Indoor Positioning App

A system was created with the aid of networking devices to help users navigate inside places from their current location to a destined point of interest.

This solution makes use of technology different from traditional GPS navigation. It helps in locating underground areas as well.

Country United States of America
Service GIS
Industry Multiple
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Process Followed

A successful application is one that genuinely resolves the problem of the targeted audience. To sort out indoor navigating issues among users, we followed a rigorous approach of developing an effective indoor positioning app that accurately traces inside places and also the areas which are in close proximity. The process included product identification, feasibility study, solution implementation, challenges and eventually getting the end result.

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
FEASIBILITY STUDY
SOLUTION IMPLEMENTATION
CHALLENGES
FINAL OUTCOME

Problem Identification

Almost everyone on earth seeks the help of GPS navigation to locate unfamiliar places. However, many often face a hard time finding areas that are in close range. Let's say a meeting room in an office. It was important to develop such an app that would be useful in locating people or objects inside buildings.

Navigate close proximity areas in the building.
Advance GPS navigation technology.
Fetching location using Bluetooth-enabled iBeacon.
Navigate from the user’s current location to a destined point of interest.

Feasibility Study

A server-based solution was required to provide users with information on POIs (points of interest) over the map on a mobile device. This map-reading technology also leads the user to navigate from their current location to a preferred POI. An elevated reality technology was called for to create a comprehensive indoor map solution.

Showing current user location over the map inside a premise/ building.
Implementing POI based upon categories/ subcategories.
Creating the shortest possible route for the selected location.
Featured voice command to direct users to the chosen destination.

Solution
Implementation

User research

After figuring out the project requirements and solution insight, it was time to get the evaluation done by those who are going to use the application. We surveyed to get the nous of the users in which we put a question about difficulties faced by them in locating inside places. We also inquired if they have used any indoor positioning app to locate nearby places and what features they miss in those applications.

Product discovery workshop

It is important to develop the solution keeping the needs of the client and target audience in mind. An application undergoes an extensive method of amassing requirements, implementation, and integration. When your customer approaches you to develop any application, there are always a few things that they ought to know. Therefore, to avoid any confusion it is better to have a pre-app-development discussion with your client.

For that, we arranged a meeting to discuss the solution with our client that mainly involved the discourse of technical manpower requirements, and features of the application and demonstrated the insight of the users we surveyed. This helped us in getting clearance if we are on the right track to develop an app that meets the expectations of the client as well as our users.

Competitor Analysis

If you are into a similar business, it becomes necessary for you to make yourself aware of the strengths and weaknesses of potential competitors. There are many software development companies that have developed inside navigating solutions and it was our accountability to figure out what those solutions lack so that we can succeed in those areas and be prominent with our product.

Sample interview questions

What are the features you’re looking to integrate into your mobile app that will be beneficial for users to navigate inside places?

How do you think the Bluetooth-enabled “iBeacon” feature will help in fetching the location for users in an easy way?

What business objectives are you going to achieve through this mobile app?

Can you summarize the idea of the application you want us to develop in just a few sentences?

What technology stack do you want us to use for frontend and backend development of the app?

Do you have any reference app (can be a competitors app as well) in your mind which works similar to your requirement?

The Challenges

There is a flip side to everything. Where an app development is room to maneuver, it also involves many inquests, problems, and complications. This part, for developers, is known as a challenge.

Swiping multiple images on mobile when they arrived from SDK.
Providing a new and correct path when a user follows a wrong path.
Identifying the current challenges of indoor LBS.
Overlapping of POIs sometimes.
Make availability of up-to-date indoor maps.
To manage privacy concerns associated with location data.

Final Outcome

After taking good note of the other similar applications available in the market and getting the drift of the problems faced by our development team, we captured requirements, presented customers with wireframes/ static, and developed a native and hybrid indoor positioning application.

Adding modules like displaying POIs over the map.
Searching a POI with various filters of categories and subcategories.
Display route navigation for differently-abled.
Seamless integration of GUI on top of existing SDK.
In-App Push notifications, Alerts, Images and Videos of POIs.
High data accuracy for an end-to-end operation.
Flexibility to cancel a route with alerts to the wrong route.

Information Architecture

Technology Stack

Google Maps

Swift

Java

It is a genuine app that navigates at its best. It was difficult for me to locate the venue for my office meeting and then this application came as a savior. Love this app.

Anonymous CTO

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Indoor Positioning App