Nowadays indoor mapping is experiencing a real revolution. With the development of technologies and data quality improvement, companies get the possibility to perform effective indoor positioning and create indoor maps of buildings with the option of tracking objects in real-time. Using geolocation and installing sensors in definite places, it has become possible to gather any useful information related to what’s happening inside the premises.
The indoor mapping solutions give unlimited opportunities in the sphere of business analysis and marketing. Business representatives receive a powerful analytical tool that allows:
- creating detailed floor plans of buildings;
- obtaining data on object location;
- building routes to certain points;
- tracking movement;
- setting notifications inside buildings.
Tools for creating digital indoor maps
A mapping solution can be based on different technologies and their combinations, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, triangulation, and some other modern systems. Not all of them have the necessary accuracy in localization so mapping often combines them with sensitive technologies, such as heat maps.
The most common systems for implementation are:
- Triangulation – involves creating three checkpoints with the pre-set coordinates that form triangles and are based on the RSS power of the received signal. The method belongs to highly informative ones and, with the appropriate arrangement of points, can define the object location with an accuracy of 5-7 m.
- Footprints - quite a called-up Wi-Fi-based method when data is gathered, saved, and analyzed and then is compared with the data obtained in real-time.
- BLE – one of the most recent ways of indoor positioning based on Bluetooth. It involves installing beacons in different parts of the building for defining the object's location within a certain range. The accuracy of indoor mapping depends on the number of installed beacons and varies on average from 1 to 10 m.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF USING MAPPING SOLUTIONS?
Modern technology of indoor mapping offers a wide range of advantages. Using mapping solutions, one can build maps based on inexpensive and available equipment that doesn’t require professional skills and complex staff training. The system provides companies with many unique opportunities, such as object positioning, analytics of areas, defining “points of interest” in buildings, and developing the most suitable routes.
Object positioning
Thanks to indoor mapping, it is possible to define the best places for locating objects. It plays an extremely important role in such places as airports, railway stations, hospitals, and other buildings with a large number of people. To make use of this possibility, the person has to take his phone and open the application that connects the user’s location with the place of his interest. Such an approach provides some benefits:
- Getting the direct channel of communication with visitors.
- Improving user experience.
- Saving employees’ time.
- Information interaction using location-based notifications.
Searching the most convenient and fastest route
Creating optimal routes between two points is one of the most common functions of the map location software. It can be used in shops, museums, libraries, and other institutions to find objects of interest quickly with the help of the mobile phone. Thus, using the smartphone, the person can easily find the doctor’s room in the hospital or some definite exhibit in the museum. The system allows displaying waypoints on the map.
Analysis of using premises
Gathering information in real-time makes it possible to get exact data concerning the flows of people, understand visitors’ behavior, and find effective channels for attracting users. Such data can be used for personalizing offers and optimizing the arrangement of objects inside premises. Detailed information related to facts and frequency of visiting companies, traffic, waiting time, and other data ensures a better understanding of conversion and also enables taking more productive managerial decisions. Indoor mapping can help to improve user experience and increase the competitiveness of the company.
Defining ‘points of interest’ inside buildings
Thanks to gathering data in real-time, companies can define ‘hot’ points inside buildings. Using the indoor mapping technology in stores or shopping centers, one can get to know where people buy more goods and where less, which allows changing the position of goods and, consequently, raising sales. Knowing the exact location of visitors or objects, it is possible to define where the greatest concentration of people is. In this way, companies can calculate and build alternative routes around the building.
Navigine specializes in developing software for indoor navigation and offers clients the platform for creating services with digital indoor map support.
