Courtesy
GPS has made our lives much more convenient: we do not need to worry about navigation. However, GPS does not work indoors. Once we get into a building, we are on our own. Companies are also less aware of what happens inside their facilities. Oriient, an Israeli startup, developed a software-based method using Earth’s magnetic field to locate cell phones inside buildings. This in effect enables indoor GPS. The company argues that most alternative solutions need new hardware, or have unreliable accuracy. So how does Oriient’s method work? Every building distorts Earth’s magnetic field in its own ways. Oriient would send employees to walk around a specific building and create its map based on the data obtained from smartphone magnetic sensors. Consequently an indoor smartphone can be located based on its magnetic readings, compared against the building’s magnetic map. The accuracy is about three feet. This capabilities can extend to multi-floor buildings. Oriient IndoorGPS capabilities can be integrated into a mobile app through a software development kit (SDK). Then phone users can enjoy indoor navigation and building managers can monitor the traffic in their facilities. For example, customers in a big building may find optimal routes to destinations or products. They may also find their friends and family members in a building. Companies may be able to monitor traffic in real-time and have historical data analysis. In addition, companies can push location-based offers or alerts. Retailers might have location-based games and AR (augmented reality) to make shopping more fun. Oriient sells the navigation capability as an Add-on app to app developers using a monthly incensing model.
Summary
Purpose
To navigate in buildings
Idea
Capture the magnetic map of a building, then use magnetic readings of phone sensors to locate the user
Further Possibilities
1. Crowdsource the task of walking around buildings for creating magnetic maps
2. Build magnetic maps for all buildings
3. Make new building navigation-ready
4. Make the technology robust against additional magnetic field
5. Adapt the technology to underground structures
Questions
1. What are all the location-based services that customers might need?
2. What other services can we create based on the magnetic readings of phones?
3. How else can we use a magnetic map of the Earth?
