The complete guide to hardware free indoor location

Download the complete guide to hardware-free geomagnetic indoor positioning in 2024

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As indoor location systems continue to grow in popularity and ubiquity, many businesses across verticals as diverse as retail, aviation, logistics and more are now considering them.

When initially deciding upon an indoor location system, the most critical question to answer is what hardware foundation the system will be based upon. There are now a wide range of systems powering indoor location, from Bluetooth to 5G to even WiFi. However, one question we're asked frequently when it comes to hardware is simply "do we actually need hardware at all?"

It's an enticing concept - walking into an indoor location and enjoying the same level of blue dot and navigational accuracy as you'd expect from an unencumbered GPS-based system outdoors, all without needing anything more than some additional software within a smartphone app. But is it actually feasible? Well, you'll need to download our complete guide to hardware-free indoor positioning to find out.

In this guide you'll find:

  • A comprehensive breakdown of the options available for an indoor positioning system that doesn't leverage hardware in 2024
  • An overview of the technological hows and whys of hardware-less solutions
  • A complete rundown of the pros and cons for using a hardware-free solution
  • A look at some of the leading hardware-based solutions, compared to a hardware-free option, and how they stack up against one another

Why trust Pointr when it comes to hardware-free indoor positioning?

 

Founded in 2013, we are widely recognized as one of the world's leading providers of indoor mapping and indoor positioning technology. Our multi-patented technology, including our Deep Location® product and our MapScale® tool, have continued to push the envelope in terms of what is possible from an indoor positioning system when it comes to scalability and accuracy.

This is borne out by our history of working closely with many of the world's largest brands and companies, including multiple Fortune 100 clients. Many of our current users switched to us from competing companies - including those who utilize hardware-free systems - which has enabled us to carefully evaluate the efficacy of such systems and test our end results .

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FAQ

What does 'hardware-free' mean?

Many indoor positioning systems utilize hardware, such as Bluetooth beacons, WiFi access points, or specialized transmitters. In order to achieve strong coverage for these systems, it's often necessary to establish a relatively dense topography of these sensors or beacons to ensure that a device's location can be triangulated, which means that no matter where a device or user is located within the indoor location, they are within reach of at least a small number of signals.

Hardware-free indoor positioning systems aim to deliver the same level of positioning accuracy - but without any of the aforementioned beacons or sensors.

Why is hardware-free an advantage for indoor positioning?

The key advantage to a hardware-free indoor positioning system is the lack of set up and hardware overhead. Hardware-based positioning systems typically require dozens or even hundreds of beacons or sensors to be installed, normally by a dedicated team that require access to a site over several days.

The main incentive of a hardware-free solution is that none of this process is required, as the system is operated entirely through hardware-agnostic techniques and software.