Nokia planning Indoor Positioning - bit-tech.net Forums

Tim S · 24th Sep 2008, 12:49

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/09...-positioning/1

Finnish mobile giant Nokia is working on an indoor analogue to the Global Positioning System dubbed Indoor Positioning.

ChaosDefinesOrder · 24th Sep 2008, 13:12

while gimmicky, I can definitely see a real world application for this in places like supermarkets - it's frustrated me many a time when things get moved around in stores so the thing I'm looking for is the other side of the store from where it used to be!

Seeing as it's Nokia and their most recent phones have data matrix decoders pre-installed on their most recent handsets, the stadium (or theatre) side of things could have the seat position encoded on the ticket, then read off on the handset to give directions tied in with this system...

whisperwolf · 24th Sep 2008, 13:21

I can sort of see this turning people's homes into a sort of old text based adventure game

"you are in YOUR LOUNGE. There are exits to the north (kitchen), east (hall). you see a TV, xbox and a snarling monster (Mother in Law)."

theevilelephant · 24th Sep 2008, 13:48

hmm, im guessing something using fixed wifi signals and digital building map as a sort of gps system?

will. · 24th Sep 2008, 13:48

Finally, I will never get lost on the way to my bathroom ever again!

ChaosDefinesOrder · 24th Sep 2008, 14:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by whisperwolf

I can sort of see this turning people's homes into a sort of old text based adventure game

"you are in YOUR LOUNGE. There are exits to the north (kitchen), east (hall). you see a TV, xbox and a snarling monster (Mother in Law)."

"You have been eaten by a Grue (cat) Game Over"

mclean007 · 24th Sep 2008, 14:18

I hope it's better than the GPS in the N95 - my N95 8GB is absurdly slow (up to 2 minutes) to lock on, even in open outdoor spaces. It will rarely lock at all if I'm moving, which is really frustrating, as I have to stand there looking like a proper plum waiting for it to lock before I can get on the move. Normally keeps locked on once it gets a lock though. How do you find yours Gareth?

Gareth Halfacree · 24th Sep 2008, 14:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by mclean007

How do you find yours Gareth?

Mine's pretty good - sub-30 second lock, although that's with A-GPS and network assist enabled. Interestingly, I've noticed that Google Maps has a better time getting a lock than Nokia Maps - to the point that I'll often load Google Maps so that the GPS cache has an entry in it before exiting and starting the Location Tagger application.

Mine's the 8GB, too - which firmware are you running? 20.0.0.16 (from memory) introduced some GPS fixes, and there's a new one out (30.0.0.something) - dunno what that offers, though.

Langer · 24th Sep 2008, 14:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChaosDefinesOrder

"You have been eaten by a Grue (cat) Game Over"

Nuh-Uh... I brought my light.

Personally I wouldn't give you 1 zorkmid for this technology.

mrb_no1 · 24th Sep 2008, 14:58

just to add to what gareth and mclean are talking about. A mate of mine had a n95 and gps was turd until firmware updates and nokia software updates were applied, it then became a very usable tool that considering it was a mobile phone imo rivalled dedicated sat navs in cars.

i use googlemaps on my iphone3g and provided signal is strong from 02, then it works really well, otherwise it suffers from a delayed update.

as for the news, nifty app but will feature limited use until loads of buildings have been added.

peace

fatman
peace

metarinka · 24th Sep 2008, 16:04

nifty app I could see it's uses for things like malls and college campuses that have large buildings with many floors. Not too hard to coordinate this with other phones so that you could find your friends at a party or bar.

Cupboard · 24th Sep 2008, 17:32

I can see a problem with multiple floors but this could be really useful. If you were in a shopping centre around lunchtime, and the phone "knew" you hadn't had lunch then it could start showing special lunch offers

Gareth Halfacree · 24th Sep 2008, 19:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cupboard

If you were in a shopping centre around lunchtime, and the phone "knew" you hadn't had lunch then it could start showing special lunch offers

It wouldn't surprise me if location-sensitive advertising was what Nokia had in mind when it talks about "commercial tests" in Helsinki.

B3CK · 25th Sep 2008, 01:29

I kinda doubt this would take the approach of, where an item would be located in a store. Even if the store owners got the service of adding their inventory in for free, (customers tagging); they wouldn't want it as most stores spend way too much time/revenue in organizing their stores to optimize impulse buys.
Kinda the same way the app for the new android os "go cart" can help to locate an item your vicinity by just looking at a barcode with your camera, in store location probably wouldn't be viable. While, finding the store this way, and pricing can be extremly helpful, in store directions just don't seem to be very helpful, other than say a superstore that might tell you what area to find it in, ie apperal, organics, beer/wine.
But I do like the ability to find other phones, ie track the kids down. Also would be very helpful for finding what side of the mall to park on for easy access to store "X".
Or casino mapping to find where slots are, bathrooms, showrooms. Or even large convention centers to find the "blue" room would be helpful as well, but then that's what the employee lackeys are for right?

