Situm is an universal geolocation engine. This means that it works both in indoor and outdoor spaces, anywhere in the world, always providing the best possible position. More specifically, Situm is able to provide different levels of geolocation granuarity.
| Positioning type | Environment type | How does it work? | Key features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indoor Positioning | Calibrated venues | Situm computes the smartphone geolocation using information from its inertial sensors, WiFi, BLE, etc. If the venue has indoor and outdoor areas, Situm is able to fuse GPS information as well. | Situm provides an absolute position (latitude, longitude) besides a relative position associated with the environment in question, like Building ID, Floor ID, X and Y Coordinates, etc. |
| Outdoor Positioning | Uncalibrated environments, anywhere in the world. | Situm provides location information based on the one given by the device’s location provider, be it GPS, Apple Location, Google, etc. | Situm only provides an absolute position in WSG 84 (latitude, longitude) |
The following figure illustrates this concept, where the floorplan of the building is delimited by the dotted perimeter. We have calibrated the green area, and left the red area uncalibrated. In this environment, Situm will produce Indoor Positioning within the green area and Outdoor Positioning within the red area and beyond.
1. Outdoor
At the very least, Situm will be able to provide the outdoor geolocation of the smartphone, anywhere in the world. Typically, this is the case when the user is outside a building configured in Situm. Therefore, these geolocations are not associated with any building: location is based on GPS (or the location provider of the smartphone).
Outdoor geolocations consist on Latitude-Longitude coordinates (WSG 84) and do not provide building information (building identifier, floor identifier, X-Y coordinates...).
2. Indoor
In addition, Situm will be able to provide the user geolocation within the building that is (provided that this building has been configured with Situm's technology). The user may be:
- Indoors: within the building's walls. WiFi and or BLE are typically used.
- Outdoor: within the venue premises, but in an outdoor space. In addition to WiFi/BLE, GPS can usually be used as well.
The computed geolocations will consist on:
- Building Identifier. The identifier of the building (previously configured in Situm Platform) where the geolocation is computed.
- Floor Identifier. The identifier of the floor (within the building) where the geolocation is computed. Situm is able to detect automatically the floor where the user is, and even detect floor transitions.
- X-Y coordinates. Coordinates in meters from the bottom-left botton of the floors' floorplan.
- Latitude-Longitude coordinates. Coordinates in WGS 84.
- Bearing. Refers to the orientation of the user with respect to the north. It is usually measured in counter-clockwise radians with respect to the X axis of the building.
Building
The user may or may not be within a previously configured building. If she is, Situm will be able to detect it automatically (or the user may select it manually). Automatic detection can be based on GPS information or by matching the WiFi/BLE signals received with those expected in each building.
Floor
Additionally, Situm is able to detect automatically the floor where the user is (in a building previously configured). In essence, Situm will use the WiFi / BLE signals to classify the floor where the user is. When the user changes from one floor to the other, Situm is also able to transition accordingly.
Area (geofence)
Going a bit deeper, Situm can also detect the particular area that the user is in. This requires to previously configure a set of area (geofences) in the building.
Exact indoor location
Finally, Situm provides the greatest level of granularity: the exact users' geolocation. As explained above, this includes not only the building and the floor, but also the X-Y location, the Latitude-Longitude and the bearing (orientation).