Indoor Navigation On Your Smartphone, Using the Earth's Magnetic Field

MrSeb writes "Researchers from the University of Oulu in Finland has created an indoor navigation system (IPS) that uses the Earth's innate magnetic field to ascertain your position — just like a homing pigeon or spiny lobster. According to IndoorAtlas, the company spun off by the university to market and sell the tech, its system has an accuracy of between 0.1 and 2 meters. The Finnish IPS technology is ingenious in its simplicity: Basically, every square inch of Earth emits a magnetic field — and this field is then modulated by man-made concrete and steel structures. With a magnetometer (compass), which every modern smartphone has, you can first create a magnetic field map — and then use that map to navigate the shopping mall, underground garage, airport, etc. Compared to most other IPSes, which require thousands of WiFi or Bluetooth base stations to achieve comparable accuracy, IndoorAtlas' infrastructure-free approach sounds rather awesome."

Comments

good in theory, bad in practice

[X0563511]

How exactly is one expected to create these maps then? Every time something metallic or magnetic is moved in the vicinity the previous map is now invalid.

Re:good in theory, bad in practice

[John Hasler]

Especially after pranksters start leaving magnets in random places...

BS meter pegged

[frovingslosh]

There is just no way that one would get enough information from a magnetometer to give you the information to do this, any more than a compass in the great outdoors can tell you where you are, it can only tell you headings. Of course, there are all of the other issues that people bring up also, like metal or electrical things moving in the area and changing (effectively randomizing) the minimal information that you have. But to focus on that only ignores the greater problem, any simple vector from a magnetometer (even if it included a vector strength) can't tell you a location in 2D or 3D space. And unless you somehow magically know the correct way to orient your magnetometer when you are holding it, then just moving it as you move through the structure could give you any magnetometer direction at any point.