The present document defines an intermediate universal Geographical Area Description which subscriber applications, GSM or UMTS services can use and the network can convert into an equivalent radio coverage map.

For GSM or UMTS services which involve the use of an "area", it can be assumed that in the majority of cases the Service Requester will be forbidden access to data on the radio coverage map of a particular PLMN and that the Service Requester will not have direct access to network entities (e.g. BSC/BTS or RNC/Node B).

The interpretation by the PLMN operator of the geographical area in terms of cells actually used, cells that are partly within the given area and all other technical and quality of service aspects are out of the scope of the present document.

This specification also provides a description of velocity that may be associated with a universal Geographical Area Description when both are applied to a common entity at a common time.