Mobile Wayfinding
‘Most Americans can’t imagine leaving home without their mobile phones. Nearly all adults in the U.S. now have cellphones, with one in four having smartphones, pocket-sized devices more powerful than the computers initially used to send men to the moon.
By the end of 2011, Nielsen predicts that the majority of mobile subscribers in the U.S. will have smartphones. With their rich features and capabilities, these devices have been fertile ground for the growth of mobile apps.’ (The State of Mobile Apps by Nielsen)
But what do we use the Smart-Phone for? Click image to enlarge.
August 2010 Survey by Nielsen
As you can see, the Smart-Phone population is very comfortable with using a wayfinding system on their Mobile (#3).
As such, offering an indoor interactive wayfinding system for a Smart-Phone is a safe and sure direction to take. However, since you only reach part of the population, there should be an alternate way for visitors as well to find directions. Adding an On-Site Kiosk/LCD makes the circle complete.
Mobile (Smart-Phone) Indoor Wayfinding:
Method 1: Generate the directions on an online wayfinding application and send the results by text message or e-mail to a mobile phone. While this method provides the user with directions on-sit, it isn’t very flexible. New directions can’t be computed on the smart-phone itself.
Method 2: Generate the directions directly on the phone by selecting your starting point and destination. This solution is more flexible than Method 1 because you can re-enter new starting points and new end-destinations at any time. Semi-automatic and automatic position options so the application knows where you are, are available.
Method 3: Provides real-time Turn-by-Turn indoor directions. Advantage is that the Phone Application always knows where it is and shows your position on the floor plan of the building. Following the directional line will bring you to the predefined destination and if you make a wrong turn, the application will re-calculate the directions and provide you with a new updated directional line. Works much like the Wayfinder GPS in your car.
Emerging Technologies
To provide real-time turn-by-turn indoor wayfinding (navigation) through a Mobile Device such as an Smart-Phone, a couple of high-tech technologies need to work together:
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Data-driven Wayfinding System as high-lighted in “Computing Directions“. The only way to create an application that is manageable, even by the client himself.
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Positioning System. GPS doesn’t work indoors, as discussed in “Indoor GPS?“. Other technologies of indoor positioning are available.
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Phone-Application. The market isn’t clear on this direction, so we face 4 systems out there, being: iPhone, Android, Blackberry and W7.
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