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HIP 79 proposes rewarding users who actively contribute to Helium’s Mobile Proof-of-Coverage (PoC) system as mappers. Mappers are individuals or entities who validate and improve network coverage by reporting real-world mobile network quality and signal information. The proposal focuses on introducing incentives for mapping activities, thus ensuring the Helium network maintains accurate and reliable data for mobile coverage.

The plan includes allocating a portion of Mobile SubDAO rewards specifically for mappers, establishing criteria for earning rewards based on data quality, coverage validation, and contribution frequency. By doing so, the proposal aims to encourage participation in mapping efforts, enhance data accuracy, and strengthen the overall utility of the Helium mobile network.

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HIP/0079-mobile-poc-mappers-rewards.md at main · helium/HIP

• Author(s): Mobile PoC Working Group (@gateholder, @jhella, @Maxgold91, @modern-memories, @zer0tweets)
• Start Date: 2023-03-19
• Category: Economic, Technical
• Original HIP PR: #590
• Tracking Issue: #592

Summary

This HIP proposes revising the rewards for Service Providers and Mappers as outlined in HIP-53, reducing the MOBILE reward bucket for Service Providers from 20% to 10% and increasing the reward bucket for Mappers to 20% from 10%.

This HIP additionally describes a framework for providing rewards for various types of mapping activity on the Mobile Network.

Motivation

HIP-53 described the Mobile subDAO and proposed several reward buckets to be activated over time. Following the initial Mobile Network launch, the Mobile PoC Working Group has discovered adjustments to be made to the reward buckets to realign incentive models with the current state of the Mobile Network.

1. Initially set to 20%, the Service Provider reward bucket assumed that Service Providers on the Network could use this pool to incentivize Subscribers to sign-up, share data, or exhibit various other types of valuable behavior for Network development. However, ongoing discussions with offload partners have revealed a reluctance to use MOBILE tokens to incentivize Subscribers, as it may result in compliance and regulatory risk.
2. Initially set to 10%, the Mappers reward bucket assumed that Mappers would be the only and primary way of aligning Hotspot Operator rewards with coverage goals. Coupling Mappers with modeled coverage is a better approach to arriving at a complete coverage map.
3. The initial assumption was that mapping would be limited to Network Participants verifying existing coverage with dedicated mapping devices. Network Subscribers and mapping devices should additionally share areas where carrier offloading is most likely.

In light of these discoveries, this HIP proposes adjusting the reward buckets presented in HIP-53 and a new, more flexible framework for providing rewards for work performed on the Network by various types of mapping activity as follows:

• The Service Provider reward bucket is reduced from 20% to 10% as these rewards can not be re-distributed to Subscribers
• The Mapper reward bucket is increased from 10% to 20% to account for the additional mapping activity types.

This HIP additionally introduces a framework of reward points and tasks that Mappers can perform for verifying existing coverage (verification mapping) and helping discover coverage opportunities (discovery mapping).