Amon · 25th Sep 2008, 03:38

I wouldn't permit the mapping of my buildings if I were a business owner. I'd half-hazard a guess that many others wouldn't, either.

johnmustrule · 25th Sep 2008, 06:49

Society progresses, yet all we can think of is how to enable stupid people.

Gareth Halfacree · 25th Sep 2008, 07:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amon

I wouldn't permit the mapping of my buildings if I were a business owner. I'd half-hazard a guess that many others wouldn't, either.

Interesting. Why, pray tell?

I'm thinking here specifically of shopping centres - which, in every one I've been to, have a floor plan posted at regular intervals. I'm also thinking of airports, which also have floor plans posted around the place. And universities, which... you get the idea.

I'm curious as to exactly what sort of business you're thinking of running where hiding the layout from the customer is a good idea. Casino, perhaps?

Cthippo · 25th Sep 2008, 20:29

Our hospital has a working version of this called Versus. All the sdtaff, the patients, and even some of the equipment have tags that can be tracked by IR sensors and there are boards in the nurses stations so at a glance you can see that Dr. Smith is in the supply closet with nurse Jones again. Honestly, I'm not really sure how useful it is as everyone carries internal cell phones and can ususally be reached immediatly on those.

mrplow · 25th Sep 2008, 20:35

as usual technology follows star trek
'computer locate wife'
'your wife is in the back bedroom with your brother'

24th Sep 2008, 12:49	#1
Tim S Pewlius Caesar bit-tech Staff Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Ascot, Berks Posts: 18,021	Nokia planning Indoor Positioning http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/09...-positioning/1 Finnish mobile giant Nokia is working on an indoor analogue to the Global Positioning System dubbed Indoor Positioning. __________________ Tim on Twitter \| Tim's Blog \| Tim's Flickr The bit-tech Blog \| bit-tech on Twitter \| Join the bit-tech & Custom PC folding team (#35947)

24th Sep 2008, 13:12	#2
ChaosDefinesOrder Vapourmodder Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Cambridge, UK Posts: 368	while gimmicky, I can definitely see a real world application for this in places like supermarkets - it's frustrated me many a time when things get moved around in stores so the thing I'm looking for is the other side of the store from where it used to be! Seeing as it's Nokia and their most recent phones have data matrix decoders pre-installed on their most recent handsets, the stadium (or theatre) side of things could have the seat position encoded on the ticket, then read off on the handset to give directions tied in with this system... __________________ Current setup: Hiper Osiris \| Core i7 920 (Cooled by Noctua NH-U12P) \| Foxconn Renaissance \| 2x GTX280 \| Cooler Master UCP \| Corsair Dominator 3GB (soon to be 9GB) \| Creative X-Fi Titanium \| Vista Home Premium x64 \| OS Drive: WD Velociraptor 300GB. Storage: 1x 160GB, 1x 250GB, 1x 300GB, 1x500GB (incremental additions over the years! All Maxtor) \| Monitor: Dell 2709W

24th Sep 2008, 13:21	#3
whisperwolf Ultramodder Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Edinburgh Posts: 1,194	I can sort of see this turning people's homes into a sort of old text based adventure game "you are in YOUR LOUNGE. There are exits to the north (kitchen), east (hall). you see a TV, xbox and a snarling monster (Mother in Law)." __________________ "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it. " Voltaire. My Flickr

24th Sep 2008, 13:48	#5
will. A motorbike of jealousy! Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Yorkshire! Posts: 4,404	Finally, I will never get lost on the way to my bathroom ever again! __________________ work \| play \| blog PS3 & 360: willblack Flickr my twitter. Last.FM Check out my Last.FM & iToggle & Nav-o-Matic jQuery plugins.

24th Sep 2008, 14:18	#7
mclean007 Officious Bystander Join Date: May 2003 Location: Nodnol Posts: 1,597	I hope it's better than the GPS in the N95 - my N95 8GB is absurdly slow (up to 2 minutes) to lock on, even in open outdoor spaces. It will rarely lock at all if I'm moving, which is really frustrating, as I have to stand there looking like a proper plum waiting for it to lock before I can get on the move. Normally keeps locked on once it gets a lock though. How do you find yours Gareth? __________________ Demand Naked DSL in the UK!

24th Sep 2008, 13:48	#4
theevilelephant Bit-tech's Heffalump Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Aberystwyth Posts: 797	hmm, im guessing something using fixed wifi signals and digital building map as a sort of gps system?

