enRoute: An Indoor Navigation Application Using Digital Signage

Navigation tools such as paper maps, vehicle navigators, and map applications have long been essential in our daily lives. For the outdoors, a GPS is used to navigate between two points. However, GPS technology does not work well indoors, and we have a weaker sense of direction when inside buildings. In particular, with the increase in the number of large-scale buildings, people more often have to navigate complex indoor spaces. To achieve indoor navigation, we need to know our current location, the intended destination, and the correct route. We can determine indoor reference points by using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons as well as digital signage, which is widely used indoors for promotional and informational purposes. An indoor navigation system consists of digital signage, pre-installed BLE beacons, and a mobile application. When the mobile application computes the shortest path from the current location to the destination, a step-by-step navigational instruction graph is shown both on users' phones and on nearby digital signage until the user reaches the destination. We conducted an experiment and survey to understand users' attitudes toward the application. The result shows that most subjects find the system useful and easy to use and hold a positive or neutral attitude toward continuing to use it.