London's mobile phone network, which is all around us and never seen. Each glowing point is one mobile cell, an antenna on a mast or a rooftop, as logged by people's phones. Each cell is lifted into the sky by its generation: 2G lowest, then 3G, 4G, and 5G highest.
There are 24,375 cells here, in and just around Greater London, all seen by phones between April 2025 and October 2026. Below them, London itself is drawn in points: the Thames, the parks and woods, the main roads and the borough boundaries, with the names of boroughs, towns and roads appearing as you come closer.
Measured: where each cell is and which generation it belongs to, and the river, parks, roads and boundaries below.
Not measured: the heights. Real antennas sit far lower; the layers lift them apart so each generation can be seen. The positions are estimates averaged from phones' readings, not surveyed mast locations, and the map is fullest where contributors happened to travel. The faint rings on the ground show the database's rough reach for some cells, and most carry a default of one kilometre, so read them as indicative only.
Much 5G leans on a 4G anchor, so phones often log it as 4G: the 5G layer is an undercount. The 3G layer is a ghost. The UK's 3G networks have now been switched off, and most of these cells were last seen before they went dark. 2G, the oldest, is due to go by 2033 at the latest.
In the third movement, Static, the layers turn, sparks jump between neighbouring cells and stars come out. None of that is data.
Cell data: OpenCelliD, CC BY-SA 4.0. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database Licence, via Geofabrik (16 October 2026). The data file behind this page combines these sources and is shared under their terms. Inspired by the work of Marshmallow Laser Feast; this is an independent piece and not affiliated with them or with OpenCelliD.
The sound is made live in your browser, not recorded: a low drone and slow chords in A Lydian, with radio static and distant whistles drifting through. Move over the cells and they answer, lower for 2G and higher for 5G. Tap one to send a pulse across the city.
Drag to turn; right-drag, Shift and drag, or the arrow keys to move across the map (two fingers on a phone); scroll or pinch to move closer: borough names show from afar, towns and roads as you come in. The layers button turns the names on and off. Hover over a cell to see what it is. The three movements play in turn; tap one to go there, or press 1, 2 or 3.