Cell Tower Density & Coverage
Global cell tower density and coverage map powered by the OpenCelliD dataset — 40M+ geolocated towers filtered by 2G GSM, 3G UMTS, 4G LTE, and 5G NR, with MCC/MNC operator decoding and GPS-derived coverage radius estimates on a WebGL globe.
40M+
Towers in dataset
4
Radio types
180+
Countries covered
700–3500 MHz
Frequency bands
800+
MCC codes tracked
Weekly
Data update freq.
OpenCelliD
Primary data source
~1–15 km
Avg. LTE range
Data Pipeline
From crowdsourced GPS measurements to a colour-coded WebGL point cloud in six steps.
OpenCelliD Dataset
OpenCelliD is the world's largest open database of cell tower locations, crowdsourced via the OPENCELLID project and supported by Unwired Labs. The dataset contains 40M+ geolocated towers contributed by mobile devices worldwide.
Next.js API Route
A server-side Next.js Route Handler fetches towers for multiple bounding boxes (Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific) from the OpenCelliD getInArea endpoint. Results are cached at the edge for 1 hour. When no API key is present, a curated static dataset of representative towers is returned.
Radio Type Classification
Each tower record carries a radio field identifying its generation: GSM (2G), UMTS (3G), LTE (4G), or NR (5G). This field drives colour-coding on the globe and enables per-generation filtering in the UI.
Operator Mapping (MCC/MNC)
Mobile Country Code (MCC) and Mobile Network Code (MNC) pairs uniquely identify each network operator globally. The globe sidebar decodes MCC to a human-readable country name using a built-in lookup table covering the most common operator codes.
Coverage Radius Estimation
OpenCelliD provides a range estimate (in metres) for many towers, derived from the spread of GPS measurements contributing to that tower. Where range is unavailable, typical defaults are applied: GSM ~35 km, UMTS ~10 km, LTE ~15 km, NR ~5 km — reflecting real-world propagation characteristics.
WebGL Globe Rendering
Towers are rendered as a Three.js PointsMaterial point cloud on a globe.gl WebGL globe. Spherical coordinates (lat/lng) are converted to Cartesian XYZ via the standard φ/θ formula and stored in a Float32Array BufferGeometry for GPU-efficient rendering. Colour is encoded per-vertex by radio type.
Radio Generations
Each cellular generation operates on different frequency bands, cell sizes, and throughput characteristics. The globe colour-codes towers by generation to reveal coverage patterns.
| Generation | Freq. Bands | Typical Range | Latency | Peak Speed | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2G GSM | 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz | 1–35 km | ~300 ms | ~114 kbps | First digital cellular generation. Widely used for voice and SMS; coverage in remote regions often relies on GSM infrastructure where newer generations are uneconomical. |
| 3G UMTS | 900 / 2100 MHz | 0.5–10 km | ~50–100 ms | ~7.2 Mbps | UMTS/HSPA provides mobile broadband. Smaller cells than GSM but much higher data throughput. Many operators still maintain 3G for voice fallback as VoLTE rolls out. |
| 4G LTE | 700 / 800 / 1800 / 2100 / 2600 MHz | 0.5–15 km | ~20–50 ms | ~100–300 Mbps | All-IP packet network. LTE (and LTE-Advanced / LTE-A Pro) is the dominant 4G standard globally, supporting voice via VoLTE. Forms the backbone of mobile broadband in most markets. |
| 5G NR | Sub-6 GHz (FR1) / mmWave (FR2) | 0.1–5 km | <10 ms | ~1–10 Gbps | New Radio (NR) is the 5G standard from 3GPP Release 15+. Sub-6 GHz deployments reuse existing tower infrastructure; mmWave delivers extreme throughput at very short range. Primarily urban deployments as of 2025. |
Tech Stack
OpenCelliD (40M+)
Tower dataset
OPENCELLID_API_KEY
API auth
globe.gl + Three.js
Globe renderer
BufferGeometry cloud
Point rendering
1 hr edge cache
Cache TTL
Three.js Raycaster
Click detection
Next.js App Router
Framework
WGS-84 / EPSG:4326
Coord system
Key Features
Colour-coded by generation
Each tower dot is coloured by radio type: green (GSM), amber (UMTS), blue (LTE), pink (NR) — instantly revealing the generational coverage landscape of any region.
MCC/MNC operator decoding
Click any tower to see the MCC and MNC decoded to a country and operator pair, surfacing the competitive landscape of mobile network operators globally.
Coverage radius from GPS data
OpenCelliD derives per-tower range estimates from the spread of contributing GPS fixes — providing a data-driven coverage radius rather than theoretical propagation models.
GPU point cloud performance
Towers are rendered as a single Three.js BufferGeometry with per-vertex colour. The entire dataset renders in a single draw call, enabling smooth interaction even with hundreds of towers.
About OpenCelliD
OpenCelliD is the world's largest open database of cell tower locations, containing over 40 million entries. Data is crowdsourced from mobile devices running the OPENCELLID app and compatible applications — each device contributes GPS fixes alongside the serving tower's identity (MCC, MNC, LAC, Cell ID), gradually building a global map.
The project is maintained by Unwired Labs and released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0) licence. An API key (free for non-commercial use) enables programmatic access to the getInArea and getInAreaCSV endpoints.
Mobile Country Code — 3-digit ITU code identifying the country of the operator
Mobile Network Code — 2–3 digit code identifying the specific operator within a country
Location Area Code — groups cells within a UMTS/GSM network for paging efficiency
Evolved NodeB — the LTE base station; eNB ID plus Cell ID form the global LTE cell identifier
Next-Generation NodeB — the 5G NR base station replacing the eNB architecture
Estimated coverage radius in metres, derived from the spread of contributing GPS observations
Data Sources
OpenCelliD
Primary tower dataset
Crowdsourced global cell tower database: 40M+ records with lat/lng, radio type, MCC/MNC, and range. Free API for non-commercial use (CC BY-SA 4.0).
ITU / 3GPP
MCC/MNC registry
The ITU maintains the official MCC registry; 3GPP TS 23.003 defines the MNC allocation procedures used to decode operator identity from tower records.
NASA / three-globe
Earth dark texture
The dark Earth texture (`earth-dark.jpg`) bundled with three-globe provides a night-time satellite composite ideal for visualising lit cell tower density.
Explore the live tower map
Open the interactive globe to filter towers by radio generation, click any tower to decode its operator and coverage radius, and compare 2G, 3G, LTE, and 5G density worldwide.