IndoorPositioning
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Google indoor maps comes to the UK, helps commuter meet pasty in record time
If you're forever getting lost looking for Barratts, or feeling faint hunting down a Greggs to fill your mall-explorer's belly, then Google Maps to the rescue. Mountain View's already made it clear it doesn't want walls to get between you and its mapping of the world, and now those hungry Android-using indoor Britons can get in on the action. There's only a hair over 40 venues covered right now -- a mix of museums, stations, malls and airports in the main -- and most of them in London. With building owners being able to upload their own maps, however, this should / could expand quickly. Good news either way, though if you can get lost at London Bridge Station, then no amount of maps will likely help.
Broadcom extends fiber reach with BroadLight acquisition, intros new location architecture
Here's a question: did Broadcom get a 50 percent discount for acquiring a company that already had "Broad" in the name? Hard to say at this point, but regardless of semantics, the aforesaid company has snapped up BroadLight in a bid to extend its fiber access portfolio. In lay terms, it's hoping to use BroadLight's inroads to roll out next-gen fiber networks across the globe -- perhaps even through the arctic. In semi-related news, Broadcom has also chosen today to reveal a new location architecture, which will reportedly provide "more responsive outdoor and indoor positioning capabilities for smartphone devices." The new system opens the door for even more indoor GPS locks, and it relies on a minty fresh Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) chip that "significantly reduces time-to-first-fix (TTFF) for outdoor positioning applications." The full deets on both can be found in the source link, but sadly there's no word on when the fancy new positioning tech will meander into your next handset.
Nokia links up with Bluetooth 4.0 for indoor positioning, because anything Google can do, it can do better
Not to be outdone by the mobile mammoth that is Google, Nokia's prepping its own version of indoor maps for wireless users. Rather than run the risk of being a me too! product, Espoo's Research labs have chosen Bluetooth 4.0 as the main ingredient for its in development location service. The Finnish company's hoping to get a slew of partners onboard so it can begin outfitting retail shops, malls and other well-trodden public spaces with inexpensive antenna arrays that would track a user's movements via device-embedded Bluetooth tags. But indoor positioning for mobile-wielding users isn't the only endgame here, as the tech could also find its way into shopping carts -- useful for gathering analytics on consumer habits. It's certainly a privacy trade-off, but by now you should be well comfy with the notion that digital convenience always comes at a cost. Hit up the source below to take a peek at the proposed equipment.
Google Maps 6.0 hits Android, adds indoor navigation for retail and transit
Google's already put its stamp on the great outdoors, what with its Street View fleet chronicling the well-trodden ways of our world for Maps. Which is precisely why Mountain View's turning its attention inward for that next, great navigation innovation, as it attempts to chart a course through the wilds of indoor spaces. Hitting the Android Market in the U.S. and Japan today, the company's ever-popular app gets a full version bump to 6.0, bringing with it the inclusion of retail and airport floor plans. The newly added indoor maps don't quite offer the turn-by-turn navigation you've come to know and depend upon (that's outside-only for now), but the provided layouts should help usher you along to the nearest bathroom, clothing shop or elevator. There's no fancy equipment at use, either. All of your positioning information is culled from the same set of data (including GPS) used for "My Location," although here it's been optimized to detect movement along the z-axis. What does that mean for you, dear end user? Try a nifty feature called "Automatic Floor Detection" that'll keep track of your progress as you move about from escalator to escalator. Google's also endeavoring to extend its indoor reach, opening up its mapping inventory with a self-service tool (currently in beta) that'll allow business owners to upload floor plans directly to Maps. If you're itching to test the tech out, you'll want to find yourself at one of the dozen-plus airport partners scattered across the country, in addition to transit hubs and major retail outlets both stateside and in Japan. Familiar commercial forces like Macy's and Takashimaya have opted-in to the indoor location service, but your best bet's going to be IKEA -- which has agreed to roll the feature out to all of its stores nationwide. So, whether you're rocking Android 2.1 or the forward-facing 4.0, prepare to let your Googlefied smartphone almost always be your guide. Follow past the break for additional shots and a video demo of the indoor geo-location in action.
