This documentation guides you through the steps of successfully deploying IndoorAtlas technology. The main phases in this process are
- Setup: Signing up and import floor plan images into app.indooratlas.com
- Map: Mapping and optional beacon setup, as well as validating deployment.
- Build: Integrating the SDK into your indoor-location-aware application
Hybrid indoor positioning platform
IndoorAtlas enables accurate cross-platform indoor positioning of smartphones by fusing all available information sources, including
- Geomagnetic fingerprint maps
- Pedestrian Dead Reckoning with gyroscope and accelerometer (IMU sensors)
- Wi-Fi signals
- Bluetooth beacons
- Barometric height information
- In AR mode: Visual-inertial odometry from ARCore/ARKit
In addition to returning the accurate position within a floor plan, the platform handles automatic floor selection and indoor-outdoor detection. The system is highly scalable serving customers around the globe.
On a high level, the system consists of an SDK running on the device, which
- Downloads signal maps including POIs, geofences and Wayfinding graph from IndoorAtlas cloud on-demand i.e. when user goes near a mapped venue.
- Computes the position of the device by matching sensor data against signal maps. No network connection needed after signal maps have been downloaded.
- Computes transformations and locations of the AR objects under the hood, so you can easily render AR POIs and Wayfinding arrows.
The signal maps are generated from data collected by the developer using our Android mapping application, MapCreator 2. To enable mapping, one first needs to upload floor plans into our developer application, https://app.indooratlas.com.
On Android devices, positioning is often infrastructure free, that is, accurate positioning can be achieved using existing Wi-Fi and magnetic features.
However, on iOS, accurate multi-floor positioning can generally only be guaranteed with Bluetooth low-energy (BLE) beacons. The IndoorAtlas platform can utilize any existing beacon installation such as beacons embedded in WiFi Access Points. If no beacons are present, some need to be installed. See our beacon guide for further instructions.
Check also the next section which lists requirements for typical use cases.
The following video demonstrates the typical performance of the system in a shopping mall environment.