BARCELONA, Spain--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS--IndoorAtlas Ltd, the global Platform-as-a-Service leader in geomagnetic indoor positioning technology, today announced an agreement with Yahoo! JAPAN to deliver indoor positioning services within venues across Japan. This will lay the foundation for enriching Yahoo! JAPAN’s map solutions such as way-finding and search within buildings, and will enable the development of advertising services in the future*.
Yahoo! JAPAN is the leading internet portal in Japan and generates 63 billion page views per month. Japan ranks number four in smartphone penetration worldwide, making it a hot market for the deployment of indoor location-based services. IndoorAtlas’ technology has the potential to reach a high percentage of the 38 million inhabitants in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area alone.
“We are thrilled to be selected by Yahoo! JAPAN for this major deployment of our indoor positioning platform in such an important market for us,” said Dr. Janne Haverinen, CEO of IndoorAtlas. “The agreement extends IndoorAtlas’ global leadership in indoor positioning and reflects the demand we are seeing for location-based services.”
Modern buildings all have a unique magnetic landscape produced by the Earth’s magnetic field that interacts with steel and other materials found in structures of buildings. By utilizing the magnetic sensor within a smartphone, IndoorAtlas’ software is able to detect anomalies in the Earth’s magnetic field to accurately pinpoint and track a person’s location indoors, producing a “blue dot” on a map – just like GPS. IndoorAtlas’ cloud-based platform is the interface for application developers to create venues, manage data and build their location-based services within a mobile application that can include advertising, point-of-interest (search), way-finding and other services.
“With IndoorAtlas, we were excited to discover an infrastructure-free solution that does not rely heavily on beacons,” said Gen Miyazawa, President of Media Company at Yahoo! JAPAN. “By leveraging IndoorAtlas’ platform, we can build a range of location-based services with ease and its cloud-based platform will enable us to scale cost effectively unlike other technologies available on the market today.”
Scalability
The software-only technology removes the need to purchase, install and maintain large amounts of infrastructure that are often associated with WiFi or beacon solutions. Geomagnetic positioning not only lowers Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) but also enables indoor navigation through spaces not accessible for hardware installations, such as stores within a shopping mall or businesses inside a train station.
Accuracy
Geomagnetic indoor positioning technology is more accurate than WiFi, beacon and other technologies, pinpointing users’ locations within one to two meters. This accuracy is needed to achieve search and way-finding location services. User satisfaction and engagement increase with system accuracy.
Platform capabilities
IndoorAtlas’ cloud-based platform was created with the application developer in mind. Its simple workflow and SDK enable developers to build location-based services within mobile applications for a wide range of use cases: an airline helping travelers navigate through complex airports for connecting flights, a museum providing real-time guide information during tours, and a retailer getting shoppers to the right aisle or product in a supermarket.
Pricing
IndoorAtlas offers a freemium pricing model and customers pay as they grow - paying only for monthly active users. Developers can sign-up and start using the service for free at www.indooratlas.com.
*Specifications of advertising services are to be determined based on deliberate consideration.
About IndoorAtlas
Founded in 2012, IndoorAtlas is a global Platform-as-a-Service leader in geomagnetic indoor positioning. Its patented technology utilizes the compass sensor in smartphones to detect anomalies in the Earth’s magnetic field to pinpoint a location indoors. It provides approximately 25,000 developers with a scalable cloud platform to build location-based services without the need to purchase, install and maintain large amounts of costly infrastructures that are often associated with WiFi or beacon solutions. With sub-two meters positioning accuracy and a platform that supports both Android and iOS, customers can create venues, collect data and build indoor location-based services, such as proximity advertising, search and way-finding, within their application. Visit www.indooratlas.com.
About Yahoo! JAPAN
Yahoo Japan Corporation was founded in 1996 and operates Yahoo! JAPAN, one of the largest portal sites, in Japan. Offering more than 100 services including search, news and e-commerce via PC and smart devices, Yahoo! JAPAN serves more than 80 million daily unique browsers, and 60 billion monthly page views on average. The total number of downloads for iOS and Android applications released by Yahoo Japan Corporation exceeds 270 million. For more information, please visit http://ir.yahoo.co.jp/en/
