Mapsted is the free, easy-to-use app that provides state-of-the-art indoor navigation in shopping malls and other indoor facilities. No more staring at directory signs or getting lost in a busy mall. Mapsted works in any building that Mapsted has mapped; just download it once and use it everywhere.
Mapsted lets you search for stores, products and services by name, category or type. It also lets build your own custom profile by entering your preferences, interests, shopping behavior and other information. With that, Mapsted and its partners can deliver you a shopping experience that is customized especially for you.
Mapsted doesn’t require Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or an internet connection to work. It’s the world’s only stand-alone indoor navigation system. It doesn’t rely on a mobile data connection, and it uses very little battery power. So you can shop ‘till you drop – anywhere – with no worries about your battery or data consumption.
Mapsted uses proprietary, patented technology to provide highly accurate, step-by-step indoor navigation. It accurately displays the locations of stores, service kiosks, washrooms and other amenities in a building. It shows your location, the location of places you want to go to, and guides you every step of the way. You don’t even have to launch it - Mapsted recognizes when you enter a location that has been mapped and loads itself automatically. You simply search, click, and start walking.
Later this year, you can get money saving coupons and other special offers delivered directly to your smartphone while you shop!* And soon, you’ll be able to use Mapsted in airports, hospitals, university campuses, convention centers, public office buildings, government complexes, and other indoor facilities.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mapsted.navigation
Related
Does anyone know if any Ireland (Eire) maps exist for TomTom Navigator 5?
An extract from http://www.lookintoireland.com/gps.htm kind of says it all really.
"A GPS navigation system is of limited use in Ireland because of the appalling quality and incomplete state of the digital maps provided.
The Irish national road map detail is typically limited to some of the national primary and secondary roads ("N" roads), a limited subset of regional roads ("R" routes), few if any other routes ("C" routes) and little or no motorway detail.
While the national mapping agencies in most other European countries provide 100% coverage of every pathway, street, road, and highway, allowing door to door navigation down to the house number, Irish GPS maps typically only provide street level map detail for a handful of Irish cities and towns. Many / most scenic / rural routes are missing.
Why this sad state of affairs one might ask? In utility industries such as phone and electricity, one typically finds a state or former state owned incumbent and a number of private sector competitors. The private sector competitors rely on regulations which require the incumbent to open up its distribution network of cables so that they can deliver competing telephone and electricity services to anyone who wants them. This eliminates the requirement for each competitor to create their own network of cables running to each home and business in a country which would be totally uneconomic and stupid.
There are no regulations requiring the state owned Irish Mapping Agency (Ordnance Survey Ireland) to license their map databases to GPS map producers at an economic price. As a result, private sector GPS mappers have had to create their own map databases of Ireland which is a huge task in a country with about 100,000 km of roads to cover to do the job properly. Their coverage is half baked as a result and any GPS maps of Ireland we have seen leave much to be desired. Instead of re-inventing the wheel creating their own maps, GPS mappers should be able to license the complete data from OSI and add value to it to create their own distinct products."
Sorry....
Metr0 is a very useful public transportation app long available on a whole slew of platforms other than Android. On 31 July the developers released a preview version at their blog.
Their website has extensive general information about the program.
What's the big deal given that there are already other transport apps on the Market? Well, this preview version already beats all the ones I've tried, and most of the features available on other platforms aren't even enabled yet. Metr0 is so useful to me that when I travel I carry an old inactivated Windows phone just to run it. It's not just a collection of subway maps (in fact, if you want to see a map of a system, this isn't the tool for you).
Appearance and (eventual) function of the Android version is very close to the iPhone version.
Here are some of the ways in which it's great (at least in the completed versions):
400 cities worldwide
data frequently updated by users
all data stored offline on your device so you don't rack up roaming data charges
enter start and ending points and your route will be computed and time estimated
details provided when you need to transfer so you don't end up on the wrong train
extensive list of POI's since you probably don't know the best stations for unfamiliar cities
autocompletion, which helps with foreign spelling
quick "reverse route" button for returning to your starting point without re-entering anything or reading in reverse order
subway and bus routes for many cities, allowing for optimal routing
set preferences to minimize transfers, minimize walking, avoid buses, etc.
knows when stations or routes are closed, takes this into account when routing so you don't end up stranded
exclude specific lines if desired (smelly hobos, unreliable, etc.)
features of particular use to commuters and locals
features of particular use to tourists
roughly 50 cities have geolocation data, allowing routing to or from particular addresses or from your current location without knowing what your nearest stop is
It's free, has been for many years, and is planned to remain free (although they'll happily accept donations).
