Ready-made indoor positioning in 2D
Combain Crowd Indoor Positioning is an indoor positioning system (IPS) designed to provide location-based services in buildings with weak or unavailable GNSS signals. This system leverages existing Bluetooth beacons and Wi-Fi access points for positioning, eliminating the need for new hardware or infrastructure.
The functionality of Combain Crowd Indoor Positioning is built on crowdsourced indoor training data collected from our apps, software development kits (SDKs), and various partners. After gathering this training data, our patented algorithms create a detailed model of the building’s radio environment. Once the model is developed and published, indoor positioning is available to all devices through the Combain Location API, specifically for users with Combain Crowd Indoor Positioning enabled.
Combain Crowd Indoor Positioning Benefits
The benefits of this service are numerous and varied. For businesses, Combain Crowd Indoor Positioning enhances navigation and tracking capabilities, which is crucial for applications like facility management, retail analytics, and visitor navigation in large environments such as airports, shopping malls, and hospitals. This system enables real-time positioning without requiring significant infrastructure investments, ensuring cost-effectiveness and scalability. For end users, the service provides a seamless and intuitive location-based experience, simplifying navigation in complex indoor spaces.
Crowdsourcing plays a critical role in improving the quality and coverage of this service. Combining learning data from partners, customers, and everyday users, Combain develops a more comprehensive and diverse dataset, increasing accuracy and coverage. Moreover, anonymous and aggregated data ensures users’ privacy and security while contributing to the overall enhancement of indoor positioning services worldwide.
- Ready to use: The system is often already available for public buildings since it uses existing infrastructure and crowdsourcing, and manual system setup or deployment of new routers or beacons like traditional indoor positioning systems is not required.
- Decent accuracy: The actual accuracy of Combain Crowd Indoor Positioning depends on building and beacon density, but typically, a median error of 10-40m is obtained for public buildings. The accuracy can be improved by at least 2x through extra crowdsourcing using the Combain API Demo App for Android. If you need better accuracy than 10m or 3D positioning, check out the Combain Manual Indoor or AI Indoor solutions.
- Contribute and improve: You can optionally enhance the accuracy of your specific use case by submitting your training data using the Combain API Demo App or Android SDK.
- Community-powered: Benefits from the ongoing contributions of the broader Combain user base.
Smart Buildings with Indoor Asset Management
Indoor positioning is increasingly essential due to the growth of indoor location-based services and the rising demand for smart buildings.
- Asset tracking can monitor the location of equipment and inventory within a building, helping businesses optimize operations and enhance efficiency.
- Indoor analytics collects data on how devices move within a building, identifying the most crowded areas and the most frequently used routes. This information can be utilized to optimize building layouts and enhance the overall user experience.
- Security & Safety: Panic buttons and user tracking systems can enhance building safety. This is particularly vital in large or complex structures such as hospitals, industrial facilities, and office buildings.
Combain Crowd Indoor Positioning can significantly enhance user experience, improve efficiency, and increase safety in various indoor environments.
Key Takeaways
What is Crowd Indoor Positioning?
- Ready-made indoor positioning in 2D.
- It uses existing WiFi access points and Bluetooth beacons—no new hardware or site installation required in many public buildings.
- You request a position through the Combain Location API.
How accurate is it?
- Typical median error is 10 to 40 meters in public buildings.
- Floor accuracy is above 95 percent.
- Accuracy depends on beacon density, building structure, device, and training method.
How do you improve accuracy if you need better results?
- Add extra crowdsourcing with the Combain API Demo App or the Android SDK.
- You can improve accuracy by at least 2x with additional training data.
- For under 10 meters or 3D, use Manual Indoor or AI Indoor.
Where is it available today?
- Available in more than 260 million buildings through crowdsourcing.
- Many public buildings already have enough data for immediate use.
What are the main benefits for businesses?
- Fast start with no new infrastructure.
- Real-time positioning for navigation, asset tracking, indoor analytics, and safety use cases in spaces like airports, malls, hospitals, and offices.
- Lower setup cost with a path to higher accuracy when needed.
What data do you send and receive?
- Devices send observed WiFi and BLE data to the Location API.
- You receive latitude and longitude in 2D.
- When a radio environment model is available, you also get floor information with high accuracy.
How does crowdsourcing affect privacy and quality?
- Training data is anonymous and aggregated. It is not shared with third parties.
- Continuous global crowdsourcing keeps the database current and improves coverage and accuracy over time.
What is the business value in simple terms?
- Short time to value.
- No installers on site.
- Useful default accuracy for wayfinding and analytics.
- Clear upgrade path to Manual Indoor or AI Indoor when you need sub-10 meter accuracy or building, floor, and room detail.
How do you start?
- Get a free API key (FREE SIGN UP).
- Test a known public building. If accuracy is sufficient, roll out.
- If you need tighter results, add crowdsourced scans with the Combain API Demo App or SDK, or move to Manual Indoor or AI Indoor.
- A product leaflet is available for download – see below.
Submit anonymized training data to enhance service. Training data never shared with any third party.
Available in >260 million buildings through crowdsourcing and is growing rapidly.
Public buildings often have enough crowdsourced data for immediate use.
Truly global
Based on billions of positions from global crowdsourcing
The service uses Combain’s global database of Indoor WiFis and Bluetooth beacons. Our algorithms continuously update the database by processing millions of positions from global crowdsourcing. Your usage of the API is private and not shared with any third party.
Summary
- Indoor WiFi access points and Bluetooth beacons.
- No setup – public buildings often have enough crowdsourced data for immediate use.
- Request position in lat/long (2D).
- Accuracy 20-40 m*.
Floor accuracy > 95%. - To improve accuracy – install more beacons.
- The service continuously self-improves through crowdsourcing of training data. Devices sending valid GNSS data and radio data enable system training that improves accuracy.
* Actual accuracy depends on
- Density of WiFis/Bluetooth beacons
- Training method
- Building structure
- Device capabilities