Living Map in Bath has received two grants worth £125,000 to develop new indoor mapping technology.
“We provide hyperaccurate maps that are available on all devices such as smartphones and tablets”
The grants from Innovate UK are under the Emerging and Enabling Capabilities and Robotics and AI categories.
Living Map provides custom digital-map applications to a wide range of customers such as museums and airports. It takes existing data about a building from surveys and blueprints and creates a mapping platform that allows data from other sources such as sensors to be tightly integrated.
“We provide the map platform through our own cartographers and digital designers to provide hyperaccurate maps that are available on all devices such as smartphones and tablets,” says Dan Madden, head of marketing at Living Map. “For example we can integrate with data about Internet of Things (IoT) sensors to create visual dashboards, integrating with the IoT data provider and partners such as IBM for their Watson supercomputer.”
Indoor mapping being made possible
The grants will allow the development of indoor location tracker capability in these digital-mapping products. It will replicate the ‘blue dot’ that tracks a person’s location on typical outdoor digital mapping with a new technology that will work indoors where the GPS signal is weaker, without the need for Wi-Fi or beacons. This will enable users to get directions to find their way through complex indoor buildings such airports.
“We’re thrilled to be the recipients of these two new grants. This support from Innovate UK will help to develop new products as well as enrich the quality of our existing digital maps,” says Jake Ronay, Chief Commercial Officer of Living Maps (pictured left). “In 2017, Living Map has tripled in size and we envisage this growth will continue in 2018. We will actively be seeking new partners in 2018 to continue our research and development work.”
As well as IBM, the company works with French energy supplier Engie and the UK Space Agency.
It recently launched an interactive map of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park (above) as part of Future Cities Catapult and London Legacy Development Corporation’s work to turn the area into a cutting-edge tech testbed.
The map has unique features such as identifying biodiversity attractions and switching to a ‘night mode’ that shows the lit routes around the park at night. The Innovate UK project will allow the mapping and location innovation to be extended indoors.
You can see more from the company at www.livingmap.com or by following them on Twitter here: @livingmap
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