Glossary
Plain-English meanings for the words that show up around the map.
Approved feeder
An MQTT watcher that has been reviewed for a region and has supplied real receipt evidence. Only approved watchers can contribute verified regional coverage.
Coverage cell
An aggregate map area representing mapping evidence. TX colors describe the current verified/not-heard state; private purple RX cells are a separate fallback describing packets heard by the driving radio. Neither is a simulated radio prediction.
Credible miss
A controlled mapping test whose 90-second matching window completed without a Watcher receipt while an approved Watcher in that region was independently active. Credible misses can challenge old verified coverage; pending tests and passive RX cannot.
Degraded coverage
An amber current state used after two credible misses from at least two separate wardrives follow an earlier verified result. A third credible miss makes it red; a new verified receipt restores it.
Watcher (technical MQTT gateway)
An independent Meshtastic MQTT gateway that hears traffic and uploads receipt metadata. Its Meshtastic device role may be ROUTER, CLIENT, or another appropriate role. It is not the wardriver, and being a Watcher does not assign it a Meshtastic device role.
IATA region
A regional public-map area identified by an IATA-style code such as SLC, BOI, or TWF. It has a boundary, local policy, and Watchers.
Mapper / wardriver
The person using the Android app during a mapping trip. Their phone GPS is the candidate map location for a controlled mapping test.
Region invite key
A code used to enroll an app installation and its connected radio. It is not a Meshtastic channel key.
Mapping test
A low-rate, tagged packet sent on the approved mapping channel. It has to be tied to phone GPS and independently received before it can create coverage evidence.
Mesh sender
The node that originated a packet. Its identity is not interchangeable with the feeder/gateway that reported receiving the packet to MQTT.
Position Packet
A voluntary node position report observed through MQTT. It is not displayed as coverage or as a general node marker. FreqMapper may use a Watcher's own current report to place its green eye marker, but the report never becomes coverage evidence by itself.
Receipt
Metadata that a feeder reports after hearing a packet, including receiver identity, time, and possibly signal or hop information.
Received here / passive RX
A private wardrive sample showing that the mapper's connected radio heard an eligible packet at the driving phone's location. It can be compared with Watcher reports, but it is not verified TX coverage and does not reveal message text.
Verified coverage
The result of matching a mapper's phone GPS and tagged test with an approved feeder's independent receipt in the correct time window and region.
Last updated: 2026-09-09