What is georeferencing?

Georeferencing is the process of assigning locations to geographical objects (a building's floor plan, architectural drawings, landmarks, etc.) which match their true positions on Earth. This typically takes place within a mapping context, in order to correctly fix the object's exact position on a satellite or Earth map.

What is the purpose of georeferencing?

In the past, georeferencing was mainly a focus for external, outdoor maps, helping ensure that individual buildings and landmarks matched up to their true locations. Without this process, systems such as in-car GPS wouldn't work correctly, as buildings wouldn't correspond to the user's blue dot position. For static indoor maps, georeferencing was largely irrelevant, because GPS doesn't tend to work inside buildings and companies had to use alternative systems such as beacons. However, the static indoor map of the past is rapidly becoming extinct, replaced by something far more advanced in which georeferencing plays an important role. One example is in large campuses or complexes such as hospitals, universities, or large workplaces, where multiple buildings may need to operate on the same indoor mapping system and enable users to navigate from one building to another via outdoor paths. In this scenario, if the buildings aren't accurately georeferenced, the entire indoor navigation experience may fall down, due to the use of GPS for outdoor sections and the user's location not correctly aligning to entrances, exits, or even the correct building.

How are maps georeferenced accurately?

Different mapping companies have different approaches to achieving georeferencing accuracy. Pointr uses the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) zones to calculate the most accurate position for a building's location. The UTM coordinate system provides a precise and consistent way to georeference data globally; it divides the world into 60 north-south zones and 20 latitude bands, providing a compatible reference frame for measuring horizontal and vertical positions, and minimizes distortion caused by the Mercator Projection. As well as the UTM coordinates, Pointr's team takes added precautions to ensure accuracy, including: confirming that all building floors align precisely with each other; finding the actual building position on the world map based on the longitude and latitude of the building or its original address; and visually referencing the architectural drawings (floor plans or CAD files) against satellite images, which can be more challenging than it sounds, particularly with tall buildings.

Why is georeferencing digital maps challenging?

Georeferencing is challenging; a minor mistake can cause inaccurate map and wayfinding results. It requires professional GIS expertise and years of experience to accurately georeference digital maps and deliver seamless indoor/outdoor experiences. Satellite images are the best tool for precise georeferencing, but several challenges can lead to incorrect results. Poor-resolution satellite images make building outlines unclear, whereas higher resolution images make boundaries easier to recognize. Satellite images vary due to seasonal changes, with the best snapshots typically found in Spring or Autumn when there is less foliage. Out-of-date satellite images are a problem because cities grow so fast that even images six months apart can vary immensely, especially for under-construction buildings. Unnecessary details such as shadows of buildings and trees, or the height of a building, can block or confuse the actual building boundaries. Confusing the roof of a building for its baseline makes entrances incoherent, leading to inaccurate indoor/outdoor blue dot transitions. Finally, it is challenging to match the accurate scale and proportion of the floor plan to the world map; any deformation directly impacts wayfinding, positioning, and indoor-outdoor transitions, causing overshooting or undershooting of the blue dot and miscalculated distances between points of interest.

Pointr's July Demo Day Recap

Technology

Ozan Tugutlu

18 August 2026

This month's session covered updates across Pointr Maps, our SDKs, Pointr Cloud, Analytics, and the wider platform. Together, they touch on how end users see and navigate a building, how mapping teams build and manage projects, and how developers and administrators integrate and secure the platform.

If you could not join us live, here is a quick recap.

What's New This July?

Native 3D buildings in Pointr Maps
Improved accessibility support
A faster MapScale® flow
Multi-site MCP server support
Faster and more flexible analytics
Improved Geofencing Permissions and Configuration
Role-based single sign-on (SSO) control

Pointr Maps goes 3D!

Pointr Maps now supports native 3D buildings across Web, iOS, and Android.

3D buildings are built into the existing Pointr Maps experience and work alongside your indoor maps. Users can identify the right building outdoors, navigate towards it, and continue their journey indoors without switching to another app.

Setup is simple. Pointr prepares and optimizes the 3D assets, then enables them for your project on request. Your developers do not need to build or maintain a separate 3D layer.

This is especially useful for large sites such as hospitals, airports and campuses. Users can start their journey from an outdoor location, such as a car park or shuttle stop, understand their surroundings and find the correct building before navigating indoors.

Improved accessibility support

In v10.2, we improved accessibility across the Web, iOS and Android SDKs.

Accessibility labels and improved screen reader support now work together to describe map controls more clearly. For example, a user can hear “Take me there button” or “Level 2 selector” instead of simply “button”.

This support covers key parts of a typical wayfinding journey, including:

Search controls and results
Point of interest (POI) cards
Level selectors
Menus
Route information

We also improved colour contrast across text, icons and interface elements to support WCAG 2.1 AA compliance.

