Today, HERE, the leading location data and technology platform, announced the launch of its Indoor Map as a one-stop shop for indoor mapping solutions, as businesses are increasingly turning to location technologies to power wayfinding, indoor asset tracking and space usage optimisation. According to the National Human Activity Pattern Survey, 90 percent of the world's time is spent indoors. HERE aims to change that with its Indoor Map, as only a small portion of buildings has been mapped to date.
With Indoor Map as a service, we have launched a one-stop shop for indoor mapping, which includes indoor map data, routing and positioning, all available through the HERE SDK, and is seamlessly linked to our base map. Victor van Dinten, head of indoor parking charging at HERE Technologies, said the easy-to-use solution will enable wayfinding, indoor asset tracking and space usage optimization use cases.
An enterprise-grade indoor map can be generated within a few days, according to the company. Building information can be submitted to HERE in a variety of formats, including PDF, CAD and 3 D lidar point clouds. Indoor maps can be created by HERE or by building owners directly, via an online self-serve content management tool. The maps can be used within the HERE SDK Software Development Kit for integration with HERE Routing, enabling end-to- end wayfinding solutions that bridge the outdoor and indoor environments.
HERE has partnered with Navenio to power HERE Indoor Positioning. Navenio positioning works where GPS does not, drawing on sensors in phones and any existing Bluetooth Low Energy WiFi infrastructure by using sensor-fusion algorithms.
The company says that customers can request 3 D indoor maps of their buildings in high definition for digital twin models, which will be powered by NavVis for HERE Indoor Positioning. The NavVis mobile mapping system uses Lidar laser imaging, Detection and Ranging to generate high-definition point cloud data and capture 360 degree panoramic images. This allows asset inspection, measurements and tagging of individual objects inside a building with millimeter precision. Lidar point clouds can be used to enable visual based localization services and AR experiences that do not require the installation of dedicated infrastructure such as Bluetooth beacons, WiFi or QR codes.