WIND Mobile Tower Map

[loxcel]

TAFL:

Not worth the effort to list what else changed, since it lags behind SD so much.

A few weeks ago, I asked Industry Canada about the relationship between Spectrum Direct (SD) and TAFL.

And here is what they said:

"The TAFL and Spectrum Direct data come from the same source and you can customize the data elements from Spectrum Direct that you want to see."

Because they come from "the same source," I can think of two possible reasons why you perceive a "lag".


1) Data collection errors

Data collection via Spectrum Direct (SD) is a laborious, manual process, as described by this quote from Industry Canada:

"You could download full [Spectrum Direct] data for Canada by asking for smaller areas and merging the files as a full download is not available."

In comparison, Industry Canada provides TAFL data as an easy-to-use "full download."


2) TAFL is a snapshot of the Industry Canada database, taken around the first working day of each month. SD is a live feed into the Industry Canada database. So, as the month progresses, TAFL data slowly ages, until the beginning of the next month.


Ideally, we would refresh our maps from an automated process that queries SD daily. Perhaps we can work on a project to do that?

[IlikeGSM]

Loxcel,

When a tower shows up on your map, is it operational, or is it just the announced location in the database?
Is there any way to distinguish on your map whether it is operational or not based on the govt. data you get?

example, in Toronto there is a new location for Wind (Marker 1604). If it's operational, it sure isn't doing anything for me, so I suspect that it is just an announced location.

OTR0722 - Toronto - 240 Heath St W
Site Elev: 159m
Wind: 5MHz, 6 antenna @ 53m

[SRG01]

Hey guys! I just wanted to say something for spotting Towers.
Both WIND and Telus use Huawei for their network and I've noticed Huawei likes to make big contraptions when they build a tower.
PM and Bell seem the same in creating discreet towers, sometimes attached to the sides of buildings.
Mobilicity and Rogers use Ericsson who really like building Pole towers (even on buildings). They usually don't have any racks on the tower but the antennas like to face downwards a bit, as if they're just hanging off.

Look for that, when tower spotting!

Hmm, not sure about Huawei. I thought WIND uses Alcatel Lucent in the west?

[rmesser]

The national Canada cell tower map at

http://loxcel.com/celltower

has been refreshed for September 2011.

MOBILICITY TOWER PLACEMENTS ARE FIXED: Previously, Mobilicity towers were floating (I hope they were floating) in the middle of the lake, ocean, etc -- all due to errors with data from Industry Canada. I was in discussions with Industry Canada (thank you to a member here for the introduction) and we identified and fixed their data (the issue affected both Spectrum Direct and TAFL). Anyway, things should be better now.

September's map shows 15,159 cell tower locations (August had 15,177) with 202,396 cell antennas (August had 204,564) from across Canada.

Compared to August, September sees Wind up 8.3%. Other small antenna gains for Rogers, Telus and Mobilicity -- and a big bump for Videotron.

Antenna counts for September | August | May | April | March | February | January 2011:

Rogers : 103,960 | 103,676 | 102,546 | 102,470 | 102,420 | 101,532 | 99,390
Bell : 38,012 | 38,012 | 37,442 | 32,442 | 37,442 | 37,442 | 37,442
Telus : 37,386 | 37,002 | 35,720 | 35,720 | 35,700 | 35,586 | 35,342
Globalive/Wind : 5,196 | 4,796 | 4,358 | 4,636 | 4,522 | 4,522 | 4,328
SaskTel : 4,148 | 4,148 | 4,442 | 4,442 | 4,398 | 1,930
Videotron : 6,576 | 9,790 | 3,214 | 3,214 | 3,214 | 3,214 | 3,214
PublicMobile : 2,210 | 2,210 | 2,210 | 2,210 | 2,210 | 2,210 | 1,202
Mobilicity : 2,228 | 2,168 | 1,850 | 1,876 | 1,876 | 1,876 | 1,858
MTS : 1,968 | 1,968 | 2,028 | 1,048 | 1,046 | 1,040 | 1,040
TbayTel : 466 | 466 | 466 | 428 | 428 | 428 | 428
Other : 328 | 328 | 328 | 328 | 328 | 328 | 328


Thanks and enjoy the map at

http://loxcel.com/celltower

I welcome your comments and suggestions about the map. Please contact me at loxcel.cluster AT gmail.com

Thanks!

