Indoor Navigation Nick Farina , CTO Meridian www.meridianapps.com - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Overcoming the Challenges of

Indoor Navigation

Nick Farina, CTO Meridian

www.meridianapps.com

Wednesday, April 4, 12

Hi, my name is Nick Farina, and I’ll be talking about some lessons learned building indoor navigation apps.

Agenda

• Why indoor navigation?
• User Interface
• The “Blue Dot”
• Content Management

Wednesday, April 4, 12

@nfarina / meridianapps.com

Who am I?

Wednesday, April 4, 12

• I’ve been building location-based mobile apps for ten years.
• Created “Explorer,” the first widely-available “indoor GPS” app for mobile.
• Co-founder of Meridian.

@nfarina / meridianapps.com

Why Indoor Navigation?

Wednesday, April 4, 12

@nfarina / meridianapps.com

Why Indoor Navigation?

• User Expectations are changing
• Visitors prefer using their smartphones
• “You should do this at Home Depot!”

Wednesday, April 4, 12

@nfarina / meridianapps.com

Why Indoor Navigation?

• User Expectations are changing
• Visitors prefer using their smartphones
• “You should do this at Home Depot!”
• Retail: Powell’s Books, indoor

navigation increased sales by $$$$$

Wednesday, April 4, 12

@nfarina / meridianapps.com

Why Indoor Navigation?

• User Expectations are changing
• Visitors prefer using their smartphones
• “You should do this at Home Depot!”
• Retail: Powell’s Books, indoor

navigation increased sales by $$$$$

• Museum: AMNH, navigate through enormous

exhibit space; 90% would use again

Wednesday, April 4, 12

@nfarina / meridianapps.com

User Interface

Wednesday, April 4, 12

@nfarina / meridianapps.com

User Interface

• Outdoor navigation apps work the same everywhere.
• Focused on finding a known “Point B” then taking you there.

Wednesday, April 4, 12

@nfarina / meridianapps.com

User Interface

• Outdoor navigation apps work the same everywhere.
• Focused on finding a known “Point B” then taking you there.
• Indoor, requirements change depending on location.
• At the airport, you’ll want Gate B3, but how do

you know which gate you want?

• No One-Size-Fits-All UI.

Wednesday, April 4, 12

@nfarina / meridianapps.com

Bookstore Hospital Office

Find Sections Find Departments Find Conference Rooms Find Books Find Doctors Find Empty Rooms

(and reserve one!)

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Taking the airport example further, we can easily imagine how “labels on a map” are not suffjcient for most places. You must integrate with local data and APIs. We’ve worked with all these places and they have now released open APIs for anyone to integrate with.

@nfarina / meridianapps.com

The Blue Dot

Wednesday, April 4, 12

@nfarina / meridianapps.com

GPS Accelerometer/ MEMS Wifi Proximity Camera Microphone

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There are lots of sensors on modern devices, lots of “labs” demos using camera and bluetooth, etc. But the only practical, widely-supported solutions today use Wifi for indoor positioning.

@nfarina / meridianapps.com

Wifi Triangulation!

• Most buildings already have wifi!
• Software on phone scans for known access points and

inspects signal strength.

• Wifi environment must be known ahead of time.

Wednesday, April 4, 12

Wifi seems straightforward at first - run some software on your phone to scan for known access points, determine signal strength and calculate position using triangulation.

@nfarina / meridianapps.com

Client-side Wifi Solutions

Google Skyhook WiFiSLAM Qubulus InFix Wifarer Ekahau Locata Walkbase RedPin Point Inside

Android Only!

Wednesday, April 4, 12

Since it’s software-only, lots of startups and big companies are competing in this space, writing some really advanced algorithms. The downside is that these solutions only work on Android - more specifically, they *don’t* work on iOS.

@nfarina / meridianapps.com

The Apple Situation

• Apple doesn’t allow “wifi scanning.”
• The API exists, but is considered “private.”
• Your app will probably be rejected for using it!
• iPhone 4S introduced Bluetooth 4.0 (low power).
• This may be their indoor strategy?
• Low-cost battery-powered beacons can be scattered

throughout a space.

Why do we care about iPhone? Because they account for 70% of our downloads.

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iOS doesn’t allow developers to scan for wifi networks.

@nfarina / meridianapps.com

Infrastructure-side Wifi Solutions

• In Soviet Russia, building scans you.
• Instead of the client (smartphone) doing the work of

scanning and triangulating, have the building’s wifi network do it.

• The app simply asks the network where it is. (This is

how AMNH works)

• This is the hardware business. These solutions work

well today, if you can afford them!

Wednesday, April 4, 12

@nfarina / meridianapps.com

Accuracy

• Wifi-based solutions are not as accurate as they

sometimes claim.

• These technologies were not designed for
• positioning. Newer chips are getting better.
• Today, always design for worst-case “room

level” accuracy.

• Use text labels with contextual cues.
• Make sure the user can easily self-correct.

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Lots of wifi-positioning companies will claim “X meters accuracy!” But the reality is always more complex.

@nfarina / meridianapps.com

Content Management

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@nfarina / meridianapps.com

Locations Need Control

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The most reliable wayfinding solutions must allow the location to keep their data current. Things change in the space; at the History Museum, they close down various rooms for events and construction every day. If you give bad directions to the user even once, they won’t trust you with directions again. Must provide locations with a CMS; make it easy for non-geeks to use!

@nfarina / meridianapps.com

Summary

• Indoor navigation is the next logical step.
• Lots of companies racing to make it happen.
• Exciting space to play in; go make some awesome apps!

If you need some help, check out our Meridian platform.

Wednesday, April 4, 12

@nfarina / meridianapps.com

THANKS!

Nick Farina, CTO Meridian

www.meridianapps.com

Wednesday, April 4, 12