Show HN: Indoor Location you can try yourself

Constructive criticism: After reading the description, I don't understand what this application does. I am not initmately familiar with indoor mapping/positioning or WiFiSLAM. The term "indoor mapping showcase" is vague to me.<p>I think it lets me build maps of indoor locations? Somehow? Based on the screenshots, maybe by walking around my room? It seems like it could be neat, but I don't want to go through the trouble of downloading an app if I don't know what it does.

We built this because we felt Indoor Location technology is too inaccessible. There's lots of buzz about indoor location, and many canned demos, but very few people seem to put it out there.<p>We've built some cool tech, and we want people to try it out first hand.

I'd love to know a little more about what's going on here. Does it use accelerometers or just wifi signals? One key question: could I share these floorplans? That is to say, using the sensors on HTC Android device #1, could I sent a floorplan to my friend Samsung device #2 and have them be able to similarly track their location?<p>Does it only work indoors, or is that just for demonstration?

The explanation on the Play Store didn't make sense to me, only by watching the video could I understand what it did.<p>Actually, a coworker thought it worked the other way round :) (build a map by walking around).<p>I don't have a floor plan of anywhere, they're not required here in Uruguay.<p>Btw, video: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_GdXp_Swjs" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_GdXp_Swjs</a>

Sounds really great! I appreciate you put an App out there so we can try it out ourself and not just read a paper or watch a video. I tried it, but unfortunately my old HTC Wildfire is so slow that it becomes unusable. I was able to take a picture but I can't even place the cursor on the map. Of course I don't expect you to support such an old and crappy phone. I will try to get hold of a faster Android phone.<p>I also downloaded the SDK. Is it possible to use it on a Laptop, too? Maybe, by emulating Android? I have no clue but I would have a few ideas on how to use it with a Laptop.<p>As Gee has pointed out, there is also <a href="http://www.indooratlas.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.indooratlas.com/</a> which uses the magnetic field for indoor SLAM. Do you have any info on how your system compares to theirs?<p>Anyway, thanks for sharing this!

If you don’t have time to try the app, watch this video instead. It’s 90 seconds. www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_GdXp_Swjs

IndoorAtlas is similar, but doesn't require WiFi in the building. It utilizes magnetic variations to detect the location. <a href="http://www.indooratlas.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.indooratlas.com/</a>

<p><pre><code> Error reading floorplan There was an error reading your floorplan from storage </code></pre> Nexus 1, trying Windows7 Paint generated .png and .jpg

I just want to point out that I first mis-parsed the name of the technology as "wif islam".

Aisle 411 is doing indoor location: <a href="http://aisle411.com/" rel="nofollow">http://aisle411.com/</a>

What happens if the WiFi base station has dynamic power levels - or are most bases left with fixed power?

doesn't work for my on campus wifi. any requirements on the wifi network? My phone is htc one x.

Did you write image recognition from scratch yourselves, or is it based on a lib?

Crashes on startup. HTC Evo V 4G, Android 4.0.3. Reported via Google Play.

Does this adapt it's map on the fly like a true SLAM, or does it only work off the access points detected during the configuration phase?