Kevin

Videotron : September = 6,576 | August = 9,790 | May = 3,214

They lost 3,000 towers in September?

[canadiancow]

A few weeks ago, I asked Industry Canada about the relationship between Spectrum Direct (SD) and TAFL.

And here is what they said:

"The TAFL and Spectrum Direct data come from the same source and you can customize the data elements from Spectrum Direct that you want to see."

Because they come from "the same source," I can think of two possible reasons why you perceive a "lag".


1) Data collection errors

Data collection via Spectrum Direct (SD) is a laborious, manual process, as described by this quote from Industry Canada:

"You could download full [Spectrum Direct] data for Canada by asking for smaller areas and merging the files as a full download is not available."

In comparison, Industry Canada provides TAFL data as an easy-to-use "full download."


2) TAFL is a snapshot of the Industry Canada database, taken around the first working day of each month. SD is a live feed into the Industry Canada database. So, as the month progresses, TAFL data slowly ages, until the beginning of the next month.


Ideally, we would refresh our maps from an automated process that queries SD daily. Perhaps we can work on a project to do that?

SD has had Barrie for a while. TAFL still does not. So I don't buy that line about it being a snapshot of the same database.

I've been toying with the idea of updating my maps automatically, but I only have the towers because of so many requests for it - it's not the primary purpose of Coverage Mapper. I don't think it would be difficult. Rather than manually downloading the files from SD/TAFL, running them through my script, and then replacing the data on my maps, I could have it all done automatically. But then I'd have to make sure it notifies me when things really change, and I think that would be the hardest part. Doing it manually makes it easy to tell when a new city is added, or a bunch of new towers are added within a city.

Edit: If I get something working, I'll let you know.

[torontocolin]

Could you maybe make a third map that updates automatically, but keep windmap2 as a manual? That way you can check one against the other to see any changes.

[canadiancow]

Could you maybe make a third map that updates automatically, but keep windmap2 as a manual? That way you can check one against the other to see any changes.

If I did that, I wouldn't keep it there. I'd just keep an old copy so I could check what's changed. But I'd rather have it send me a daily email with changes. The problem is sometimes they adjust the name or description of a tower, or even the location, or the delete one and the same thing back as a new tower, so I don't want to get a ton of alerts when nothing has actually changed.

[loxcel]

SD has had Barrie for a while. TAFL still does not. So I don't buy that line about it being a snapshot of the same database.

I'll take a look into this, if you send me a record from SD that isn't in September's TAFL (my email is loxcel.cluster AT gmail.com). Thanks.

[loxcel]

Videotron : September = 6,576 | August = 9,790 | May = 3,214

They lost 3,000 towers in September?

There might have been a problem with the August data from Industry Canada.

[loxcel]

Loxcel,
When a tower shows up on your map, is it operational, or is it just the announced location in the database?
Is there any way to distinguish on your map whether it is operational or not based on the govt. data you get?

Can you spot an antenna in the vicinity where it appears on the map? (the map also reports antenna height above ground; that should help you locate it.)

I put a call into Industry Canada for clarification and will let you know as soon as I hear back.

[FTW]

Have you seen that Wind now has a feed announcing when and where they put up new towers.

http://www2.windmobile.ca/en/pages/s...dcoverage.aspx

[LDN2012]

Have you seen that Wind now has a feed announcing when and where they put up new towers.

http://www2.windmobile.ca/en/pages/s...dcoverage.aspx

Dont see it on the link?

Edit: I see it now in the red bar. Pretty awesome.

[artbungler]

Dont see it on the link?

Edit: I see it now in the red bar. Pretty awesome.

http://windmobilecanada.tumblr.com/

[canadiancow]

Have you seen that Wind now has a feed announcing when and where they put up new towers.

http://www2.windmobile.ca/en/pages/s...dcoverage.aspx

I'd be happier if it was complete though :P

I know a tower turned on in Kitchener in the past few days, but it's not listed there.

[FTW]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9700; en) AppleWebKit/534.8+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0.0.615 Mobile Safari/534.8+)

Have you seen that Wind now has a feed announcing when and where they put up new towers.

http://www2.windmobile.ca/en/pages/s...dcoverage.aspx

I'd be happier if it was complete though :P

I know a tower turned on in Kitchener in the past few days, but it's not listed there.

Maybe you need to search for the city to see towers for the city. I noticed that I was only getting GTA towers in the feed