Dutch location data and technology platform Here announced at last week’s CES in Las Vegas an indoor map-as-a-service offering.

With an estimated 90% of people’s time spent indoors, businesses are turning to location technologies to power wayfinding, indoor asset tracking and space use optimisation. Yet only a small fraction of buildings have been mapped to date.

Indoor map-as-a-service aims to change that.

An enterprise-grade indoor map can be generated by Here within days. Building information can be submitted in various data formats, including PDF, CAD and 3D lidar point clouds.

Once the indoor maps are produced, they can be updated by Here or by building owners directly, via an online self-serve content management tool. The maps can be used within Here’s SDK (software development kit), for seamless integration with Here Routing, enabling end-to-end wayfinding that bridges the outdoor and indoor environments.

Here has partnered with UK software company Navenio to power the indoor positioning. By using sensor-fusion algorithms, Navenio positioning works where GPS does not, drawing upon sensors in smartphones and any existing Bluetooth Low Energy or wifi infrastructure.

The initial setup can be done quickly, leveraging crowdsourcing technology to build and constantly maintain the signal map.

Users can request 3D indoor maps of their buildings in high definition for digital-twin models. This capability is powered by German software firm NavVis. The NavVis mobile mapping system uses lidar to generate high-definition point cloud data and capture 360-degree panoramic images. This enables asset inspection, measurements and tagging of individual objects inside any building with millimetre precision.

The lidar point clouds can also enable visual based localisation services and AR experiences that do not require the installation of dedicated infrastructure, such as Bluetooth beacons, wifi or QR codes.

In a proof of concept last year, the Swiss railway operator Schweizerische Bundesbahnen (SBB) deployed AR-based navigation to help users navigate around stations and find the most efficient transport connections. Here provided its SDK which included NavVis’ visual positioning capability and a digital twin of Zurich’s central train station.

“It’s a common scenario,” said Bruno Mario Lochbrunner, mobility intrapreneur at SBB. “We hop off our train at a station we’re not familiar with and have to search for the tram, buses or the nearest taxi stand. Precise indoor mapping like those offered by Here and NavVis will make this a problem of the past. Accurate indoor mapping is also a great help to our teams using visual positioning to manage their assets – such as escalators, lamps, bins – as efficiently as possible. We are very impressed by the accuracy and reliability of this technology.”

Victor van Dinten, head of indoor parking and charging at Here Technologies, added: “With indoor map-as-a-service, we have launched a one-stop shop for indoor mapping that includes indoor map data, routing and positioning, all available through the Here SDK, and seamlessly connected with our base map. With this easy-to-use solution, we look forward to enabling wayfinding, indoor asset tracking and space usage optimisation use cases.”