Magnetic positioning


Magnetic positioning is an IPS solution based on magnetic sensor data from a smartphone used to wirelessly locate objects or people inside a building.
There is currently no de facto standard for IPS, however magnetic positioning appears to be the most complete and cost effective. It offers accuracy without any hardware requirements and a relatively low total cost of ownership. According to Opus Research magnetic positioning will emerge as a “foundational” indoor location technology.
Magnetic positioning was invented by Professor Janne Haverinen and Anssi Kemppainen. Noticing that buildings' magnetic distortions were leading machines astray, they eventually turned the problem around and focused attention on the magnetic interferences caused by steel structures. What they found was that the disturbances inside them were consistent, creating a magnetic fingerprint unique to a building.
Professor Janne Haverinen founded the company IndoorAtlas in 2012 to commercialize the magnetic positioning solution with dual headquarters in Mountain View, CA and Oulu, Finland.

Issues

The local magnetic field is affected by moving metal objects like lifts or metal cabinets.