Crowdspot
If a Hotspot has been added to the Denylist in error, the only method to have it removed is to file a Removal Request using Crowdspot.
Instructions for submitting a removal request can be found on the Denylist Removal Request documentation page.
Crowdspot is an unmonitored, self-service tool built by Nova Labs for the Helium Community. This tool allows anyone to explore Helium Network Hotspot data to understand atypical Hotspot behavior and identify anomalies.
Similar to Voting, submitting Denylist additions, removal requests, or casting a vote on the status of a Hotspot requires a Crowdspot account associated with a unique Helium Wallet address.
If you do not have the Helium Wallet app, you'll need to download the Helium Wallet app and create a new Wallet or import an existing Wallet before proceeding.
There are 0 fees to connect a Helium Wallet address to Crowdspot.
How to Submit to the Denylist
To submit Hotspots for Denylist consideration, start by logging in with your Helium Wallet and
clicking on the Submit Denylist Request button on the Crowdspot.io landing page.
Log In with the Helium Wallet App
To associate a Helium Wallet address, click the Login menu bar item on the Crowdspot homepage and
scan the QR code with your phone.
Once you have scanned the QR Code, the Helium Wallet app will open and prompt you to authenticate Crowdspot.
- Confirm Connection Start: Confirm that you do want to connect a Helium Wallet to Crowdspot.
- Choose Wallet: Choose the account you would like to use with Crowdspot, and tap Continue.
- Authenticate: Send a transaction to the Helium blockchain to complete login.
address. The Profile badge will match in the Helium Wallet app and on Crowdspot. If you are already logged in, you will see a Profile Badge and a portion of the connected Wallet
Otherwise, if no account is logged in, no Profile Badge is visible, and the Login menu bar item is
shown.
How to Log Out
You can log out of Crowdspot by clicking your profile badge in the upper right corner and selecting
Log Me Out from the pop-up menu.
Submit an Addition
Once you have logged in, click the Submit Denylist Request button to begin your submission.
Submission Type
On the Submission form, select the Addition radio button under Submission Type.
Enter Hotspot Address
Copy and paste the b58 address of the Hotspot into the Enter Hotspot b58 Address field. The
b58 address for a Hotspot is the 52-character address of the Hotspot, NOT THE ANIMAL NAME. The
b58 address for a given Hotspot is the end of the URL for the Hotspot on the Helium Explorer or
the value next to Address on the Hotspot's page on Crowdspot.
Multiple Hotspots can be added as part of a single Denylist submission by clicking the + button
and inputting more Hotspot b58 addresses.
Reporting Clusters
Some abnormal Hotspots are part of a "Cluster," a group of Hotspots that only witness each other. Clusters are often asserted in a roughly circular formation and may be nestled among legitimate Hotspots.
When reporting a Cluster of Hotspots, include all b58 addresses and toggle on the
Is this a cluster of Hotspots checkbox. This information assists in evaluating the legitimacy of
the Hotspots in the request.
Written Reasoning
Submitting a written description to support the Denylist submission provides valuable insight for evaluation. A minimum of 150 characters is required.
Create the Submission
Once you have added all the required and optional information, click the Create Submission button.
You can view the status of your submission on the Submissions page, linked in the Crowdspot menu bar.
Submitting Hotspots as a Batch
Investigation of abnormal Hotspots can be a lot of work, and many workflows exist, especially for
the submission of large Clusters. To make the process easier for extensive submissions, Hotspot
b58 addresses can be added in a batch (of up to 100 addresses) rather than one at a time.
Entering a Batch of Hotspot Addresses
To submit multiple Hotspots, Click the Submit a Batch link, and the individual address entry field
will be replaced with a text box.
Hotspot addresses must be separated by commas; no more than 100 addresses can be included in a single submission.
