Have you ever entered a building and immediately felt lost? Winding through the hallways or floors, you wander around, looking for a hint as to where you are going. Jibestream sees this issue as a challenge to overcome with their indoor mapping service. The Canada-based company digitizes indoor maps and leverages tabular data from the client to create a comprehensive, dynamic map that disseminates information methodically—it enables digital forms of way-finding that are customizable depending on the space and client. Jibestream representative Trish Sissons explained in an interview, “if you can dream it, you can make it happen. It just depends on having geospatially accurate indoor maps.”
Jibestream began in 2009 with a dynamic outlook for their geospatial capabilities. They focused on touch-screen kiosks, interactive digital maps, and facial recognition to provide more relevant advertising based on the user. While the company has dropped it’s facial recognition inquiries, they are still technology- and industry-agnostic. The advancement of interoperability produces a comprehensive guide to a building’s amenities and layout.
Let’s say you work at a corporation within a large office campus and you have a meeting later today with five other team members at 2 pm. You go on your phone to the employee app provided by the company and find the section that shows which conference rooms are available. To make sure the location is convenient for everyone on the team, you use the find a friend or colleague feature to see which desk pods those members are located today. There is a ten-person conference room available one floor down from where everyone is located and you book it for the preferred time. Jibestream works with a client to make the interaction with a space as efficient as possible.
Data, now more than ever, impacts the world around us. Industries are able to use the data they already have to gain insights on their space. “Data is more meaningful and actionable in the context of a map. [It] Allows clients to make better decisions and automate processes around facilities management. This has big implications for energy efficiency and HVAC [heating, ventilation, and air conditioning] controls,” among other variables.
For Jibestream, geography and geospatial accuracy are key for properly putting a two-dimensional map and data on a three-dimensional platform. GPS doesn’t work for indoor mapping, so if the indoor map is not properly calibrated or projected, then there is no accuracy relative to the outside world. The digital maps they create are not isolated if it needs to connect to an outside GPS the correct indoor positioning can help with “the greater geography of the place.” In addition, when dealing with multiple floors and entryways, geospatial accuracy is necessary for comprehensible indoor navigation.
An example of a current client they have taken on is the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. The 5.6 million square foot facility requires landmark-based directions to give guests a sense of direction. The features required for such a large space include a web directory, onsite directory kiosks, and a mobile app that uses landmark-based directions and allows the client to adjust the program in real-time. The streamlining of these processes has created flexibility for the mall’s administration and easier wayfinding for visitors.
Jibestream’s goals as a company are to change the way people interact with indoor spaces and to make daily life easier. Whether it be the use of location-aware technologies or asset tracking for hospital IV pumps, the ability to eliminate stress for those entering a building is an inherent part of their innovations.
To find out more about the company visit their website at www.jibestream.com.
Photo Credit: Jibestream Mall of America
Written by: Caroline Stern