The Mobile Application Part (MAP) is an SS7 protocol that provides an application layer for the various nodes in

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a family of standards to describe the protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks, as used by mobile devices such as mobile phones and Mobile broadband modem, mobile broadba ...

and

UMTS The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a 3G mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. UMTS uses Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, wideband code-division multiple access (W-CDMA) radio access technolog ...

mobile core networks and GPRS core networks to communicate with each other in order to provide services to users. The Mobile Application Part is the application-layer protocol used to access the Home Location Register, Visitor Location Register, Mobile Switching Center, Equipment Identity Register, Authentication Centre, Short message service center and

Serving GPRS Support Node The GPRS core network is the central part of the general packet radio service (GPRS) which allows 2G, 3G and WCDMA mobile networks to transmit Internet Protocol (IP) packets to external networks such as the Internet. The GPRS system is an integ ...

(SGSN).

Facilities provided

The primary facilities provided by MAP are: * Mobility Services: location management (to support

roaming Roaming is a wireless Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information (''telecommunication'') between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or oth ...

), authentication, managing service subscription information, fault recovery, * Operation and Maintenance: subscriber tracing, retrieving a subscriber's IMSI * Call Handling: routing, managing calls whilst roaming, checking that a subscriber is available to receive calls * Supplementary Services *

Short Message Service Short Message Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile phones exchange short text messages, ...

Packet Data Protocol The GPRS core network is the central part of the general packet radio service (GPRS) which allows 2G, 3G and WCDMA mobile networks to transmit Internet Protocol (IP) packets to external networks such as the Internet. The GPRS system is an integ ...

(PDP) services for

GPRS General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), also called 2.5G, is a mobile data standard on the 2G cellular communication network's Global System for Mobile Communications, global system for mobile communications (GSM). Networks and mobile devices wit ...

: providing routing information for GPRS connections * Location Service Management Services: obtaining the location of subscriber

Published specification

The Mobile Application Part specifications were originally defined by the GSM Association, but are now controlled by ETSI/

3GPP The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is an umbrella term for a number of standards organizations which develop protocols for mobile telecommunications. Its best known work is the development and maintenance of: * GSM and related 2G and ...

. MAP is defined by two different standards, depending upon the mobile network type: * MAP for GSM (prior to Release 4) is specified b
3GPP TS 09.02
(MAP v1, MAP v2) * MAP for UMTS ("3G") and GSM (Release 99 and later) is specified b

(MAP v3) In cellular networks based on ANSI standards (currently

CDMA2000 CDMA2000 (also known as C2K or IMT Multi‑Carrier (IMT‑MC)) is a family of 3G mobile technology standards for sending voice, data, and signaling data between mobile phones and cell sites. It is developed by 3GPP2 as a backwards-compatib ...

, in the past AMPS, IS-136 and

cdmaOne cdmaOne, most often simply referred to as CDMA, is a 2G digital cellular technology. It was the commercial name for Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), a technology that was developed by Qualcomm and later adopted as a standard by the Telecommunica ...

) plays the role of the MAP a similar protocol usually called IS-41 or ANSI-41 (ANSI MAP). Since 2000 it is maintained by

3GPP2 The 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2) was a collaboration between telecommunications associations to make a globally applicable third generation (3G) mobile phone system specification within the scope of the ITU's IMT-2000 project. ...

as N.S0005 and since 2004 it is name
3GPP2 X.S0004

Implementation

MAP is a Transaction Capabilities Application Part (TCAP) user, and as such can be transported using 'traditional' SS7 protocols or over IP using ''Transport Independent Signalling Connection Control Part (TI-SCCP)'';ITU-T Recommendation Q.2220
Transport Independent Signalling Connection Control Part (TI-SCCP). or using SIGTRAN.

Yate Yate is a town and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England. It lies just to the southwest of the Cotswolds, Cotswold Hills and is northeast of Bristol and from Bath, Somerset, Bath. Developing from a small village into a town from t ...

is a partial open source implementation of MAP.

MAP signaling

In mobile cellular telephony networks like

and

the SS7 application MAP is used. Voice connections are

Circuit Switched Circuit switching is a method of implementing a telecommunications network in which two network nodes establish a dedicated communications channel ( circuit) through the network before the nodes may communicate. The circuit guarantees the full ...

(CS) and data connections are

Packet Switched In telecommunications, packet switching is a method of grouping data into short messages in fixed format, i.e. '' packets,'' that are transmitted over a digital network. Packets consist of a header and a payload. Data in the header is used b ...

(PS) applications. Some of the GSM/UMTS Circuit Switched interfaces in the

Mobile Switching Center Network switching subsystem (NSS) (or GSM core network) is the component of a GSM system that carries out call out and mobility management functions for mobile phones roaming on the network of base stations. It is owned and deployed by mobile ...

(MSC) transported over SS7 include the following: *B -> VLR (uses MAP/B). Most MSCs are associated with a

Visitor Location Register Network switching subsystem (NSS) (or GSM core network) is the component of a GSM system that carries out call out and mobility management functions for mobile phones roaming on the network of base stations. It is owned and deployed by mobile ...

(VLR), making the B interface "internal". *C -> HLR (uses MAP/C) Messages between MSC to HLR handled by C Interface *D -> HLR (uses MAP/D) for attaching to the CS network and location update *E -> MSC (uses MAP/E) for inter-MSC handover *F -> EIR (uses MAP/F) for equipment identity check *H -> SMS-G (uses MAP/H) for

(SMS) over CS *I -> ME (uses MAP/I) Messages between MSC to ME handled by I Interface *J -> SCF (uses MAP/J) Messages between HLR to gsmSCF handled by J Interface There are also several GSM/UMTS PS interfaces in the

(SGSN) transported over SS7: *Gr -> HLR for attaching to the PS network and location update *Gd -> SMS-C for SMS over PS *Gs -> MSC for combined CS+PS signaling over PS *Ge -> Charging for

Customised Applications for Mobile networks Enhanced Logic Customized Applications for Mobile networks Enhanced Logic (CAMEL) is a set of standards designed to work on either a Network Switching Subsystem, GSM core network or the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) network(4g+LTE.+cGHsa+. The ...

(CAMEL) prepaid charging *Gf -> EIR for equipment identity check

References

{{Reflist Signaling System 7 Application layer protocols