Good Example
comma separated, no new lines, 100 or fewer addresses
112Y9MOI0cSuhXXmtdjbwbggmiUTXtpGvz26djJscfJKRfoj2sUN,112YoUnnjdbi2qW51UNdcfIfzLvfzLwmWkvE7ZO1LJoz8j5XyfGu,112snBh48MrKFwkzT29ciqPDjFkpq0FtQI6uCv4EpOK6QfW9w45N,112ugTSdVRHWvO85WrAuV5JvcytQYRnkgdxtxgXKNOGMi1XYXQR7,112ZTwJcUBGC65J3XjQGKWmNkcGspVFOkDyZJVCRs5vIQrpPyT8O,112VDtGIy9COHkZFdsBQyAXM9aOfbQ2oIKSOOBSVbpwV38dxnDN5,113oCV3rIwxwwG2umgc0vBbSqRm856HrUFRdgWAJERXkA9M5aVmu,113Wcs25X8JYDVzWKgAgf1nzkUnS2i9XLrYV4bbo9RL4Xv2Q4Yay,113nRmEovrRvQF6UNFrSv79Ys9Thuw6ajAJrN7wpmen9KbqZO7nU,114xSLeZSB6DaWkirHGZsxQ0kfs2DwZ8zIFQQWRnQshshcZ0zXl8
Bad Example
includes white space, addresses on multiple lines, includes notes, missing commas
112Y9MOI0cSuhXXmtdjbwbggmiUTXtpGvz26djJscfJKRfoj2sUN, 112YoUnnjdbi2qW51UNdcfIfzLvfzLwmWkvE7ZO1LJoz8j5XyfGu,
112snBh48MrKFwkzT29ciqPDjFkpq0FtQI6uCv4EpOK6QfW9w45N112ugTSdVRHWvO85WrAuV5JvcytQYRnkgdxtxgXKNOGMi1XYXQR7, 112ZTwJcUBGC65J3XjQGKWmNkcGspVFOkDyZJVCRs5vIQrpPyT8O, 112VDtGIy9COHkZFdsBQyAXM9aOfbQ2oIKSOOBSVbpwV38dxnDN5, 113oCV3rIwxwwG2umgc0vBbSqRm856HrUFRdgWAJERXkA9M5aVmu
113Wcs25X8JYDVzWKgAgf1nzkUnS2i9XLrYV4bbo9RL4Xv2Q4Yay - spoofer
113nRmEovrRvQF6UNFrSv79Ys9Thuw6ajAJrN7wpmen9KbqZO7nU - probably colocated
114xSLeZSB6DaWkirHGZsxQ0kfs2DwZ8zIFQQWRnQshshcZ0zXl8 - too many beacons
Voting
A connected Helium Wallet can vote on the legitimacy or abnormality of a given Hotspot. This community feedback assists in the evaluation process and is an essential factor in the evaluation process.
To submit a vote, navigate to a Hotspot page on Crowdspot and below the map, select the option to
Vote that the Hotspot is Legitimate, or that the Hotspot is Abnormal given the information
provided.
You must be logged in to Crowdspot by connecting a valid Helium Wallet to cast a vote.
See the section below on how to log in with the Helium Wallet App
Hotspot Evaluation Metrics
Crowdspot provides insight to several metrics for a given Hotspot that can be used to assist the Community in identifying abnormal Hotpots and validating legitimate Hotspots.
If a Hotspot is currently on the Denylist, they will have a special badge on their page. This badge is -not- present for Hotspots -not- currently on the Denylist.
This example badge includes "+ 54 other appearances," which indicates that this particular Hotspot appears on the latest Denylist and in 54 previous updates of the Denylist.
Location Confidence
Using witness receipt data, 1,000 programmatic estimates of the asserted location are made to derive a predicted location of a Hotspot.
The Location Confidence Score metric reflects what percentage of estimations are within range of the Hotspots asserted location.
When under 20% of estimations are further than 2.3 km from the asserted location, we would describe that Hotspot as abnormal.
