Indoor navigation and positioning, honestly
You don’t need beacons to start with DigiMaps indoor navigation. Every kiosk has a fixed “You are here” point, and a QR code moves the route to the visitor’s phone. A moving blue dot on phones is a commissioned pilot: we survey your venue and report the accuracy measured on site.
- 1 Kiosk: fixed position and facing direction, set in Studio. Available today.
- 2 A fix from your positioning provider, snapped to the nearest point on the walking graph (within 8 m).
- 3 A fix older than 15 s is dropped, not drawn.
Three tiers of positioning, and where each one stands today.
Start with kiosk “You are here” and QR hand-off today. Add phone positioning as a commissioned pilot: we survey your venue and report the accuracy measured on site. Precision positioning stays on the roadmap until it exists.
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T1
Kiosk origin
Available today- Where the start comes from
- The kiosk’s fixed position and facing direction, set once in Studio. On a phone, the QR code carries it over, or the visitor picks where they are.
- What you need
- Nothing beyond the kiosk. No beacons, no app.
- Accuracy
- Not in question: the start point is where the kiosk stands.
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T2
Phone blue dot
Commissioned pilot- Where the start comes from
- A moving position from beacons, the phone’s motion sensors and a fingerprint survey, matched to the walking graph.
- What you need
- Beacons or a positioning provider, and a survey of your venue. In a browser, Android Chrome only.
- Accuracy
- Measured on your site and reported to you. Not yet validated at a live venue, which is why it is sold as a pilot.
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T3
Precision
Roadmap- Where the start comes from
- Ultra-wideband (UWB) or visual positioning. Not built into DigiMaps today.
- What you need
- A third-party precision system, which can feed fixes through our positioning API.
- Accuracy
- Nothing to report until it exists.
Do you need beacons? Only for a moving dot.
You can start with kiosks, and with phones that pick up the route from a QR code. Beacons bring cost and upkeep: batteries, placement, and a survey to redo when the building changes. Add them when a moving dot is worth that to you.
| If you want | You need | Status |
|---|---|---|
| A route that starts at a kiosk | Nothing extra. The kiosk is the start point. | Today |
| The same route on the visitor’s phone | Nothing extra. The kiosk’s QR code carries the route and its start point. | Today |
| Directions from a link or your website | The visitor picks where they are. | Today |
| A location outdoors on a georeferenced campus | The phone’s GPS, after the visitor taps locate-me. | Today |
| A moving dot indoors on Android phones | Beacons or a positioning provider, plus a survey of your venue. | Commissioned pilot |
| A moving dot on iPhone | A native app with a positioning SDK, feeding fixes to the map through our API. Our own native SDKs are on the roadmap. | Via your own app |
| Precision positioning (UWB or visual) | A third-party precision system. Not built into DigiMaps. | Roadmap |
The iPhone question has a plain answer.
Safari on iPhone can’t read Bluetooth beacons, because it has no Web Bluetooth. So a blue dot in the browser works only on Android Chrome. A blue dot on iPhone needs a native app, and native DigiMaps SDKs are on our roadmap, not available today.
Maps, search and directions work on both phones from a QR code or a link, with no app to install. If you already run an iPhone app with a positioning SDK, embed the map in it and feed it positions.
Android phoneChrome
- Works today: Map, search and directions from a QR code or link
- Works today: Route and start point carried over from the kiosk
- Pilot only: Blue dot from beacons: commissioned pilot only
iPhoneSafari
- Works today: Map, search and directions from a QR code or link
- Works today: Route and start point carried over from the kiosk
- Not possible: Blue dot in the browser: Safari has no Web Bluetooth
Bring your own positioning through a documented API.
Any BLE, UWB or visual positioning SDK, or a native app around the map, can send fixes to DigiMaps. The map snaps each fix to the walking graph, then checks whether it is good enough to guide anyone. No provider has been validated this way at a live venue yet.
