Very soon you will never have to ask for directions again. Most phones allow people to find directions immediately anywhere outdoors. The next step of course is to find your way more easily indoors. How often have you been unable to find the right ward of your friend who’s in the hospital? How often have you found yourself engulfed in labyrinthine malls looking for Payless Shoes or the Food Court? Indoor navigation technologies are in the midst of a revolution as developers experiment with various types of location technologies: from wi-fi to radio waves in order to provide reliable and accurate indoor navigation which can make your visits to various structures much less frustrating and more productive.
What follows are the top 5 most anticipated uses for Indoor Navigation:
- Hospitals
Indoor Navigation will not only benefit those who are visiting friends and family in the hospital. In fact, indoor navigation can be essential for guiding patients to their appointments and to the correct offices during semi-emergencies. Also, indoor navigation can help patients locate their cars in the parking lots and it can check patients into their appointments as soon as they pass the threshold of the office door.As for the hospital staff and doctors, indoor navigation can help them locate other staff members and equipment.
- Malls
Indoor navigation can revolutionize the shopping experience as drastically as online shopping did. Retailers will be able to create location-based promotions to better inform their customers. Meanwhile, shoppers will be able to accurately map out their shopping route, find their vehicle more easily, and automatically switch to the store’s app as soon as they walk into the store. For mall management, as more shoppers use indoor navigation, they will be able to have specific data on hi-traffic areas and improve facility management.
- Museums
Considering that museums are frequented by as many locals as foreigners, indoor navigation is optimal for museums. Indoor navigation can provide not only directions but also information to guests in the language of their preference. Also, if visitors are short on time and need to be selective about their exhibit choices, they will be able to use indoor navigation to see how many other people frequent which exhibits, then choose to visit the most frequented exhibits.
- Subway Systems
Certain subway systems are notoriously difficult to navigate, especially so if you're a foreigner who don't speak the language. Again, indoor navigation enhances the experience of the travellers by giving them not only a heads up about which tunnels, turn-styles, stairs, elevators, etc they should take – but all in their native language. This would remove signage as a barrier to traveler’s orientation within the sprawling subway systems of those of Beijing or Seoul.
- Industrial Buildings
Indoor navigation will be indispensable for the future of industrial buildings. It will allow new workers to be oriented more quickly and for various departments to coordinate with each other more efficiently. Also, managers will be able to track the arrival and departures of various goods.
A feature of our modern world has been the increasing complexity of our infrastructure. Thus, it should come as no surprise that indoor navigation will emerge as an indispensable tool in our daily lives.