SBIR Phase II: Collaborative Indoor Mapping Technologies

SBIR第二阶段项目将开发软件和系统，通过众包和数据融合，几乎自动生成和维护全球室内地图数据库。室内地图绘制的当前技术状态依赖于手动劳动密集型过程来创建和维护地图，因为它们随时间变化，这是难以缩放的。动态地图构建系统将解决生成和更新关键室内地图导航数据的挑战。开发的地图软件将使用现有的嵌入式智能手机传感器来发现建筑物的功能（如走廊，电梯，出口和楼梯间）及其连接，因为用户走过建筑物，同时携带运行地图应用程序的智能手机。 其他建筑物特征信息作为地图的一部分收集。使用相同的传感器同时跟踪的用户的位置用于识别所发现的建筑物特征的位置。地图的准确性和完整性将随着用户数量的增加而增加。 该室内地图数据库将用于改进室内定位和路由。地图软件的更广泛/商业影响是，它将使地图覆盖范围扩大到购物中心、机场和博物馆等高使用环境之外。 动态地图构建系统使地图能够轻松扩展到包括所有商业建筑，并帮助解决维护和更新室内地图导航数据的挑战，因为它们随时间而变化。 该系统产生的数据将与领先的室内地图供应商提供的室内地图数据进行补充和整合。室内地图可用于为各种应用程序提供动力，它们显然是使基于位置的应用程序工作的关键。这些应用包括消费者应用以及关键安全应用。如果软件能够计算出人员（包括儿童）的位置，并将其显示在清晰的地图上，其中包括基本的平面图数据，以便轻松联系到他们，那么在紧急情况下定位人员（包括儿童）就成为可能。如果在地图上清楚地标出了开放的通道、楼梯间、入口和出口，那么在紧急情况下走出建筑物是可能的。

This SBIR Phase II project will develop software and a system that enables nearly automatic generation and maintenance of a global database of indoor maps through crowdsourcing and data fusion. The current state of the art in indoor mapping relies on a manual labor-intensive process to create and maintain maps as they change over time, which is difficult to scale. A dynamic map-building system will address the challenge of generating and updating key indoor map navigation data. The developed mapping software will use existing embedded Smartphone sensors to discover building features (such as hallways, elevators, exits, and stairwells) and their connectivity as a user walks through a building while carrying a Smartphone running the mapping application. Additional building signature information is collected as part of the map. The user's location, which is simultaneously being tracked using the same sensors, is used to identify the location of the discovered building features. The map accuracy and completeness will increase as the number of users increase. This indoor map database will be used for improved indoor location and routing.The broader/commercial impact of the mapping software is that it will enable map coverage to increase beyond high use environments such as malls, airports, and museums. The dynamic map-building system enables maps to be easily extended to include all commercial buildings and to help address the challenge of maintaining and updating indoor map navigation data as they change over time. The data produced by the system will complement and integrate with indoor map data being made available by leading indoor map suppliers. Indoor maps can be used to power a wide array of applications, and they are clearly essential for making location-based applications work. These applications include consumer applications as well as critical safety applications. Locating people (including children) in emergency situations becomes possible if the software can both calculate their location and show it on a clear map that includes essential floor plan data that makes it easy to reach them. Navigating out of a building in an emergency is possible if the open pathways, stairwells, entrances, and exits are clearly marked on a map.