Indoor positioning technologies are one of the most hot topics around Location-Based Services. We are already good at utilizing location outside, but micro-scale indoor LBS applications are something that will allow to monetize a lot of great ideas e.g. Location-Based Advertising inside malls.  Every university linked with ‘Geo-whatever’ is currently working on indoor positioning. Most ideas are based on WiFi of Bluetooth but  Finish start-up – spinoff from research at the University of Oulu – IndoorAtlas claims to have solved this problem using… compass.

The idea comes from the nature.  Animals such as sea turtles and birds are using changes in the Earth’s magnetic field to determine their locations. Using the same principals, IndoorAtlas has created the algorithm that uses the magnetic fields found inside the structure of buildings to position smartphone through compass. IndoorAtlas says that are able to achieve even 10 centimetres  accuracy, which would be something truly revolutionary. Imagine the you are navigated to product that you are searching with such a proximity.

And it’s not everything. IndoorAtlas is releasing their APIof so-called Indoor Positioning System (IPS) to select third-party developers, with the aim of creating an ecosystem around the technology before its public release. Sounds extremely cool!!!

source: Indooratlas,  The Verge, Trend Hunter