Internet-based Indoor Navigation Services

The advances of smartphone technology in recent years is leading to the uptake of a new class of Internet-based Indoor Navigation (IIN) services, which might soon diminish the need of Satellite-based technologies in urban environments. IIN services rely on geolocation databases that store indoor models comprising of floor-maps and points-of-interest along with wireless, light and magnetic signals used to localize users. Developing IIN services creates a new spectrum of information management challenges ranging from crowdsourcing indoor models, acquiring and fusing big-data velocity signals, localization algorithms, location privacy of custodians and others. In this work, we present the current landscape of academic and industrial IIN services using a multi-dimensional taxonomy of emerging topics in this domain, including location, crowdsourcing, privacy and modeling. We present the dimensions of our taxonomy through the lens of an open, modular, extensible and scalable IIN architecture, coined Anyplace, concluding with open challenges.