The BBC has announced plans to produce an independent map of 2G and 3G mobile coverage across the UK using a crowd sourcing Android phone application.
While mobile operators offer their own coverage maps, the Beeb said that no independent survey has yet been carried out. Apparently unaware of the wealth of crowd sourcing signal strength monitoring applications available on Android.
That said, by plugging the 'UK 3G Survey', the Epitiro-made application may stand a better chance of being popular enough to offer universal coverage in the street-level signal mapping effort. Ultimately the BBC intends to publish a clickable map of UK signal coverage "in every city, village and town across the country."
"Our coverage app will provide the information consumers need to see if 3G services are available and from which mobile operator. As mobile broadband is important to many of us, we hope people volunteer and make the project a success," said Epitiro boss and app-developer Gavin Johns.
The UK 3G Survey app needs an Android smartphone running Android 2.1 or later. The authors say the data used to upload signal strengths and location is minimal and anonymous. You can get the UK 3G Survey Android app from the Android Market here.
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