Crowdsourced Map App Shows Real World Cellphone Signal Strength

Want to know just how strong your cellphone signal is? Now there’s a map and an app for that.

OpenSignalMaps uses our Android smartphones as probes, crowdsourcing locations of cellular towers and their strength. See the 'black spots' that will kill your call, and where reception will be best.

Developed by Staircase 3, the company plans to create accurate signal maps with its Android app and OpenSignalMaps website. The company says the beta version of its Android app OpenSignalMaps has been downloaded more than 80,000 times, as you can see by its maps, the crowd of Android users (mainly in the U.S.) has already contributed millions of signal strength readings.


Download the app using the QR code above, or by searching the Market for OpenSignal.

Take a look at the images below and you’ll see how OpenSingleMaps, a Google Maps mashup, shows its data two different ways: pinpointing cell towers and then showing a heat map of cell coverage.

OpenSingleMaps could become even more valuable if thousands of additional users download the Android app, voluntarily functioning as data acquisition units for the already large database (the company says it doesn’t retain any of your personal data).

If Staircase 3 could combine its data-driven approach with the user generated cellphone signals of a site such as SignalMap, this could be a comprehensive crowdsourced signal strength measurement device. Finally, we’d have a source of real-world information to counteract the questionable maps we see from wireless providers.