Artech House author, Francisco Saez De Adana, an author of Applications of Geographic Information Systems for Wireless Network Planning, explains how the computer tool referenced in his book enriches both the text and experience beyond reading:
The idea of developing a computer tool like the one described in our book came up some years ago. We realized that spatial data were freely available thanks to collaborative projects such as OpenStreetMap or other Geographical Information Systems. Since the calculation of the propagation losses in open areas is a fundamental task for the planning of wireless network systems, we decided to develop our own tool by taking advance of the information provided by OpenStreetMap, avoiding the tedious process of obtaining the necessary geometrical data of the buildings, heights, etc from other sources. With that information, our tool obtains the propagation losses using an empirical/semi-empirical algorithm.
In this tool we also took advantage of our experience in the development of graphical user interfaces and web sites. We applied that experience to the creation of a tool that can be easily used for the solution of real-world engineering problems. In this book, we share our knowledge to facilitate the reader the process of developing their own propagation tool.
Author bio: Francisco Saez de Adana is a professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Alcala, Spain. He received a B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in telecommunications engineering from the University of Cantabria, Spain.