SK Telecom's Smart Cart syncs to phones, reminds you to buy milk
Familiar with this scenario? You put off grocery shopping until the weekend, curse your way through the irate Sunday morning hordes, and then schlep your food all the way home only to realize you forgot to buy dish soap and use those coupons. Good thing, then, that SK Telecom is trialing a new service that syncs items from a smartphone app -- like a shopping list -- to its tablet PC-equipped Smart Cart. Hailed by the company as the first of its kind, this real-time aide uses indoor positioning to provide product info, tips and discounts while you peruse those crowded aisles. The WiFi-connected in-cart display also makes use of augmented reality, offering coupon clippers a high-tech solution for their cost-cutting predilections. If the current pilot test in China's Shanghai Lotus Supermarkets proves a success, expect to see this "personalized smart shopping service" doling out recommendations based on purchase history and location. Hear that? That's the sound of marketers licking their hyper targeting chops. Full PR is after break.
Meijer deploys indoor positioning trial, helps you find the Morton Salt faster
Indoor positioning systems have long been a holy grail for malls and big-box retailers where labyrinthine aisles and massive floorplans that rival small towns often leave customers begging for mercy, but the obstacles to deploying them are many: you've got to create detailed maps for every facility where you want it to work, and you need some sort of system for locating users with a reasonable level of precision since GPS is out of the picture. Start-up Point Inside has been hard at work on IPS for some time now, figuring that modern stores and malls teeming with WiFi access points and reliable AGPS are good enough to make it work, and now they've hooked up with Midwestern superstore chain Meijer to trial a system in four Michigan locations that will let users locate "more than" 100,000 items in store along with facilities like bathrooms and customer service. Conveniently, these stores have some 26 WiFi nodes deployed, which helps triangulate users down to a reasonable level of precision -- though it's probably not going to be able to tell if you're standing in front of the Frosted Flakes or the Raisin Bran. It's a free download for iPhone and Android users, and if you're close to one of the trial stores, be sure to let us know how well it works. Follow the break for the full press release.
Rosum's Alloy chip promises 'precise' location using TV signals
Though plenty of firms (including some big ones) have been trying to commercialize consumer-facing indoor positioning technologies for years, none have succeeded on a wide scale -- which certainly seems to leave the door wide open for a system that actually works to be wildly successful, doesn't it? Rosum has been toying with the idea of using plain old TV signals to accurately locate people and objects within GPS-hating structures for years, and with today's launch of its so-called Alloy system with partner Siano, the company could be closer to wide-scale deployment. Basically, Alloy combines AGPS (for maximum precision outdoors and in marginal areas) with support for a variety of types of TV signals to enhance coverage and provide <150 meter accuracy even in the deepest, darkest, dankest corners of your home where traditional GPS would never dream of going. What's more, Rosum touts that TV positioning is several orders of magnitude more power-efficient than AGPS, music to the ears of anyone who's struggling to get a full day's battery out of their phone. They're sampling chipsets beginning this month, but don't expect it in handsets right away -- Rosum's primary target appears to be femtocell makers. The devices traditionally require GPS reception, requiring unsightly remote GPS antennas if you're not interested in balancing the cell on a window sill, so a technology like this should let you properly bury that network extender behind a bookshelf where it belongs. Follow the break for Rosum's press release.
Nokia's Kamppi Trial succeeds at indoor positioning, gets shelved anyway (video)
Sure, GPS can get you to the mall, but can it route you from the Bon Ton down to Penney's? Not so much. Indoor navigation is still generally a paper map reliant affair, something Nokia attempted to do away with at the Kamppi Shopping Center in Helsinki. The service, also called Kamppi, relied on wireless LAN to position people within the complex, meaning anyone with an S60 handset with WiFi could simply browse to kamppi.nokia.mobi, see their current position, locate their friends, and find their way around as shown after the break. 15,000 people tried it out successfully over the summer and so the service is receiving a fitting send-off: it's been "archived." Nokia is pledging to use the tech in future products, but we expect to be reliant on those giant, obelisk-mounted maps for many years to come.
Nokia hard at work commercializing indoor positioning systems
How'd you like to be able to make a bee line straight for the ketchup in the Mega Mart without having to walk down thirteen aisles first in a frustrating process of trial and error? Yeah, Nokia feels you, which is why it's working on developing an indoor positioning system that's robust enough to use -- and easy enough to set up -- to be commercialized. The company apparently already has some 40 buildings worldwide set up with trial systems, and it's working on a commercial trial with a Helsinki mall that'll go live later this year with the goal of figuring out how such a system could generate cold, hard cash. We wouldn't expect this to go big any time soon, but for what it's worth, there's talk of dropping a build of the client on Nokia's own Beta Labs at some point in the future.
