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I need to find the nearest cell tower to my current location. I found my current location using GPS, but I need to get the location of the nearest tower to me.

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    Are you trying to do this through code (i.e. is this a programming related question)?
    – Narayanan
    Jul 3, 2013 at 6:22
  • Having an idea of why you need this might also help someone give you an answer or an alternative.
    – Andrew Lott
    Jul 3, 2013 at 8:43

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As Dan insisted in his comment, here as separate answer:

Narayanan already mentioned in his answer that each cell tower can be identified via its "CID" (Cell ID), and there are several apps available at Google Play which make use of this. A few examples include:

OpenSignal RF Signal Tracker
OpenSignal and RF Signal Tracker (source: Google Play; click images for larger variant)

OpenSignal (first image). Here the compass gives you the direction to the cell tower. The app has additional features as well, e.g. it can plot cell towers and WiFi APs. My favorite in this area however is RF Signal Tracker, which has comparable features. It can show you on a map in live-mode cell towers you have been recently connected to (including those you are connected to currently) and their coverage (measured while you've been connected to them). You can import your own cell data in CSV format, or export existing ones to edit them and re-import). If you were in logging mode, you can even export a nice KML to see results in Google Maps or Google Earth, or simply re-play the recording. Another nice feature is the list of "neighbors", where this app logs when a connection was handed over from one cell to another.

There are several more apps having comparable features, so you might want to check the "related" sections on their playstore pages to find the app best fitting for your purpose.

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  • @lzzy is there any software like 'Field test'that give ability to select and change BTS ??
    – AminM
    Apr 11, 2016 at 7:27
  • @lzzy i mean Base transceiver station.i assume how did u become admin??
    – AminM
    Apr 11, 2016 at 8:57
  • You probably cannot change the BTS as you've no access to that ;) You mean force switching to a different tower? Not that I know of. As for your second question: Assuming you mean "moderator", there were elections recently.
    – Izzy ♦
    Apr 11, 2016 at 10:19
  • @lzzy yes i mean search and choose to switch between 2 BTS of same Operator.as i said a software name "Field test' do this job for symbian OS.with this tool is it possible to lock the phone to a certain cell ID.see more @ youtube.com/watch?v=KMvfGQUYOQ8
    – AminM
    Apr 12, 2016 at 6:15
  • We're not on Symbian here, @AminM – and unfortunately I'm not aware of such an app for Android. There are some "optimizing your connection" (usually just disable and re-enable network to force a re-connect), but I've not heard of one allowing to select a specific tower.
    – Izzy ♦
    Apr 12, 2016 at 6:22
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Every cell phone transmission tower has a location area code and cell id. There are many apps in Google Play Store that can report these two parameters of the tower that the phone is presently connected to. This is likely to be the nearest (on the same network), but isn't necessarily. With these data, you can visit Cell2GPS and find its latitude and longitude and locate in a map. There are also apps that can do this as well.

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    Correct. OpenSignal promises that. RF Signal Tracker even does the mapping. And there are plenty more of them.
    – Izzy ♦
    Jul 3, 2013 at 7:02
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    @Izzy This information should be in the answer, not buried in the comments.
    – Dan Hulme
    Jul 3, 2013 at 8:27
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    @DanHulme if you insist -- feel free to upvote :)
    – Izzy ♦
    Jul 3, 2013 at 8:51
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On most non-Samsung phones you can dial number

*#*#4636#*#*

and get a detailed report of the cell tower including in some cases for CDMA towers the actual Latitude and Longitude:

Android Cell Tower Info

For other towers mapping is more complicated. Some tools like OpenSignal give general information. For hunting down an actual tower location, CellMapper is the one with the right tools:

Detailed cell tower hunting CellMapper

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You can create request to Public API (source) if you have mobile cell information that you are currently connected. Most of the time current cell is physically nearest to you. But if you need to find the nearest tower to you you have to request all the cells that you currently see (neighbours cells) and then chose the nearest cell to you.

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