AT A GLANCE

• 2D/3D building maps

• indoor navigation

• geo- and time-based push notifications

PROBLEM DEFINITION

Every day, people who are not familiar with the buil-ding but nevertheless need to quickly find a cer-tain room move about in a court of law. In historical buildings, orientation is made difficult by the angled design and in modern buildings by a high degree of equality between the areas. Especially those who are directly involved in a procedure are under time pres-sure. In addition, a large number of visitors want to find the right space during public negotiations. Late or searching persons always cause inefficiency, unrest and above all costs.

SOLUTION

An indoor navigation helps those involved in the pro-cess and visitors to identify the right room in advance and find their way there. In combination with a mobile app, Bluetooth beacons help to locate the user‘s loca-tion, guide him to his chosen destination and redirect him if he takes the wrong path. They can also view the cafeteria menu, upcoming negotiations and appoint-ments, for example. In addition, such a solution of-fers the possibility to search for a destination using keywords. When selecting the desired destination,a possible route from the current position is displayed. An additional option for the navigation app is the integration of an employee login, which can be used to suggest shorter routes for navigation, including restric-ted areas for visitors.

TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons are installed throughout the entire area. For navigation purposes, a mobile device receives Bluetooth signals from the beacons and uses the signal strength measurement for localization. This requires an app. A back channel is used for sending geo- and time-based push notifi-cations to the user’s smartphone. These can include appointment reminders, welcome messages when entering the building, and information on appointment changes. Using the app, users can follow turn-by-turn directions that navigate them directly to their desired destination. There is also a filter option for displaying barrier-free routes.In addition, the digital building map can be integrated into a digital signage system (multi-touch kiosk/inter-active terminal).Optionally, the gathered data can also be sent to the infsoft LocAware platform®, where it is intelligently processed.