ArcGIS IPS is an indoor positioning system extension that provides geolocation for a wide variety of indoor location uses. With IPS, your indoor location is displayed as a blue dot on an indoor map. You can navigate to people, places, and assets inside a facility in real time. With the integration of the indoor positioning system into the ArcGIS system, ArcGIS users can improve their operational efficiency by making better-informed decisions.
To use IPS, you need ArcGIS Pro to create the ArcGIS IPS Information Model, floor plan data, and a positioning file. You also need an ArcGIS organization on ArcGIS Enterprise or ArcGIS Online to host shared data.
To enable indoor positioning for a facility, you should first survey the facility to collect data about the indoor spaces. Alternatively, you can also use the Generate Indoor Positioning File Without Survey tool, and rely on the beacons and walls data from your IPS environment to enable positioning. If your network (beacons) and environment (walls) data is not precise, the optimal approach is to rely on ArcGIS IPS Setup, a mobile app for Android and iOS that allows you to plan survey paths or use existing ones to perform survey recordings inside facilities and sites to collect location data. You can then upload recordings from the IPS Setup app to an ArcGIS organization and use them to create a positioning file.
Follow these steps to configure an indoor positioning system using IPS Setup:
- Configure your ArcGIS organization on Enterprise or ArcGIS Online.
- Complete the prerequisites to create the ArcGIS IPS Information Model and curate floor plan data.
- In ArcGIS Pro, prepare a map for use with the IPS Setup app.
- Optionally, if you are planning to perform IPS survey, create survey paths in ArcGIS Pro.
- Share the map as an editable web map to your ArcGIS organization.
- Open the web map in the IPS Setup app.
- Perform surveys in ArcGIS Pro to generate a positioning file.
- In the ArcGIS IPS Setup app, test the indoor positioning system.
- Enable the indoor positioning system in mobile apps.
Note:
If you are using the Generate Indoor Positioning File Without Survey tool, skip steps 4 and 7.
Required software
One of the following is required:
- The latest version of ArcGIS Enterprise for a portal connection
- An ArcGIS Online organization
Required hardware
IPS uses your facility’s existing network infrastructure and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons to provide real-time indoor location information. For optimal performance, the BLE beacons must be configured as follows:
- Transmission protocol—iBeacon
- Transmission frequency—350 ms
- Transmission power level—TX Power 2 (-16 dBm @ 1m) (depends on your facility's physical characteristics)
Note:
Customized configurations do not necessarily provide suboptimal performance. Certain environmental conditions, such as the physical characteristics of indoor spaces and unusually noisy radio environments, may require adjustments to beacon network settings to achieve optimal results.
The following is a list of BLE beacon providers that have been verified for use with IPS:
- Kontakt.io (Anchor Beacon 2)—Verified in 2017
- Minew (MBM03 Rugged Road Stud Beacon)—Verified in February 2023
- Gimbal (Series 22 Beacon)—Verified in February 2023
- PoleStar (NAO BlueSpot v4 Indoor & Rugged)—Verified in July 2022
- Blue Charm (Water-Resistant Bluetooth BLE Beacon (BC063B))—Verified in November 2022
Caution:
If the beacon that you want to use is not on this list, it is recommended that you verify the compatibility of the beacons before deployment. Any BLE beacon that supports the iBeacon protocol may be compatible; however, some beacons may not perform as well as others. For example, some beacons may not support the recommended transmission frequency and power levels required for use with IPS.