Can GPS work indoors?

It can, but how effectively GPS works indoors is determined primarily by the number and density of obstacles between the satellites it uses and the device attempting to receive their signals, such as a smartphone. Objects such as ceilings and walls can obfuscate or completely block GPS signals and stop the system from working accurately or at all.

Does GPS work for indoor positioning and navigation systems?

GPS is rarely an ideal technology on which to base an indoor positioning system. This is due to the issues with achieving a consistent GPS signal indoors, and to the fact that even in ideal conditions, GPS struggles to achieve accuracy of less than 5m - too wide a margin of error for many indoor environments.

Discover the power of location-based engagement with Pointr Geofencing

Are you ready to unlock the potential of geofencing technology? In this article, we'll explore Pointr's geofencing feature in detail and uncover various location-based engagement use cases powered by Pointr Geofencing technology.

What is geofencing?

Geofencing refers to a location-enabled technology that a program or application uses to define the boundaries of a specific geographic area. By tracking entry to or exit from these virtual boundaries, businesses can engage with their customers based on their precise location. This opens up a realm of possibilities, such as triggering proximity notifications, sending targeted coupons, providing directions, and much more.

Geofencing is one of the most effective ways brick-and-mortar retailers can capture the audiences visiting their locations and ensure they’re reaching the right people, with the right in-store information, at the right time.

The importance of accurate virtual geofences

The effectiveness of geofences depends heavily on the accuracy of the underlying indoor location services. If your indoor positioning or indoor navigation accuracy is off by more than a couple of meters, the geofencing experience suffers greatly. Picture a bustling store where the blue dot misleads users, triggering geofences in the wrong aisle. Or picture airport travelers receiving departure messages when they have just arrived; this could cause users to feel confused and frustrated with their overall experience.

This is where Pointr's Deep Location® platform comes in to save the day. Powered by AI and equipped with multi-patented technology, Pointr offers world-class indoor accuracy, ensuring that your geofences work flawlessly and deliver a seamless blue dot and geofencing experience.

Types of geofencing enabled by Pointr

Pointr enables two types of geofencing through its Mobile SDK: Level Geofencing and Global Geofencing. Let's take a closer look at each of these.

Level Geofencing allows events to be triggered either indoors or outdoors, but specifically on a particular level. This type of geofencing leverages both indoor and outdoor location technologies, with the ability to define specific areas outdoors with respect to a level. For accurate level identification, an indoor location solution is required. Consider scenarios like an airport's arrival and departure area or a building constructed on a hill, where Level Geofencing can play a crucial role.

Level Geofences are defined based on specific levels on a map. Users outside the defined level, even within the geofence area, are considered outside. This allows precise audience targeting on particular levels.

Global Geofencing, on the other hand, enables events to be triggered indoors and outdoors across multiple levels and buildings. This type of geofencing also utilizes both indoor and outdoor location technologies, with GPS signals being predominantly used in outdoor settings. This can be particularly useful when it comes to cross-site or cross-building geofencing use cases. Picture this: You're a first-time visitor traveling to a corporate campus via an airport. Just as you step out of the arrival hall, a timely notification guides you to the shuttle bus waiting to transport you directly to the campus. With Global Geofencing, your visiting journey becomes a hassle-free adventure, seamlessly connecting you to your destination.

Global Geofences are based on geo-coordinates without level restrictions. Users are considered inside the geofence as long as they remain within the predefined coordinates, regardless of indoor/outdoor or level.

Some use cases supported by Pointr Geofencing

Pointr Geofencing, powered by the Pointr Mobile SDK, revolutionizes user engagement by triggering events upon device entry or exit from predefined locations. This powerful technology enables a range of engagement scenarios, including in-app notifications, facility entry/exit verification, security alerts, and background location data gathering.
With the event triggers supported by Pointr Geofencing, businesses have the flexibility to configure these use cases with the help of their integrator or developers.

	Proximity Notifications: Deliver targeted offers, virtual coupons, and timely messages directly to users' devices, increasing customer engagement and conversions. Guide visitors to collection points, entice them into stores with exclusive offers and expand app usage.
	Entry and Exit Verification: Track entry and exit across zones, levels, buildings, and sites for a seamless location and wayfinding experience. Provide assistance to visitors with disabilities, thank users when they leave a geofenced zone, and automate actions like lighting control.
	Security Optimization: Monitor secure areas, receive alerts for unauthorized access, and optimize employee management. Ensure the safety of company assets, automate timecard systems, and improve overall security protocols.
	Background Location-Based Information: Gather valuable data for 3rd-party use, such as meeting room occupancy, availability, and visitor density. Monitor traffic flow, optimize operations, and improve the overall user experience.

Important note: Pointr Geofencing provides event triggers that can be used to enable the use cases mentioned above. However, the configuration of these events needs to be done by the integrators from our client's side. Our client's integrators or developers can help create and customize the specific event actions tailored to their own project's needs.

Why choose Pointr Geofencing?

Pointr Geofencing stands out with its unrivaled features. We have successfully addressed our competitors' critical challenges, ensuring you receive the best solution tailored to your needs.

Smooth indoor-to-outdoor transitions

Our intelligent Pointr Mobile SDK automatically switches between indoor BLE and outdoor GPS signals, providing a seamless geofencing experience. A “virtual geofence” can be drawn either inside or around the exterior of buildings on the campus map bundled with the Pointr Mobile SDK, acting as event triggers for mobile application interactions on iOS and Android.

Flexible and precise targeting

Pointr Geofencing can be assigned to cross-site/building or specific levels, either indoors or outdoors. This means our customers have the flexibility to target messages and alerts to very precise user groups.

level-geofencing-notification

Global-geofencing-notification

Level Geofencing

Level specific targeting

Global Geofencing

Cross-site/ building targeting

Works in the background

Geofencing should work even when users' devices are not actively in use because users don’t usually walk around with their phones or apps open all the time. Although background functionality differs between Android and iOS, our Mobile SDK has options available to ensure the required geofencing functionality can be achieved.

Easy to edit on Pointr Cloud CMS

Rather than assigning campaigns to specific iBeacons, Pointr Cloud allows multiple zones to be defined on our web-based dashboard in self-defined sizes and shapes to which campaigns or alarms may be assigned. This enables administrators to set triggers for every square foot of their venue dynamically and in real-time.

Easily edit your geofences on Pointr Cloud Dashboard - watch a short demo video here.

Important note: Pointr Geofencing provides event triggers that can be used to enable the notification functionality showcased in the demo video. Your integrator or developer can assist in creating and customizing the event actions specific to your project.

Highly customizable

Pointr solutions are hardware-agnostic and designed for open integration. For instance, easily integrate existing systems like hot desking or retail promotions with our Mobile SDK. This safeguards your investments and eliminates the need for delay if you're considering implementing a positioning and indoor/outdoor wayfinding solution in your business. We have you covered at the minimum possible cost for a market-leading solution.

Pointr Geofencing in a nutshell

Our Mobile SDK enables Level and Global Geofencing for seamless indoor-outdoor transitions, precise user targeting, and essential background functionality for an exceptional user experience.

And a final word on compliance: At Pointr, we strictly adhere to location privacy requirements and GDPR. We collect only anonymous location data with user consent and never gather device IDs. By assigning users a unique and unrelated ID, cross-referencing data for user profiling is impossible, ensuring the utmost data privacy and security.