Together, these updates help users find a destination, review route information and start navigation using the assistive technology already available on their device.

Faster MapScale® flow

In v10.6, we improved the MapScale workflow to make mapping projects easier to create, review and manage.

Save and continue later

Mapping projects are rarely completed in one session. You might be waiting for a floor plan, need a colleague to confirm a building’s position, or simply want to continue later.

The new Save & Exit button lets you pause a project and return when you are ready. This is particularly useful for teams managing multiple buildings or large sites.

External IDs for Levels

Levels now support an externalIdentifier, aligning them with clients, sites and buildings. For example, if a floor is called “Office A01” in your system, you can use the same identifier across Pointr APIs, SDKs and plugins. This makes integrations easier and removes the need to maintain a separate mapping between systems.

Aligned API and dashboard workflows

Projects created through the API are now available in the dashboard. Developers can use the API to create the initial project structure, while mapping teams can add floor plans, review the setup, and continue editing in Pointr Cloud. This allows both teams to work on the same project using the tools that best suit them.

More Efficient Georeferencing & Floor Alignment

Users no longer need to wait for the entire building to finish processing. As soon as one floor is ready, they can adjust its position on a real-world map. Once two or more floors are ready, they can align the floor plans and see the changes immediately in the preview.

This allows teams to start reviewing earlier and complete multi-level buildings faster.

Optional review by the Pointr Map Team

Some teams want to publish their maps immediately, while others may prefer an expert review. MapScale Assistant lets you choose. Leave it disabled to use the map as soon as it is created, or enable it to request help from Pointr’s mapping team. This gives experienced teams more control while providing extra support for new users or more complex floor plans.

Faster Blueprint Display

Users can overlay the original blueprint on the generated map to check its accuracy. Blueprints now load within seconds, making it easier to compare walls, rooms, and other details and identify anything that needs adjusting.

Multi-site MCP support

The Pointr MCP server now supports multiple sites through a single endpoint. In practice, this means the same integration can answer “Where is the visitor reception in our office?” for one site and “Which floor is the training room on at the London site?” for another, provided it is authorized to access both.

For developers, this means fewer connections to manage and less repeated integration work across multi-site deployments.

Faster and more flexible analytics

We introduced two updates to improve analytics performance and flexibility.

First, we improved how analytics data is stored and processed. This makes reporting faster and more reliable as datasets and reporting periods grow, while providing a stronger foundation for future analytics features.

Second, users can now export reports from the Analytics Dashboard to Excel or CSV. This makes it easier to perform custom calculations, apply additional filters, or use the data in other reporting tools.

Smarter Geofencing Permissions and Configuration

The SDK now requests only the permissions required by the features enabled for a project. For example, notification permission is requested only when geofencing notifications are enabled.

We have also optimized GPS geofencing to reduce unnecessary background location activity and improve battery usage. Configuration is simpler too, with fewer parameters to manage across GPS and beacon geofencing.

The end-user experience remains the same. An app using the Pointr Maps SDK can detect when a user arrives on site, activate the required location services and disable them when they leave. For developers, this means a cleaner permission flow, less configuration and more efficient background activity.

Role-based single sign-on (SSO) control

Different teams need different levels of access. A platform administrator may need full control, a mapping team needs editing permissions, while a site manager may only need to view maps and deployment status.

Roles from your identity provider can now be mapped directly to Pointr Cloud permissions. Admins can receive full access, editors can update map content, and site viewers can have read-only access. Contractors can also be given editing access without becoming administrators.

Users, groups, and access only need to be managed through your existing identity provider. Pointr Cloud automatically applies the matching permissions, reducing manual setup and keeping access consistent across both systems.

Coming soon

A few areas the team is working on next:

Featured POIs will help teams give selected destinations more visibility. For example, an event venue could highlight sponsored booths or panel discussions, while a retailer could move anchor stores higher in search results.
Richer POI cards will provide more detailed and consistent destination information using our latest taxonomy. For example, a hospital department card could include wheelchair accessibility, estimated wait times, room availability and entry requirements alongside opening hours and contact details.
MapScale® Traffic Light System will help mapping managers check project status at a glance, showing which maps are ready, still processing or need attention.
Beacon Health Analytics will combine crowdsourced beacon telemetry with other available data to provide an overview of hardware health and highlight beacons that may need attention.
Wayfinding analytics will show where journeys start and end, how much of each route users complete, and when they finish or cancel. This will cover both static and dynamic wayfinding.

From 3D maps and improved accessibility to faster workflows and simpler integrations, July’s updates help teams deliver better wayfinding experiences with less effort.

Our upcoming features are still in development, so their scope and release timing may change. Stay tuned for the next Demo Day to see what is coming next.