In this white paper, we outline the day-to-day operational challenges and the deficiencies of today’s monitoring and survey practices. We illustrate how these techniques can be revitalized and empowered by linking the field data with mechanistic models.  We explain the benefits of a GIS-based mechanistic modeling platform: from providing quantitative insights into the CP performance and interference threats up to enabling root cause analysis on ILI anomalies. And last but not least, we detail how such a modeling platform is deployed in practice. Pleasant reading!