Introduction
A big part of a functioning augmented reality indoor navigation solution is the indoor positioning system. There are a variety of indoor positioning systems currently available, so the big question is which one to choose. We did not want to focus on a single solution, which is why the VIEWAR Ecosystem encompasses the best of all possible systems to create a unique and efficient indoor tracking system for our clients. One of these clients is the Technical Museum in Vienna for which we used Vuforia to implement our augmented reality indoor navigation solution.
VIEWAR and Vuforia
One of these positioning systems currently being employed in the AR Ecosystem is the Vuforia Engine. The Vuforia Engine offers tracking of diverse objects and spaces that can be categorized as Images, Objects, and Environments. It allows you to recognize objects by shape using pre-existing 3D models. By employing this system, VIEWAR was able to empower the Technical Museum in Vienna (TMW) with the world’s largest AR indoor navigation application INDOAR.
VIEWAR and the Technical Museum in Vienna
The indoor navigation solution INDOAR helps users optimize their routes and always find the quickest way around any location. We are simplifying the challenging task of indoor navigation in complex buildings such as modern airports, shopping malls, factories, large office buildings, museums, cruise ships, and hospitals.
Using the indoor navigation system INDOAR, navigating directly to one of the 12.000 exhibition objects was an easy task. Each item could also be enhanced with more digital information in the form of text, images, and videos. The wide variety of technologies employed in our application created the best possible solution for the Technical Museum in Vienna. INDOAR uses the visual recognition method to calculate visitor position, augmented reality to display real-time information and an interactive guide to show the navigation destination direction. Read more about the Technical Museum here.
Why the Technical Museum has chosen INDOAR
The setup of many AR software solutions is usually very complicated and time-intense, which is a challenge for many companies. This increases time and costs for an installation to a level that is unbearable, stopping many companies from following through with an implementation. The setup for INDOAR is easy. There are no beacons or any hardware involved – which makes the whole solution even more resistible to hardware prone errors.
As museum visitors usually seek out more information about certain items in an exhibition or want to have their own individual guided tours, augmented reality indoor navigation was a game-changer for them. Localization of over 12.000 exhibition objects was quickly made possible and item-specific information could be displayed at each of them. For the Technical Museum in Vienna, these have been the crucial requirements for implementation.
The next steps: From indoor navigation to digital workflows
Indoor positioning can be expanded with additional features such as workflows, remote assistance, IoT data, and everything else the VIEWAR suite encompasses, as it is the case with SERVICE AR. VIEWAR offers a combined solution of AR and VR (browser based), which is more than what the typical competitor offers in their solution. This gives every client the possibility to enhance their work environment with augmented reality in many different use cases.
Why choose to work with VIEWAR?
VIEWAR offers many interactive solutions involving visitors and creating rewarding engagement opportunities for museums. The indoor navigation system by VIEWAR opens up a new augmented world, consisting of AR content, enhanced video explanations and guided tours, to enable more immersive experiences for every visitor. With over 12 years of experience in the industry, VIEWAR has built a trustworthy reputation in the AR-space developing state-of-the-art software with the latest features and technologies.
