2 Innovative Ways for Mapping Indoor Locations Precisely

Two remarkably different and innovative approaches to pin down indoor location, both profiled in “Innovator” section of Bloomberg Businessweek – both are leveraging Smartphones but in uniquely different ways:

Mapping the Great Indoors

Janne Haverinen is using Magnetic Fields in combination with in built compass. The software is called IndoorAtlas and uses the device compass along with the proprietary indexing of magnetic fields. Downside – each location, each store needs to be surveyed & mapped to capture the magnetic field information. [Wonder if IndoorAtlas could crowd-source that effort?]

Rewarding Shoppers With a Silent Signal

Aaron Emigh is using the Microphone in your smartphone to capture frequencies that are generated in the store but cannot be heard by humans. He runs Shopkick – helping Retailers connect with Shoppers. The technology though may not be able to guide aisle to aisle which could be possible using the Magnetic Field method that Jaane is using. Stores need to be setup with generating the frequencies.

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