Witness Maker Diversity
The Witness Maker Diversity metric gives the percentage of Hotspots witnessed by the original Hotspot that are produced by different Makers.
When under 15% of the Hotspots being witnessed are made by different Makers, then we would describe that Hotspot as abnormal.
Witness SNR versus RSSI Plot
This graph compares a Hotspot's Signal-to-Noise ratio (SNR) against its Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI). In general, small RSSI values correlate to a low SNR and vice versa.
Witnesses will likely show a more natural, positive correlation over a broad range of RSSI and SNR values.
Witnesses tend to appear 'grid-like' and concentrated within a much smaller range of RSSI (±3bm) and high SNR (+10db).
Hotspot Witness Graph
The graph shows a central Hotspot, the Hotspot’s immediate witnesses, and other witnesses connections within a 10 km range. Each line indicates a witness connection between two Hotspots. Hotspot owners are represented by unique colors, where Hotspots owned by the same Wallet address will be displayed in the same color.
The central Hotspot's witnesses vary with placement and the natural terrain of the area. These witness connections are more random and feature a wider variety of Hotspot owners.
The central Hotspot can only see a specific subset of Hotspots. This is illustrated by a sphere-like containment of Hotspots witnessing only each other but failing to connect outside the containment. There may be less variation of Hotspot owners in an abnormal cluster.
Witness RSSI versus Distance
As the distance between Hotspots increases, the received signal strength (RSSI) decreases due to environmental factors. Signal strength ranges between -136 to -80 dBm, with -90 to -110 dBm is a very strong RSSI (unlikely in real life), while -130 dBm is very weak. Similarly, a high R² value indicates strong correlation and goodness of fit.
A Hotspot's Witness RSSI compared to distance has a weak “fit” seen through the larger deviations from the curve. This results in a low R² value closer to 0.
A Hotspot's Witness RSSI compared to distance has a predictable, strong “fit” with minimal deviations from the curve. This results in a high R² value close to 1, suggesting few effects from environmental factors.
Evaluation Process
Hotspots in a submission are evaluated on a variety of factors. These factors include, but are not limited to Trust Scores, community provided text reasoning, and data found on Crowdspot.io, including graph metrics, Witness Maker Diversity, and Location Confidence.
Submission Status
A submission is given a status to update the community on it’s evaluation progress.
Pending
This is the default state of a submission.
In this state, the Denylist Maintainers are working on evaluating the submission.
Accepted
This state indicates that the submission request has been accepted.
The Hotspots in this submission are either in the Denylist or will be added in the next version.
Declined
This state indicates that the submission request has been declined.
This may happen when Hotspots requested to be added are found to be legitimate or when Hotspots that have been requested to be removed cannot be proven to be legitimate.
Trust Score
Crowdspot will leverage algorithms to increase efficiency and accurately detect gaming Hotspots. Trust Scores will be assigned to every submitted Hotspot to assist in the evaluation.
A Trust Score is a score assigned to Hotspot based on a combination of metrics found on Crowdspot.io. These metrics are primarily graph data and include the Hotspot Witness graph, the Witness SNR vs. RSSI graph, and the Witness RSSI vs. Distance graph.
The Trust Score compares these graph metrics to a sample of known gaming Hotspots from the Denylist, as well as a sample of known legitimate Hotspots, to determine the relative legitimacy of the Hotspot.
Issues Currently on GitHub
Current issues on GitHub will continue to be evaluated. Therefore, if you currently have an issue on GitHub, there is no need to re-submit your request on Crowdspot.io.
While the community will no longer be able to open an issue, Pull Requests will remain on Github with multi-signature verification for the time being.
Hotspots submitted on Crowdspot will be pushed to the Denylist via GitHub.
Removing a Hotspot from the Denylist
If a Hotspot has been added to the Denylist in error, the only method to have it removed is to file a Removal Request using Crowdspot.
Instructions for submitting a removal request can be found on the Denylist Removal Request documentation page.