Welcome to this tutorial video of the GSMA’s Mobile Coverage Maps.
This video will demonstrate the use of some of the main tools available.
Whether you are working on network planning,
assessing the state of connectivity in a specific country,
or you simply want to know if your city is covered by a mobile network,
this video will show you how to access that information.
The platform allows you to explore several countries,
all with the same available tools.
Once you’ve selected the country you want to explore,
you will have a window like this one.
We will be using Nigeria for the purposes of this video.
By default you will see the country’s 2G coverage appearing in purple.
You can change the transparency
of the coverage layer using this sliding bar.
To change to 3G or 4G coverage, use these buttons here.
Zoom in to the location of interest.
Note how granular the coverage is.
This is because we estimate the coverage
by taking into consideration
the actual location
and technical specifications of the existing networks.
The tool overlays this coverage data with other datasets
like the geographic distribution of population
and the location of key infrastructure such as hospitals or schools.
Changing to a dark background
improves the visibility of population settlements.
Each of these yellow features is a population settlement
that can range from large cities to small towns and villages.
See how some of them are inside the coverage of a mobile network
and others are not.
Now let’s look at how the platform’s in-built tools
allow you analyse this data.
All of the tools are located to the left of your screen.
The Statistics Tool
allows you to explore each population settlement in detail.
Select the tool first
and then click on any settlement
and you will see all the details on the panel on the left.
This particular village has an estimated population of 874 people,
92% of which are covered by 2G
but none of which are covered by 3G or 4G.
In this other settlement,
clearly outside of coverage,
you can see that none of its population is covered by 2G.
If you click outside a population settlement,
the tool will show you the global statistics
for the smallest administrative unit where the settlement is located.
The Filter Tool
allows you to find settlements based on their connectivity status
and population size.
For example,
we can search for settlements that have between
two thousand and five thousand people
and that are not covered by 2G.
Once loaded,
the results are listed in the panel and placed on the map.
To visualise the clusters of settlements,
click on one of the rows or green markers displayed
This is an easy way to find areas that are not covered
and that have sufficient population for new deployments.
This tool also allows you to filter by population
that is not covered by 3G or 4G.
But imagine that you want to have a much better idea
of the business case of deploying a new mobile site in this area.
The Virtual Cell Tool allows you to do this.
The virtual cell allows you to estimate
the population coverage of three different cell sizes:
10km, 3km and 1km.
Drag the virtual cell to any place on the map
and estimate the population living within the specified radius.
It will also tell you the amount of this population
which is not already covered by existing networks.
In this location,
you can see that a mobile site with a radius of 3km
would cover 4,833 people,
of which 4,595 are not already in a 2G area.
The virtual cell comes with a special option
that allows you to estimate the population coverage
while considering the estimated signal propagation.
This is calculated using the key technical characteristics
and terrain profile.
First, let’s change the background layer to see the colours more clearly.
Drag and drop the tower icon
to the location where you would plan to deploy a site.
Then configure your site.
For example,
let’s do a 3G site with a tower height of 20 metres,
a transmitter power of 20 watts
and a frequency of 2100 Megahertz.
Then click on “calculate”
and wait for the tool to estimate the coverage and display the results.
You will see the estimated signal strength footprint appear.
The population that would be covered by that site
is estimated to 43,486
out of which 43,010 are not already covered in 3G.
Now imagine keeping the same location,
but increasing the tower height to 30 metres
and use 900 Megahearts instead of 2100.
As expected,
the coverage footprint is larger and more dense
due to the lower frequency and higher tower.
The population covered also increased from 43,486 to 61,225.
This kind of analysis would allow a geomarketing team
to test different site configurations
and select the one that would yield the best trade-off
between cost of the site and population coverage.
The platform has other useful tools,
such as the mapping of the coverage status of key infrastructure
such as schools or hospitals.
For some countries,
it is also possible to see how coverage has evolved in recent years.
For example in Nigeria,
the 4G network has grown substantially since 2018.
You can see this by comparing the 2018 coverage in yellow
with the current coverage in purple.
Other tools allows you to measure the distance to the closest coverage
or measure distances on the map.
There is also a search tool with typing suggestions
to help you find a specific place by name
or geographical coordinates.
The “Go back button”
allows you to go back to the homepage and explore other countries.
Thank you for watching this tutorial video.
We hope you found it useful.
For more information you can also view our written guides,
which are available in English and French,
from the Mobile Coverage Maps homepage.
If you would like to be kept up to date
about new maps, features and research,
please subscribe for updates
by clicking on the 'Register' button on the homepage.