Waypoints are locations on the floor plan that you'll use as check-in points when you do the fingerprinting. While you are walking and recording the sensor data using the MapCreator application you'll use the waypoints as intermediate target locations – once you reach a waypoint of your choosing, you'll check into the waypoint. In this way, you'll tell the MapCreator your exact location which helps the system estimate your accurate walking path along which the sensor data has been recorded. 

You can choose freely where you place the waypoints on the floor plan. Usually, it's a good idea to place waypoints near the salient features on the floor plan. It helps you to recognize the waypoint location accurately in the physical world while you are doing the fingerprinting. Examples of good waypoint locations are shown below. Note that you need a good quality floor plan to make the match between the physical world and floor plan features. As the floor plans in IndoorAtlas are only used for fingerprinting, you can easily adopt later different floor plan images for your final application to provide the best possible user experience.

In large-scale deployments, it's a good practice to place the waypoints on the floor plans at app.indooratlas.com before the fingerprinting with the MapCreator. Then,  when you are on-site, you can add, remove, and modify the waypoints by using MapCreator to make your waypoint plan match the physical reality inside the venue.

Some landmarks are natural waypoint locations as you can typically recognize them from both the floor plan and the physical venue. Some typical landmarks are listed below

• Pillars
• Corners
• Entrances and doorways
• Stairs and escalators
• Elevators
• Fixed benches
• Walls

Other physically recognizable waypoint locations can also be

• Floor details such as tilings
• Ceiling details such as pipes and cables
• Crossing corridors
• Fire extinguishers

The idea is to place the waypoints close to these landmarks (typically from 0.5m to a few meters) to help you consistently check in accurately to the waypoints while you are using the MapCreator in the physical venue

• Place waypoints close to locations that are easily recognizable within the physical venue
• Keep distances between waypoints practical – a good rule of thumb is from 5m to 20m
• Keep the fingerprinting paths between waypoints simple and smooth, i.e., no zigzag walks
• Think of the waypoints as natural check-in points along your walking path
• Reuse the waypoints, i.e., you'll typically check in to the same waypoints multiple times.