I'm really happy about this, if you can't tell!
There's also a database for Liberty City from Grand Theft Auto IV.
Picking out the school that’s right for you isn’t always easy. If you’re a student with a disability, you want to find out if the school provides the accommodations and resources to make your educational experience a success. Here are some questions to ask up front to make sure a college can meet your needs:
Academics and Life After College
Does the registration process accommodate the disabled? If not, are there services to assist you?
Does the school offer priority registration for the disabled?
Are there academic counselors who are experienced in meeting the needs of disabled students?
Are tutors provided for all subjects?
Are note-taking services available?
Does the university bookstore have textbooks for the disabled?
Is there a service to convert text to audio tape, large print or Braille?
Is there a campus-wide sign language interpreter program or real-time captioning? What is the availability of these services?
Does the school allow additional time on tests and exams? Does it allow other alternative testing formats like readers, writers, distraction-reduced environments or the use of tape recorders, computers and/or adaptive equipment?
What kinds of career services are available? Are they accessible and relevant to disabled students?
Housing and Resources
What percentage of the buildings on campus is handicapped accessible?
Is there an office specifically dedicated to the needs of disabled students? How experienced is the staff there? How large is it?
Does the college provide housing specifically for disabled students and/or personal attendants and housekeeping?
How accessible are the food service and computer facilities?
Does the university offer adaptive computer access? Do university computers have optical character recognition, speech output systems and/or Braille translators, embossers and keyboards? Is adaptive software available?
What kind of technology support is there for students with hearing-impairments? Does the college provide telecommunication devices for the deaf, assistive listening devices, telephone amplifiers and visual alarms (i.e. smoke/fire alarms)?
Are there physical training and/or functional training facilities on campus? What services do they provide?
Is equipment repair available? Are there wheelchair loaner or rental services?
Finances
Is there any financial aid available for students with disabilities?
Are there any university/departmental scholarships for disabled students?
Are students eligible to apply for loans or receive financial aid if they take a reduced load (less than full-time)?
Is there a fee for services for the disabled?
Student Life
What percentage of the student population is disabled?
Are there any disabled student organizations?
Are there any varsity or intramural sports for disabled students?
How accessible are the recreational facilities?
What kind of counseling services are available? Are they accessible and relevant to disabled students?
What kind of on-campus and off-campus transportation services does the university provide on the weekdays and on the weekends?
What is the retention rate (how many disabled students come back after their freshman year)?
How many disabled students have graduated from the college in the last few years?
Anyone knows about the indoor location technology in our mobile phones?
lisaquach said:
Anyone knows about the indoor location technology in our mobile phones?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as we rely even more on our smartphone for everyday life, the physical limitations of GPS, which doesn't work in indoor environments or between tall buildings in dense urban areas, are becoming a real challenge for the next generation of LBS(location based Services) applications. Simply put, for GPS to work, it requires a clear view of the sky, where a receiver has an unobstructed line of sight to satellites, meaning that all the mobile location-based apps, like navigation for example, won't work indoors, inside airports, malls, museums, subways, etc., which is where we actually need them the most, as we spend a majority of our time indoor. It also happens that 80% of smartphone usage is done inside buildings, making an even stronger case for bringing location technologies indoor.
• Installations of indoor location services became of excellent quality, available from numerous providers on the market today
• Indoor location apps are now mainstream for iPhone and Android devices, covering already about 80% of the smartphone market
• Because of the rapid market penetration and adoption of smartphones, indoor location services no longer require the use of a specific and separate mobile device, even in professional environments
• Low cost and easy to implement technologies are now widely available, making it easier for all sorts of venues, like shopping centres, airports, rail stations, subways or museums to integrate indoor location technology in their respective mobile apps and bring real added value to customers
• Efficient tools and open software development kits (SDK) allow for any application developers to deploy themselves indoor location services, in their venue or their customers
• The fusion of multiple technologies, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy and GPS, along with specific ones already integrated in smartphones (accelerometer, magnetometer, gyroscope, and pressure sensor acting as an altimeter) allowed to overcome the main technical barriers that prevented indoor location to be successful in the market. Today, it's finally possible to address 100% of an indoor venue, at a low cost and independently of their Wi-Fi network density
• Finally, the performance reached by indoor location technologies has now surpassed GPS for the outdoors. So much that indoor location today is more accurate than outdoor positioning, with an average accuracy of a few square feet compared to several tens of square feet for GPS.
