Indoor Navigation System

Introduction

The indoor navigation market is estimated to grow to $4.4 billion by 2019 (Markets and Markets) with strong demand in healthcare, retail, hospitality, travel and other sectors. Today, more than 80-90% of people’s time is spent indoors (Strategy Analytics). Combine that with rising smartphone penetration and changing consumer mobile buyer behaviour, it is no wonder that start-ups and established organizations are quickly looking for ways to provide location-based apps to engage their users indoors. This in turn has increased the number of pilots and deployments of Indoor Navigation Systems (INS) – the underlying technology that enables indoor navigation for location-based apps. INS locate people or objects inside a building using radio waves, magnetic fields, acoustic signals, or other sensory information collected by a smartphone, tablet or other smart devices. Organizations can use INS to develop features for their location-based apps and popular features include;

• Proximity marketing/advertising
• Way-finding/navigation
• Search
• Asset or people tracking

1.Bluetooth Low Energy Beacons(BLE beacons) : are battery powered small devices that transmit a signal in a very small area (usually up to 20 meters/70ft), allowing apps to react to a person’s location within range. They are all about proximity, not exact location.

2.WiFi: For WIFI navigation, the so-called fingerprinting method is used to locate users of wireless networks through their wireless access points. A WIFI navigation system can be used to identify WIFI hotspots, or to locate signals from a particular user device, such as a smartphone. The strength of WIFI signals are significant but in order to achieve 10-meter accuracy with WIFI, many access points need to be installed throughout a venue.

3.Geomagnetic: Modern buildings have a unique magnetic landscape produced by the Earth’s magnetic field that interacts with steel and other materials found in structures of buildings. By utilizing the smartphone’s built-in magnetic sensor (the compass) as well as other sensing technologies, software can pinpoint and track a user’s location indoors to achieve sub-two meters (3-6 feet) navigation accuracy.

The rise of indoor navigation

The survey reveals that the majority of organizations across the globe are adopting INS to deliver location-based apps. Nearly all respondents surveyed have deployed or will deploy INS in the next two years. Specifically, 72% of respondents’ organizations have implemented INS, or are in the process of implementing it. Today 38% of respondents’ organizations have already implemented INS. US organizations are leading the globe, with 43% of respondents’ organizations having implemented it already. The UK (33%) and Asia (33%) are not far behind. The full momentum of INS is even more apparent in the fact that almost all (99%) respondents surveyed say that their organization has or plans to implement INS within the next 24 months. This shows how much INS is set to grow in a relatively short time.

Drivers for implementing INS

Behind the global momentum for deploying INS are a number of drivers that business and marketing decision makers are focused on. The most important are cantered on attracting new customers through proximity marketing and driving sales (both at 55%). Unsurprisingly, the health services sector is most focused on usability of sites (60%), to make venue navigation easier for their patients. Retail organizations are driven to INS by proximity marketing (58%).

Currently, organizations in the UK are the most focused on proximity marketing (63%), more so than in the US (54%) and Asia (49%) counterparts. When asked which location-based app features will be deployed, a wide variety of features were cited. Undoubtedly, the most important feature is proximity marketing (82%), which can be defined as the localized distribution of advertising content within a particular place to a user that wishes to receive them. This can include adverts and offers/coupons to mobile users. Location accuracy is almost unanimously cited as the key technical requirement to make proximity marketing successful.

Types of indoor venue

Of the top five types of venues that organizations are deploying INS in, four are closely linked to the different sectors that respondents were interviewed from. Health services are most likely to deploy INS in hospitals (86%); leisure, travel and transport in airports (70%); and retail in shopping malls (61%).

Conclusion

As organizations search for ways to attract and engage their mobile app users, they need technology to also keep pace. Scalable and accurate INS solutions are desired so that user experience standards are met within timescales and budget. So perhaps the biggest roadblock that exists today is that the majority of respondents are simply not aware of the INS alternatives out there in the market to address their business challenges. So, with real INS options out there today, there is no reason why millions of venues and billions of users across the globe won’t be able to leverage the next generation of location-based apps to enhance their lives and brand experience. With the rate that INS is growing, it will soon become clear to end users’ which organizations have not implemented this technology. Organizations who are not planning to implement INS soon may find themselves falling behind their competitors and losing customers as a result. Similar to how GPS satellites ushered in a new era of personal navigation outside, so too geomagnetic might accelerate the development of INS solutions inside.