional antenna,

values 1, 2, 3 are used to identify sectors of trisector or bisector antennas.
In UMTS, there is a distinction between Cell ID (CID) and UTRAN Cell ID (also called LCID). The UTRAN Cell ID (LCID) is a concatenation of the RNC-ID (12 bits, ID of the Radio
Network Controller) and Cell ID (16 bits, unique ID of the Cell). CID is just the Cell ID. The concatenation of both will still be unique but can be confusing in some cellid databases as
some store the CID and other store LCID. It makes sense to record them separately as the RNC ID is the same for many cells, the unique element is the CID[1][2]

A valid CID ranges from 0 to 65535 (216 − 1) on GSM and CDMA networks and from 0 to 268,435,455 (228 − 1) on UMTS and LTE networks.[3]

Contents
Cell ID databases and services
See also
References
External links

Cell ID databases and services

A number of commercial and public Cell ID databases and services are available:
 Free
Countries Operators Active Data
Name Unique cells Measurements database Comment
(MCC) (MNC) project license
download

Cellspotting.com 0.1 million[4] 667 no CC0

Supports GSM, CDMA, UMTS, LTE and

Wi-Fi (>1.6B Wi-Fis) via API.[6]

Combain Mobile –
>100
combain.com (http:// >240 >1700 >66 billion no yes
combain.com/) million[5]

Combain Mobile Global CellID

Coverage Map

Supports WiFi, GSM, CDMA, UMTS and

LTE technologies via its API. [8]

LocationAPI.org (http 157.89

s://www.locationapi.o 240 1712 25 billion no yes
million[7]
rg/)– Unwired Labs

Unwired Labs LocationAPI Global

Coverage Map

Based on crowd-sourced data. Also WiFi

Mozilla Location 28.2
240[10] 2.7 billion[9] yes[11] yes[9] database. Cooperating with OpenCelliD[11]
Service million[9]
and Combain.[12]
Contains data from radiocells.org,
Mylnikov GEO[13] >34 million 505 3500 yes yes
OpenCellID and MLS.
Based on crowd-sourced data. Also WiFi
Navizon[14] 71 million 239 1712 22 billion no yes
database.[15]
Only a small portion of the database can be
downloaded and for private use only: the
limited; measurements where the crowd users
NetMeterProject.com 0.2 million 77 174 10 million private no [16] accepted the "Creative Commons
use only Namensnennung-Nicht-kommerziell-
Weitergabe unter gleichen Bedingungen
3.0 Deutschland" license
Based on crowd-sourced data; free API key
required for database download; Service is
now maintained by Unwired Labs.[18][19]

OpenCellID by CC-BY-
38.9 million 222 753 2.1 billion yes yes
Unwired Labs[17] SA 3.0

OpenCellID database growth

monthly

OpenSignal[20] 0.8 million 825 5.2 billion no yes

CC-BY-
radiocells.org[21] 0.7 million 94 243 yes yes Based on crowd-sourced data.
SA 3.0

WiGLE[22] 6.2 million no yes

CellMapper (http://ce
no yes
llmapper.net/)
OpenMobileNetwork
(http://openmobilenet
work.org/)
 G-NetWold (http://w
ww.gyokovsolutions.
com/G-NetWorld/G-
NetWorld.php) by
Gyokov Solutions
Skyhook Wireless (ht
tp://www.skyhookwir
eless.com/)
Google Location
Services[23]
Apple Location
Services[24]
Microsoft Location
Services[25]

See also
Base transceiver station
Field test mode
E-CellID

References
1. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7240038/utran-cell-identity-returned-by-
getcid
2. "3GPP TS" (http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/125400_125499/125401/04.02.0
0_60/ts_125401v040200p.pdf#page=15) (PDF). www.etsi.org. Retrieved
26 June 2015.
3. "Cell Networks" (https://web.archive.org/web/20160304211934/https://mozilla.g
ithub.io/ichnaea/internal_api/models/cell.html#cell-networks). Archived from the
original (https://mozilla.github.io/ichnaea/internal_api/models/cell.html#cell-net
works) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
4. "CellSpotting Stats" (http://cellspotting.com/thick/statistics.php). Retrieved
2016-03-29.
13. "Stats Mylnikov GEO Cells" (https://www.mylnikov.org/archives/1059).
Retrieved 2016-03-29.
14. "Navizon Global Positioning System" (http://www.navizon.com/wifi-cell-tower-lo
cation-database). Retrieved 2016-03-29.
15. "Navizon Cellular Coverage Map" (http://www.navizon.com/navizon_coverage_
cell.htm). Retrieved 2016-03-29.
16. "Board NetMeterProject" (http://board.netmeterproject.com/viewtopic.php?f=17
&t=665). Retrieved 2016-03-29.
17. "opencellid.org Realtime Statistics" (http://opencellid.org/#action=statistics.cells
&type=5&dateFrom=&dateTo=&mcc=&mnc=&sortBy=1). Retrieved
2015-08-30.

