iOS-Application for Indoor Navigation Based on Augmented Reality

Mobile navigation has become an integral part of everyday life. Nowadays, almost every mobile device has Global Positioning System (GPS) module together with other navigation sensors inside that makes navigation in the open spaces quite accurate and reliable. In the same time, there is also a need for indoor navigation especially in places such as shopping centers, airports, train stations, and university campuses. However, indoor navigation is still a big challenge due to various limitations such as lack of GPS indoor accuracy, the complexity of building plans, high cost and density of indoor spaces. Over the past few decades, there have been many new approaches to solving the problem of indoor navigation using mobile devices: RFID, Beacons, Machine Learning (ML) algorithms, visual tags, and many others (1). A lot of projects have emerged which provide indoor navigation solutions by combining the above methods for improving navigation accuracy. Also, Augmented Reality (AR) technology has recently gained popularity, which has found its application in mobile navigation. This paper presents the analysis of existing indoor navigation methods using mobile devices and proposes an AR-based solution for mobile navigation using the iOS device and real-life visual markers. The solution is based on ARKit framework presented by Apple which is used for high-accuracy tracking device motions in 3D space (6). Additionally, the real-time video stream is used for analyzing visual markers presented in the environment for the purpose of device positioning calibration. All the above methods are integrated into one navigation AR-based model and implemented in the iOS application. The map is represented as a graph of locations and tracks, where each track is recorded using the iOS device.