Kyle
A startup in Edinburgh Scotland, called Sensewhere has become a leader in providing positioning and location based information without the use of GPS. The technology is ideal for rural areas and indoor locations where there is either bad satellite coverage or none at all.
Sensewhere automatically crowd-sources and cross-references RF access point data via users’ own devices, cheaply and dynamically creating an almost limitless proprietary global RF location database that self-corrects with use. sensewhere will allow social networks, device manufacturers and app developers to finally capitalize fully on the enormous potential of highly-accurate indoor location.
Like other existing indoor location systems sensewhere uses whatever hybrid RF location reference information the end-device can receive to fix a location; whether Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, UWB, NFC, RFID, GPS, etc. The system checks signals against its own database of fixed-location reference points, then uses industry-leading proprietary low power algorithms to provide an accurate and reliable indoor location.
The team behind Sensewhere is hoping that their technology will work as effortlessly as GPS does (in most situations), where the end user won’t even have to think about it. One of the biggest misconceptions in this space is that GPS can penetrate buildings and work underground. Anyone who has tried to navigate out of parking garage knows this isn’t true.
Sensewhere is currently available for iOS devices and Android phones. The Sensewhere team is hoping that the technology will be available on every mobile device.
One of the big advantages to Sensewhere is that as the user base grows, the accuracy grows with it. Ultimately it will be more accurate both indoors and outdoors when trying to navigate to other people or businesses in a close environment like an outdoor festival or a shopping mall.
Another down side to typical GPS, is that, even though accuracy has improved once you get to a location like an outdoor shopping mall, you’re stuck finding things on your own.
Google Maps has recently deployed indoor navigation for some major airports and even some Ikea stores. This technology relies heavily on wifi and other rf identifiters as well.
We got a chance to talk with the year old startup. Check out our interview below.