  The topology of base stations (BSs) in cellular networks, serving as a basis
of networking performance analysis, is considered to be obviously distinctive
with the traditional hexagonal grid or square lattice model, thus stimulating a
fundamental rethinking. Recently, stochastic geometry based models, especially
the Poisson point process (PPP), attracts an ever-increasing popularity in
modeling BS deployment of cellular networks due to its merits of tractability
and capability for capturing nonuniformity. In this study, a detailed
comparison between common stochastic models and real BS locations is performed.
Results indicate that the PPP fails to precisely characterize either urban or
rural BS deployment. Furthermore, the topology of real data in both regions are
examined and distinguished by statistical methods according to the point
interaction trends they exhibit. By comparing the corresponding real data with
aggregative point process models as well as repulsive point process models, we
verify that the capacity-centric deployment in urban areas can be modeled by
typical aggregative processes such as the Matern cluster process, while the
coverage-centric deployment in rural areas can be modeled by representative
