Many companies nowadays are striving to introduce innovative, cutting-edge solutions into their infrastructure that can improve operational efficiency and increase customer loyalty. One of these innovations is indoor mapping software. The system works based on location tracking and solves a wide range of day-to-day tasks. Using indoor mapping solutions, you can provide a convenient search for objects, track equipment movement, and obtain detailed analytics to optimize the company’s activities.
What is indoor mapping?
Mapping is the process of creating a digital map of buildings to help manage indoor plans An indoor mapping system is an intuitive navigator that allows users to receive data on the real-time location of objects. This information can then be used to locate objects or assets, provide shortcuts to points of interest (PoI), plan emergency exits, and more.
Creating digital maps dramatically simplifies the search for objects that have been lost, or in need of maintenance or repair. The company management can map safe routes in case of an emergency, as well as determine access zones for certain employees.
While conventional maps are just static pictures, digital indoor mapping solutions offer a real-time vision of objects to provide users with a significant interactive experience. You can make changes to the schemes, adjust them according to the needs of users, and update them taking into account ongoing events.
How can the system be implemented?
Digital indoor mapping plays a big role in indoor navigation where GPS doesn’t work. It can be used for commercial buildings, factories, medical and educational institutions. The implementation process of the system begins with collecting data and obtaining detailed information about the space. Typically, digital maps of buildings are built according to 2D drawings, where layouts, sizes, and locations of utilities are clearly indicated.
For digital mapping, off-the-shelf software can be adapted to the needs of a particular company. Full-fledged operation of the software is conducted with special equipment that works based on various technologies – Bluetooth LE, Wi-Fi, etc. Beacons or tags are placed all around the building, allowing you to determine the location of objects and track their movement. The data from these beacons is sent to the server, where it is processed, and then transferred to the user’s smartphone with a pre-installed mobile app.
Key features of the indoor mapping software include:
- Creating digital maps: allows you to develop accurate layouts of buildings in both 2D and 3D.
- Maintaining digital maps: opportunities for regular updates and edits to achieve high accuracy. The system allows you to update the map layout, add info about events or promotions, make changes to publications, and manage indoor location data.
- Analytics: the management can receive information about the customer behavior, and determine their route. Thanks to the analytics instrument, you can conduct a detailed analysis of day-to-day activities at the company and use the obtained information to optimize the working process.
After uploading the drawings into the system, 2D is converted to 3D, which allows you to get three-dimensional images of the buildings. The system successfully works with all smartphones that use iOS or Android and opens up unlimited opportunities to improve the user experience.
How it works & the advantages of digital maps for various industries
To understand in detail all the advantages of digital mapping, we will review its use in various instances – at shopping malls, offices, warehouses, and hospitals.
Retail and shopping centers
Large shopping malls usually house numerous stores, boutiques, and service spaces, which make it difficult for visitors to find the various points of interest (PoI). While static pointers can help with directions, they only partially solve the problem. Customers have to spend a lot of time wandering around the hallways, and this sometimes leads to stress and reduces their desire to shop.
Retail mapping software helps improve mall operations. Its implementation provides many benefits, such as:
- Convenient navigation through the shopping mall: the platform allows for building short routes around the building and quickly getting to the desired points. This makes customers more loyal and encourages them to come back to the store again.
- Creating effective shopping routes: it’s enough for a visitor to set a shopping list in the mobile app, and the system will quickly calculate the best route.
- Attracting additional traffic to the website or mobile app of the mall: access to digital maps is carried out through mobile apps, which allows the management to attract additional traffic. This will enable you to provide more helpful information to visitors so they can choose the right stores and plan their visit accordingly.
- Developing accessible routes: with retail mapping software, you can calculate the most comfortable paths, where elevators and escalators are preferred over stairs. This is crucial for catering to customers with disabilities.
- Improved marketing communications: thanks to indoor mapping, management gets an additional marketing channel for sending personalized notifications and attracting new customers.
Offices and business centers
Like shopping malls, offices usually occupy large buildings with multiple floors and hallways. Oftentimes, they have a confusing layout that doesn’t allow visitors to quickly find the right room. Office mapping software improves navigating business centers and provides the following benefits:
- Improving visitor satisfaction through convenient step-by-step navigation that makes it easier to move around the space and saves time;
- Improved planning for an emergency: creating an evacuation plan, working out available routes, setting up convenient emergency exits;
- Increasing employee productivity by quickly finding the right rooms, creating heat maps, and optimizing working hours;
- Expanding marketing opportunities: collecting visitor data and sending personalized messages about events, available conference rooms, etc.
Warehouses
Companies that own warehouses can use an indoor mapping system to manage and control the movement of goods, equipment, or vehicles. The system allows you to determine the presence of assets, identify their routes, as well as perform analytics of equipment traffic in warehouses.
The expected benefits from indoor mapping solutions include:
- Optimizing logistics at the warehouse;
- Improving staff safety;
- Quickly finding a staff member and adjusting their daily tasks;
- Preventing assets from being taken outside the location;
- Increasing staff productivity.
Hospitals
Using indoor mapping in medical institutions provides improved conditions for patients and makes it easier for them to visit the clinic. When implementing the system at a hospital, you can count on the following benefits:
- Conveniently managing traffic on the territory: indoor mapping software allows for evaluating the location of the building and the ease of access to it, which helps to improve the layout and reduce the number of crowded spaces.
- Ensuring end-to-end navigation for visitors: the system provides routes to points of interest, which improves the quality of service and increases patient loyalty to the clinic. Also, thanks to indoor navigation, you can minimize the stress that navigating the complex layout of a medical facility may cause.
- Developing accessible routes: this feature takes into account the needs of people with disabilities and develops paths that help avoid stairs.
- Creating personalized maps: calculating routes based on the needs of each patient, as well as sending them personalized push notifications about a doctor’s appointment schedule, access to a particular room, etc.
- Reducing missed appointments: the system reminds a patient about their appointment, which minimizes the number of missed or late visits.
- Reducing costs: thanks to the platform, any hospital equipment can be easily found, which saves staff time on searching.
- Asset Tracking: indoor mapping helps control the location of equipment, as well as prevent theft.
A digital indoor mapping solution is a powerful tool that helps companies improve the efficiency of their business processes. If you take full advantage of digital mapping, you can attract more customers and raise the income of your business.