5. "Combain Mobile" (http://www.combain.com/). Retrieved 2018-09-05.
6. "Combain Mobile Coverage Maps" (https://combain.com/coverage/). Retrieved
2018-02-20.
7. "Unwired Labs LocationAPI" (https://unwiredlabs.com/). Retrieved 2016-03-29.
8. "Unwired Labs Coverage Map" (http://unwiredlabs.com/coverage). Retrieved
2016-03-29.
9. "Statistics - Mozilla Location Service" (https://location.services.mozilla.com/stat
s). Retrieved 2016-03-29.
10. "Per Country Cell Statistics - Mozilla Location Service" (https://location.service
s.mozilla.com/stats/regions). Retrieved 2016-03-29.
11. "Cell Download - Mozilla Location Service" (https://location.services.mozilla.co
m/downloads). Retrieved 2015-01-30.
12. "Combain Deal Helps Expand Mozilla Location Service" (https://blog.mozilla.or
g/services/2015/03/06/combain-deal-helps-expand-mozilla-location-service/).
Retrieved 2015-04-09.
18. "OpenCellID wiki" (http://wiki.opencellid.org/wiki/Main_Page). Retrieved
2017-03-02.
19. "Unwired Labs and ENAiKOON Announce Transfer of Maintainership for
OpenCellID - Press Release - Digital Journal" (http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/
3421411). www.digitaljournal.com. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
20. "Stats OpenSignalMap" (https://archive.is/20150502112843/http://opensignal.c
om/coverage-maps/#). Archived from the original (http://opensignal.com/covera
ge-maps/) on 2015-05-02. Retrieved 2014-09-06.
21. "radiocells.org" (http://www.radiocells.org/). Retrieved 2016-03-29.
22. "Stats WiGLE" (https://wigle.net/stats). Retrieved 2016-03-29.
23. "Google Location Service in Mozilla Firefox Privacy Policy" (https://www.googl
e.com/privacy/lsf.html). Google Inc. Retrieved 2016-09-30.
24. "About Location Services and Privacy" (https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT207
056). Apple Inc. Retrieved 2016-09-30.
25. "Windows Runtime APIs - Windows.Devices.Geolocation namespace" (https://
msdn.microsoft.com/library/windows/apps/br225603). Microsoft Corp.
Retrieved 2016-09-30.

External links
Combain Positioning Service (https://combain.com/) - cloud service with API to locate wireless devices based on Cell-ID and Wi-Fi
LocationAPI by Unwired Labs (https://unwiredlabs.com/) - Location as an API service to locate devices with WiFi, Cell towers & IP
Mozilla Location Service (https://location.services.mozilla.com/) - an open service which lets devices determine their location based on network infrastructure like WiFi
access points and cell towers
CellMapper (https://www.cellmapper.net/map) - cellular coverage and tower map
OpenCellID (https://opencellid.org) - an open source project, aiming to create a complete database of Cell IDs worldwide, with their locations
cellidfinder (https://cellidfinder.com/) - Find the coordinates of any known CellID.
Navizon (https://www.navizon.com/) - cloud service with API to locate wireless devices using a global database of WiFi access points and Cell-ID locations
openBmap (https://web.archive.org/web/20180601142241/http://www.openbmap.org/) - a free and open map of wireless communicating objects (e.g. cellular
antenna, Wi-Fi access points...)
minigps (http://minigps.net/map.html) - some information on Cell IDs in china
Mylnikov GEO (https://www.mylnikov.org/archives/1059) - an open source API project. It lets get coordinates of mobile towers with no limits and absolutely free.
(Russian)
Base Station Numbering Schemes (http://people.csail.mit.edu/bkph/cellular_repeater_numerology.shtml) - Discussion of cellular repeater numerology

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This page was last edited on 23 June 2019, at 23:12 (UTC).

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