Indoor location-based services are easier to deploy now because of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) smartphone technology and new wireless infrastructure. TechCrunch predicts we’ll see BLE become mainstream in 2017.
While step-by-step navigation has existed outdoors for more than a decade due to GPS and apps like Google Maps, indoor location has been slower to market. That’s what BLE will change as the technology makes every smartphone “location aware,” allowing stores, hospitals, schools, companies and other organizations to offer personalized services to consumers, according to TechCrunch.
New wireless infrastructure takes advantage of BLE and makes it easy and cost-effective to deploy at scale. Now, physical beacons need to be placed every 20 feet or so to detect BLE users and then engage with them. They’re expensive to deploy and maintain. Cisco has introduced a product that virtualizes wireless beacons.
Location accuracy has also been a challenge to BLE deployment. Location accuracy needs to be close to the one-meter range to use BLE for step-by-step navigation, asset tracking and push notifications, according to TechCrunch. Folding BLE into WiFi systems, along with advances in machine learning, have now made this possible.
Companies want to engage with consumers using location data — to help them find a product or service and notify them of sales, for example. As customers use the services, companies will learn where they spend their time, what services or products they’re using and for how long.
November 22, 2016
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