SBIR Phase II: Collaborative Indoor Mapping Technologies

SBIR二期项目将开发软件和系统，通过众包和数据融合实现室内地图全球数据库的几乎自动生成和维护。目前的室内测绘技术依赖于人工劳动密集型的过程来创建和维护地图，因为它们会随着时间的推移而变化，这很难进行缩放。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，当用户携带运行地图应用程序的智能手机走过建筑物时，可以发现建筑物特征（如走廊、电梯、出口和楼梯井）及其连接。附加的建筑特征信息作为地图的一部分被收集。用户的位置同时被相同的传感器跟踪，用于识别发现的建筑特征的位置。随着用户数量的增加，地图的准确性和完整性也会提高。这个室内地图数据库将用于改进室内定位和路线。地图软件的更广泛/商业影响是，它将使地图覆盖范围超出商场、机场和博物馆等高使用环境。动态地图构建系统使地图可以很容易地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补充和整合主要室内地图供应商提供的室内地图数据。室内地图可以用来驱动各种各样的应用程序，它们对于基于位置的应用程序的工作显然是必不可少的。这些应用包括消费者应用以及关键的安全应用。如果该软件既能计算出人们（包括儿童）的位置，又能在清晰的地图上显示出来，其中包括便于联系到他们的基本平面图数据，那么在紧急情况下定位人们（包括儿童）就成为可能。如果开放的通道、楼梯井、入口和出口在地图上清楚地标示出来，在紧急情况下就可以从建筑物中导航出来。

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.