Indoor mapping goes beyond simple navigation, offering a host of benefits for facilities. From optimizing operations and enhancing safety to improving accessibility and user experiences, indoor maps have become indispensable tools. With live data integration, sustainability features, and the ability to cater to diverse user needs, indoor mapping is revolutionizing how we navigate and interact with indoor spaces. Morten Brøgger of MapsPeople shares the transformative power of indoor maps for your facility today.
The popularity of indoor mapping is rising. The global indoor location market is expected to generate $24 billionOpens a new window by the end of 2027, up from its current $8.8 billion. But what’s so special about an indoor map? Though once these maps functioned only to show people how to get from point A to point B, the introduction of new technologies has propelled its evolution far beyond mere wayfinding solutions.Â
Sometimes called a digital twin, today’s dynamic modern indoor maps use live data to digitally recreate physical spaces to look and behave like their real-world counterparts in real-time. Since the technology is still relatively new, you may hesitate to implement it in your facilities because of cost concerns, ROI uncertainty, or functionality doubts. To help answer some of your questions, here are five things to consider while planning and creating an indoor map for your space.
1.Purpose
Indoor maps offer dozens of use cases across industries. An indoor map of a complicated college campus enables students and visitors to find tucked-away classrooms. At an airport, it can give real-time ETAs to travelers to help them calculate how much time to budget to reach their gate on time. A hospital’s indoor map indicates the most efficient route to a ward or room. Retail shoppers can find the product they’re looking for quickly and easily. And in an emergency, an indoor map gives first responders an instant overview, similar to a blueprint of the building’s entrances, exits, and pathways.
Before you decide to create one for your facility, however, you should determine the map’s primary purpose. Will it optimize operations, enhance employee experiences, and increase safety or all of the above? Clarifying your map’s purpose helps identify the features it needs and that users will find the most valuable.
2.Data
Speaking of value, the most effective indoor maps collect and combine live data from disparate systems already in place to access real-time visualizations and overviews of your space. Dynamic data integration centralizes information otherwise siloed in individual apps and makes it easier to access and use.Â
Live data keeps your map updated and accurate, no matter how many changes your facility implements. Whether adding a floor while scaling the business or downsizing your physical space because of hybrid or remote workers, live data will capture those modifications. This data also provides insights that can be leveraged to optimize your spaces’ usage, efficiency, and safety.
Manual data updates, from removing old data to adding new points of interest, are time-consuming and costly, especially for organizations in scaling. Each change to maintain the integrity of the map’s design carries a cost, and those expenses quickly add up.
To alleviate some of those costs, consider using a third-party indoor mapping platform that easily integrates with existing systems, scales with your organization, and uses live data.Â
After the initial investment cost, your organization will save money in the long run.
See More: Data Visualization Transforms How Businesses Use Data
3.Sustainability and safety
A seamlessly integrated indoor mapping platform can also help with your organization’s existing safety and sustainability initiatives. For example, the map helps you determine which rooms are most used and which generate little traffic. This information enables you to adjust the temperature and lighting of less frequently used rooms to save energy costs and reduce your organization’s carbon footprint.
A map that updates with real-time data can also inform your facility’s security and safety plans. You can make more data-driven decisions about where to position security personnel by monitoring which areas are most highly trafficked. An indoor map will show the location of emergency equipment like AEDs or fire extinguishers to access them quickly. In the event of a fire or another emergency, your map will also outline the best path to evacuate for those in the building. Indoor mapping can augment your emergency preparedness plans.
See More: How the Cloud Drives Sustainability
4.Accessibility
The U.S. passed the Americans with Disabilities ActOpens a new window (ADA) in 1990. One of its requirements states, “Businesses must provide people with disabilities an equal opportunity to access the goods or services that they offer.â€Â
While many types of disabilities exist and a one-size-fits-all solution rarely fits all, indoor mapping does solve several common accessibility problems. For example, visually or hearing-impaired people who access the map on their personal devices can more easily navigate independently without asking for help.
While the ADA requires public buildings to ensure access to people with limited mobility, sometimes wheelchair-accessible options are hard to find. An indoor map lets users locate ramps, elevators, and fully accessible paths. By improving accessibility, indoor mapping fosters inclusivity and independence.
See More: Things You Should Know About Accessibility
5.User needs
Identifying your map’s users and needs is another component to consider before creating an indoor map for your facility. An indoor map benefits all employees of a large corporate office building by:
- Encouraging collaboration by enabling employees to find colleagues in real-time.Â
- Helping hybrid or new employees less familiar with your office space navigate via wayfinding.Â
- Providing all employees access to a clear overview of the office, open and occupied spaces, and each other.
While searching for an open desk may only take a few minutes a day, over a year, searching can add up to two full weeksOpens a new window . Indoor maps save time by leveraging integrated technologies allowing employees to find and book empty conference rooms for meetings or reserve desk space to work. The map provides specific details about each space, like the number of people a room accommodates, its technology like cameras and speakers for teleconferences, and even environmental features like its current temperature or orientation to the sun.Â
Embrace the Advantages of Dynamic Indoor Maps for Business Success
Though navigation remains an important element of indoor maps, new and emerging technology has elevated them to do much more for employees. Integrating an indoor map into workplace solutions enhances productivity and employee experiences.Â
Considering the technology’s purposes, data integration and insights, sustainability and safety augmentation, accessibility benefits, and user needs, nearly any business could benefit from creating a dynamic indoor map.Â
The implementation of an indoor map for your facility can bring a multitude of benefits. By defining its purpose, integrating live data, enhancing sustainability and safety measures, improving accessibility, and meeting user needs, indoor maps become invaluable assets. Unlocking the potential of indoor mapping streamlines operations and creates a safer, more inclusive, and more productive environment. Embrace this innovative technology and take advantage of its numerous advantages for your facility’s success.
What steps have you taken to revolutionize your facility? Have you considered implementing an indoor map? Let us know on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window . We’d love to hear from you!
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