24th Sep 2008, 14:58	#10
mrb_no1 Pie Eater Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Pyrford, England Posts: 365	just to add to what gareth and mclean are talking about. A mate of mine had a n95 and gps was turd until firmware updates and nokia software updates were applied, it then became a very usable tool that considering it was a mobile phone imo rivalled dedicated sat navs in cars. i use googlemaps on my iphone3g and provided signal is strong from 02, then it works really well, otherwise it suffers from a delayed update. as for the news, nifty app but will feature limited use until loads of buildings have been added. peace fatman peace __________________ Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 3600Mhz ¦ Asus Maximus II Formula ¦ ATI Radeon 4890 (1000Mhz Core + 1200Mhz Mem OC) ¦ 2x2G Corsair Dom. PC 8500 @ 1080Mhz ¦ Aquacomputer WC ¦ Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty ¦ 150G Raptor, 2x1500 + 1x750 + 2x500 Seagate (SATA2) ¦ Pioneer DVD burner ¦ Lian Li - PC 73SL Aluminium Silent Server Case ¦ Dell 2007WFP 20" Widescreen ¦ Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Speakers ¦ Sennheiser HD270

24th Sep 2008, 16:04	#11
metarinka I am a Dremel Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Michigan Posts: 1,623	nifty app I could see it's uses for things like malls and college campuses that have large buildings with many floors. Not too hard to coordinate this with other phones so that you could find your friends at a party or bar. __________________ project: Orbitoid project: Orbitoid discussion Project: Angry-9 the WWII radio

24th Sep 2008, 17:32	#12
Cupboard I'm not a modder. Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Bury St Edmunds/Durham Uni Posts: 1,845	I can see a problem with multiple floors but this could be really useful. If you were in a shopping centre around lunchtime, and the phone "knew" you hadn't had lunch then it could start showing special lunch offers __________________ i7 920, 8800GTS 512, 6GB Corsair all in an Intel DX58SO; 3*320GB RAID5; CM Stacker Samsung Q45.

25th Sep 2008, 01:29	#14
B3CK Supermodder Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Dallas, Texas Posts: 355	I kinda doubt this would take the approach of, where an item would be located in a store. Even if the store owners got the service of adding their inventory in for free, (customers tagging); they wouldn't want it as most stores spend way too much time/revenue in organizing their stores to optimize impulse buys. Kinda the same way the app for the new android os "go cart" can help to locate an item your vicinity by just looking at a barcode with your camera, in store location probably wouldn't be viable. While, finding the store this way, and pricing can be extremly helpful, in store directions just don't seem to be very helpful, other than say a superstore that might tell you what area to find it in, ie apperal, organics, beer/wine. But I do like the ability to find other phones, ie track the kids down. Also would be very helpful for finding what side of the mall to park on for easy access to store "X". Or casino mapping to find where slots are, bathrooms, showrooms. Or even large convention centers to find the "blue" room would be helpful as well, but then that's what the employee lackeys are for right? __________________ "God loves stupid people, that is why he made so many of them." My best friend at M$ Tech support.

25th Sep 2008, 03:38	#15
Amon inch-perfect Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: cannoning into the reds, Toronto, Canada Posts: 2,456	I wouldn't permit the mapping of my buildings if I were a business owner. I'd half-hazard a guess that many others wouldn't, either. __________________ Defunct Socket 939 San Diego 4000+::2GB PC3200::Radeon 9600 SE 128MB::200GB HDD::24" Dell 2407WFP-HC::WinXP x64/x86 dual boot Dell Vostro 1500 laptop::Socket P Merom T7100::2GB PC5400::Go 8600m GT 256MB::660GB HDD::15.4" WXGA+, 24" Dell 2407WFP-HC::WinXP::Fanatec 911 Wheel+Pedals

25th Sep 2008, 06:49	#16
johnmustrule Supermodder Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 345	Society progresses, yet all we can think of is how to enable stupid people. __________________ "Your belief, unfortunately, is no endorsement of truth"

25th Sep 2008, 20:29	#18
Cthippo Can't mod my way out of a paper bag Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Bellingham, WA Posts: 4,473	Our hospital has a working version of this called Versus. All the sdtaff, the patients, and even some of the equipment have tags that can be tracked by IR sensors and there are boards in the nurses stations so at a glance you can see that Dr. Smith is in the supply closet with nurse Jones again. Honestly, I'm not really sure how useful it is as everyone carries internal cell phones and can ususally be reached immediatly on those. __________________ Notice: If we see you flaming we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate measures - The Bit-Tech Fire Brigade.

25th Sep 2008, 20:35	#19
mrplow obey the fist!! Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: London Posts: 2,421	as usual technology follows star trek 'computer locate wife' 'your wife is in the back bedroom with your brother' __________________ Big, half-finished, parts hanging out computer ATCS 210; MSI mATX; AMD 4000+; HD4770; 3GB DDR400; 2x120GB + 2x1TB; 19" HANNS-G