Hope this is enough for you to get the point.
@¥ü$h
You gave very useful information and the way of description was also good. I want to ask that how can we implement this technology in our daily life. Is there any application for this ??
lisaquach said:
You gave very useful information and the way of description was also good. I want to ask that how can we implement this technology in our daily life. Is there any application for this ??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, till now there's no app developed on public level & in future also I don't think it will coming soon. Though there are various developers & business firms providing this facility at expensive cost. Apps are available but they are useless till you have the right equipments & functions in your Mobile to operate & that can only be done by paying to a developer for the service they provide.
For eg:
Estimote Indoor
Location is currently only available for iOS and
uses complex data science enabled by your
iPhone to approximate the physical dimensions of
your venue, the relative distance you move, and
your proximity to various beacons nearby.
@¥ü$h
Yes, I heard about the iBeacon, available in Apple products that operates on iOS7 or iOS8. We can trace Apple devices by this application.
Human beings all have the instinct for social interaction. We always want to connect to everyone and everything. How can we connect to nearby services quickly and have in-depth interactions with surrounding people and environments? Nearby Service gives more than you can imagine, making nearby connections as natural as a normal conversation.
01 About HUAWEI Nearby Service
HUAWEI Nearby Service makes it easy for users to interact with nearby people, devices, and environments using technologies such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and LTE. The service provides Nearby Connection and Nearby Message APIs to implement various nearby communication scenarios.
02 Application Scenarios
High-Speed Large File Transfers Without Connecting to the Internet
High data tariffs and unstable signals are a hindrance for people wanting to share content from wherever they like. Nearby Service offers a solution that enables users to communicate even without a connection to the Internet. Thanks to Huawei proprietary data transmission protocols, Nearby Service outperforms its competitors in terms of device discovery speed and transmission bandwidth. It just takes a second for users to transfer any type of file.
Interaction Makes Games More Fun
Nearby Service provides a better gaming experience for users even when they are not connected to the Internet. As a result, a smartphone can function as a joystick and be used to play games on a connected large screen such as a TV. Alternatively, a smartphone can be transformed into a motion sensor gadget for an immersive somatosensory game experience.
In addition, direct connections can be set up for seamless gaming with friends rapidly. Meet your friends offline and have a few rounds of card games without having to prepare anything.
What Else Is Available for Nearby Users?
With a function that allows the discovery of nearby devices, Nearby Service is capable of far more than just multiplayer gaming. Take the example of an in-store transaction between a user and a shopkeeper. No longer does the user need to scan a QR code to make the payment. Instead, Nearby Service can automatically discover the nearby shopkeeper's device and complete the transfer within one second.
In the same way, a user can find nearby friends easily and create a private group to chat or transfer money.
Connections can only be made with users who are nearby, preventing money unintentionally being transferred to the wrong person located further away. You wouldn't want anyone not at the party to get all the cash, would you?
Services Anytime and Anywhere
Nearby Service lets app developers deliver assisting messages at the right moment and the right place to users. When a user approaches a shopping mall, scenic spot, or airport, a Bluetooth beacon can be used to push information, preferences, and reminders to the user, further blurring the boundary between the digital world and the real world.
Take a shopping mall as an example. A user walks near a commodity and receives commodity details and related recommendations from Nearby Service. The user then goes to the cashier and receives information about discounts. After making the payment, the user goes to the underground parking lot where the car's location is displayed by Nearby Service with directions to get to the car.
Nearby Service provides a Bluetooth beacon management tool for shopping mall operations personnel to provide all these services easily. With the tool, they can manage messages using a Bluetooth beacon and obtain customer flow statistics and professionally-conducted analysis as a reference for future marketing activities.
03 Streamlined Integration Process
Nearby Service provides user-friendly APIs. The integration is just a piece of cake. For guidance of integrating Nearby Service into your app, please go to the HUAWEI Developer website, where you will find the step-by-step integration guide, sample code, and API references. You can also contact us by work order at https://developer.huawei.com/consumer/cn/support/feedback for further technical assistance.