- Ways in
window.digimaps.setPosition(), an exact-originpostMessage, or a DOM event- Snapping
- To the walking graph, within 8 m
- Expiry
- A fix older than 15 s is dropped
- Guidance
- Only from fixes that pass the four checks below
// A fix from your positioning SDK: level, position on the plan,
// reported accuracy in metres and a timestamp.
// Field names and the DOM event name are in our integration notes.
const fix = yourSdk.latestFix();
// 1. Script on the same page as the wayfinder
window.digimaps.setPosition(fix);
// 2. Parent page or native shell around an embedded map
mapFrame.contentWindow.postMessage(fix, 'https://maps.wayvale.example');
// exact origin only, never '*'
// 3. Any other script on the page, through a DOM event
window.dispatchEvent(new CustomEvent(POSITION_EVENT, { detail: fix }));The dot only guides a visitor when it has earned it.
DigiMaps uses a fix for turn-by-turn guidance only when all four checks pass. Otherwise the screen says positioning is degraded or unavailable, and the visitor still has the kiosk, the QR route and the map.
Incoming fix
level L1 · ±2.4 m
source: your SDK
age 1 s
All four must pass
- 1 Matched to the walking graphThe fix sits on a real path, not inside a wall
- 2 On a known floorThe level is reported, not guessed
- 3 Not from GPS aloneIndoor GPS on its own is never enough
- 4 Reports 3 m or better2 m or better in the hospital profile
Before positioning goes live, the measurements have to be on file.
On the universal assurance profile, Studio blocks a release until a current, measured positioning record is on file. These are our release minimums. No site has passed this gate yet, and none of these numbers is an accuracy we promise.
- Studio decides pass or fail from the record, not the person uploading it
- The newest record wins, and an expired record blocks the next release
- The record is tied to the map: change the geometry and it must be measured again
Evidence record
Positioning · Wayvale Mall
No record on file
Release blocked
| Requirement | Minimum | Measured |
|---|---|---|
| Ground-truth points walked | 100 | Not measured |
| Fixes on the correct floor | 99% | Not measured |
| Position error, 95th percentile | ≤ 2 m | Not measured |
| Largest error | ≤ 5 m | Not measured |
| Phone models tested | 2 | Not measured |
| Record valid for | 180 days | Not measured |
Bound to the map snapshot · geometry fingerprint
Questions IT and facilities teams ask about positioning
We would rather tell you what isn’t built than have you find out in a pilot. Ask us anything.
Do we need beacons for indoor wayfinding?
Not to start. A DigiMaps kiosk has a fixed “You are here” point, so every route begins where the visitor is standing, and a QR code moves that route to their phone. Beacons, or another positioning provider, only matter if you want a moving blue dot on phones.
Does DigiMaps show a blue dot on iPhone?
Not in the browser. Safari on iPhone has no Web Bluetooth, so a web page cannot read beacons there, and native DigiMaps SDKs are on our roadmap rather than available today. If you already have an iPhone app with a positioning SDK, it can embed the map and feed positions to it.
How accurate is DigiMaps indoor positioning?
We do not publish an accuracy figure, because phone positioning has not yet been validated at a live venue. In a commissioned pilot we survey your site and report the accuracy we measure. The dot only drives guidance when a fix reports 3 m or better (2 m in the hospital profile), on a known floor and matched to the walking graph.
Can we use our existing beacons or positioning provider?
Yes. Any BLE, UWB or visual positioning SDK, or a native app around the map, can send fixes through window.digimaps.setPosition(), an exact-origin postMessage or a DOM event. Fixes snap to the walking graph within 8 m and expire after 15 seconds.
Does DigiMaps support UWB or visual positioning?
Not built in. Precision positioning is on our roadmap as a premium, commissioned layer. A third-party UWB or visual positioning system can still feed fixes into the map through the positioning API.
How does a kiosk know where it is?
When a kiosk is registered in Studio, its position on the map and the direction it faces are set once. Routes start from that point, and the Your view button turns the map to match the way the visitor is facing.
Start with kiosks. Measure before you add a blue dot.
In a demo we show kiosk “You are here” routing and QR hand-off on a sample venue, then walk through what a positioning pilot would measure on your site and what it needs from you.