Implementing indoor navigation technology: TechCrunch examples

Our previous materials [ 1 , 2 ] dealt with how the technology of the iBeacon beacons is arranged; now it's time to talk about examples of its implementation. In this material, we picked up and translated articles on indoor navigation projects with TechCrunch: you will learn how and why this technology was introduced at one of the American stadiums and in a large retail network.

Target starts testing beacons in fifty stores and plans to enter the world market next year.

The company Target, which occupies the second place in the list of the largest retail stores in the United States, announced that it is starting to test Beacon technology in 50 stores in the country. With this technology, the company will be able to send recommendations and information about lucrative offers to customers' smartphones (of course, if they agree to this).
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The beacons interact with users who have Bluetooth enabled on their smartphones, and the latest version of the Target app for iPhone is installed.

The application will ask users to “tell” about their location in the store and allow receiving notifications. The company says it will limit their number so as not to overload the customers' phones: you can receive a maximum of two pop-up messages in one visit to the store.

Recommendations are sent in the form of alerts or updates for the Target application, in the latter case they are displayed on the Target Run tab, which is a list of news about special offers (special prices for products, products popular on Pinterest, and much more).

First, Target will test technology in 50 stores located in Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis, New York, Pittsburgh, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle - the stores have been specifically selected in cities with high competition. Based on the data collected and feedback from users, Target plans to improve service and introduce technology in other stores until the end of 2015.

According to TechCrunch, the distribution of technology to the stores of the country will happen by Christmas.

The development of applications for Android.



Some of the participants in the retail market have already begun to test the beacons that track buyers' Bluetooth phones. For example, Simon, a chain of stores, announced last fall that it was going to equip almost 240 shopping centers with beacons.

In September, Macy's network issued a statement about the installation of 4,000 beacons. The GameStop network began using geo-fencing and installed beacons in 36 stores in the second quarter of this year. Lord & Taylor have been using them for a year now.

Beacons allow sellers to conduct marketing with the help of applications installed on customers' smartphones, sending them personalized messages. Consumers very warmly accepted the technology, perhaps because they have control over the situation - they decide whether to disclose their location to them and can turn off either Bluetooth or the alerts themselves.

According to a study conducted in November 2014 by the Swirl marketing platform, 73% of consumers said that Beacon technology increased the likelihood of a purchase.



Target says the technology will be used not only to distribute information about special offers (for example, from the Cartwheel coupon service), but also to provide recommendations to customers (alerts that certain clothing models are now in trend on Pinterest).

In the future, Target plans to expand the functionality of the application, for example, to add sorting of the shopping list while moving around the store - by analogy with navigators who change the route if you turned the wrong way. Another innovation will be the ability to request assistance from Target personnel directly from the phone.

Target says the mobile app collects user preference data. This data will be used only in the store and only to improve the customer experience.

San Francisco Forti Niners use beacons to help you find hot dogs and beer

In November 2014, Aruba Networks , a corporate Wi-Fi provider, officially launched its own beacon network and smartphone app at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, San Francisco Forti Nayners home stadium. Work on the beta version of the complex was carried out for several months, and now, using the Levy Stadium application, the system allows visitors to quickly find outlets, lounges and their seats. You definitely will not get lost.

This is one of the first Indoor navigation systems (indoor navigation) installed in such a large place - the stadium covers an area of ​​172,000 square meters and is designed for 68,000 seats. This project showed us a future where indoor navigation systems will be as accurate as GPS.

In the foreseeable future, Aruba and their software company Meridian plan to add support for pop-up messages about special events that appear depending on the user's location. The developers hope to enrich the user experience and create a complex that will become an indispensable attribute of all modern stadiums.

Beacons can activate special events on the user device. For example, when you enter the zone of one beacon, you receive one message, and when you enter the zone of another - another. Content can be individual for each beacon, which makes it possible to customize their behavior in different parts of the building.

That is why these small devices so turned the sellers. They can help refresh consumer experience in the face of the growing popularity of online commerce, which provides easier access to products. According to Aruba, consumers prefer Bluetooth-based navigation systems to Wi-Fi systems because of their security — smartphone applications are looking for beacons, but beacons are not looking for smart phones.

Jeff Hardison of Aruba / Meridian explained how the system works: after Apple announced that it was using Wi-Fi triangulation (the Indoor navigation technique that Aruba / Meridian was counting on at the time), the two companies decided to use the new Apple iBeacon standards and create your own beacons to fully control the system.

They managed to design two different types of beacons, a new Wi-Fi system and software for remote control. One of the beacons comes with a built-in battery, designed for a half to two years, and the other is a beacon with a USB-connector.

The system in the Levi Stadium is as follows:

• A huge number of Aruba beacons powered by batteries are installed throughout the stadium;
• Installed Wi-Fi-nodes Aruba (covering a much larger area);
• Small USB beacons are inserted into USB ports of Wi-Fi nodes. This allows the battery-powered beacons to directly interact with Wi-Fi nodes;
• Wi-Fi nodes transmit beacon data to the cloud or local controller that manages the entire system;
• The controller sends data to a remote control system, where an IT professional can monitor the status of the beacons: check the battery level, install firmware updates, and so on.

It is important to note that to access all the remote control capabilities, Aruba Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi controllers must be able to control the beacons through physical channels or through the cloud.

Levi Stadium is one large room in which a huge number of beacons are installed. In this case, it makes sense to install the Aruba controller in place (to control the beacons and transfer their data to the cloud and to the management console).

How was the console born?

Aruba has built the hardware of the system independently and from scratch, which cannot be said about the software. A few years ago, TechCrunch wrote that Meridian had created a rather complex console for managing Indoor navigation maps, identifying customers' mobile devices after they were triangulated by Cisco Wi-Fi routers.

For example, consumers could use a smartphone as a navigator to navigate through several Las Vegas casinos. At that time, Wi-Fi triangulation was used for this. The casino could load the blueprints and building diagrams into the Meridian system, which independently processed them and created the maps for the application, eliminating a lot of extra work. On these maps you could see where the Wi-Fi routers are located.

The main difference of the system installed at the stadium is that the new complex uses Bluetooth instead of Wi-Fi, and this is the minimum cost for the building owner. Indoor navigation allows you to quickly find your way to the restroom and beer stalls on the day of the game - this is a real find for both fans and the building owner.

PS Those who wish to connect to the practical side of the topic can take a look at the repositories and documentation Navigine for iOS and Android right here .