The Indoor LBS Market in the US is expected to witness significant growth during the period 2014-2018. This is mainly attributed to the increasing number of innovations in indoor LBS technology and its growing adoption in recent years. Overall, the market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 44.87 percent during the forecast period.
TechNavio analysts have narrowed down the vendors in this huge market to bring you the top 33 indoor location-based services companies in the US:
Apple Inc.
“Apple Inc. has not yet released its indoor LBS solutions. However, Apple acquired WifiSLAM Inc. for US$20 million in 2013, and has invested a large amount of money for the development of 3D-based indoor LBS applications. Apple is expected to launch its indoor LBS application with the next version of the iPhone.”
Google Inc.
“Google Inc. is one of the leading indoor LBS map providers. In addition, the company also features the friend finder application in indoor locations. Google has covered approximately 10,000 floors in 11 countries. It is expanding its business in the developed countries such as the US, the UK, Japan, Australia, and Germany. Google mostly focuses on airports, shopping malls, retail chains, museums, casinos, convention centers, hospitals, hotels, libraries, religious centers, landmarks, sports venues, transit stations, and universities. The company is developing partnerships with several retail chains to expand its number of users at a faster rate.”
HERE (Nokia Corp.)
“HERE is one of the leading indoor digital map providers. HERE is a subsidiary of Nokia Corp., but works independently. The company produces high-quality and accurate indoor maps that represent detailed road networks. The company’s indoor map product is HERE Destination Maps. HERE started acquiring floor maps and site maps of several indoor locations in 2011, with a focus on the US, China, and India.”
Micello Inc.
“Micello Inc. is one of the leading indoor LBS map providers. The company has witnessed rapid growth over the last two years. It has almost covered more than 15,000 sites across the globe. Micello is mostly focusing on the US, Japan, and Australia. More than 90 percent of the sites covered by the company are in the US. Micello has the largest number of shopping malls and retail sites covered in the US, compared to other indoor LBS providers. However, the company has a very limited presence outside the US.”
Shopkick Inc.
“Shopkick Inc. is one of the leading indoor LBS application and platform developers. The company’s indoor LBS application is widely used in the US. However, it has a very limited presence outside the US. Over 6 million people love Shopkick, making it the most-used shopping app and fourth in overall reach (alongside eBay and Amazon) according to Nielsen. We’ve partnered with retailers like Macy’s, Old Navy, Best Buy, JCPenney, Crate & Barrel, Sports Authority and Target; with Visa and MasterCard; and with top brands like P&G, Kraft, L’Oreal, and more, to make your shopping experience even better.”
AeroScout
“AeroScout is the leading vendor in the Indoor RTLS market. Healthcare is a major market segment for AeroScout. In this segment, AeroScout’s Wi-Fi RTLS solutions are deployed in the American Hospital Association. Since the demand for RTLS is increasing in the Healthcare segment, AeroScout is expanding its business and experiencing growth in this vertical.”
Ekahau
“Ekahau is one of the leading indoor RTLS solution providers in the Global RTLS market. It offers a selection of Wi-Fi RFID tags for location tracking of assets and people. Its Wi-Fi tags are used from healthcare to industrial applications to track assets and people, providing two-way communications. It also provides indoor RTLS solutions for the Healthcare industry as well as staff safety solutions and workflow management solutions for the SMEs. The company has strong partnerships with several leading Wi-Fi system providers for wireless infrastructure.”
HP Enterprise Services LLC
“HP Enterprise Services LLC is one of the emerging players in the Indoor RTLS market. In December 2012, the company secured a five-year contract amounting to US$543 million from the US government’s Department of Veterans Affairs to install RTLS solutions in more than 150 networked hospitals. These solutions are aimed at enhancing the operations of veteran healthcare services and automation of the healthcare process.”
Zebra Technologies
“Zebra Technologies is a leading indoor RTLS solutions provider in the US. The company acquired leading RTLS solution provider, WhereNet Corp., in 2007, to enhance its RTLS solutions product portfolio. Zebra Technologies provides RFID and RTLS solutions to several organizations in the Manufacturing, Consumer Goods, Transportation and Logistics, Sports and Entertainment, Healthcare, Retail, and BFSI industries, as well as government organizations.”
aisle411 Inc.
“aisle411 is a leading indoor location platform provider for retailers. The company offers mobile retail navigation and a social shopping platform, which helps shoppers to find what they are looking for and receive reward points. The company was founded in 2008 and is based in St. Louis, Missouri, US.”
Broadcom Corp-Cl A
“Broadcom is a leading global innovation provider of semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications. Recently, the company has launched 5G WiFi system-on-chip to deliver pinpoint indoor positioning technology.”
Cisco Systems Inc.
“Cisco is the worldwide leader in IT that helps companies seize the opportunities of tomorrow by proving that amazing things can happen when you connect the previously unconnected. The Cisco Location Control Protocol (LOCP), introduced in software Release 4.1 of the Cisco UWN, represents a significant step forward in the support of new capabilities between the location appliance and other components of the Unified Wireless Network. LOCP augments the traditional SNMP polling of WLAN controllers and serves as the transport for the telemetry, chokepoint, and emergency notification features associated with the newly-introduced Cisco Compatible Extensions for Wi-Fi Tags program.”
CommScope Holding Company Inc.
“CommScope is making it possible for mobile operators to finally realize the promise of mobile location technology and maximize their investment in wireless location systems. With GeoLENs®Locate™, the newest offering from the CommScope family of location technologies, carriers can now support targeted emergency messaging for public safety communication and opt-in mobile marketing opportunities, as well as social networking and enterprise applications.”
Ericsson Inc.
“Ericsson’s Indoor Maps and Positioning platform gives developers tools to create their own indoor maps. The complete system incudes Map Studio, Android Map API, and Android Wi-Fi Positioning API. The Map Studio enables the user to design their own Indoor Maps. Map API enables the user to integrate several indoor maps in their application.”
FastMall.com
“FastMall provides a mobile platform for offline shopping navigation. FastMall® was created by a team of passionate shoppers, parents, developers, engineers, visionaries and bathroom-goers who are dedicated to making it the best mobile platform for offline shopping navigation in the history of mankind. The idea originally came from President/CEO Sam Feuer’s wife, Amie, who was completely fed up with static mall directories and the overall lack of restroom guidance. Up until now, there has been no interactive guidance to the restroom, stores or food court without asking 14 people who are also walking in circles.”
Follow Me Api
“Follow Me is a mobile application for iPhone, iPod Touch, and BlackBerry devices. Live and share your life’s adventures with FollowMe. Whether you are just going about your normal daily routine, taking a hike with the dog, or going on a long trip, use FollowMe to track where you’ve been and what you’ve seen. Then, if you want, you can easily share the organized highlights with friends and family.”
GloPos
“Leading indoor positioning technology and software provider. GloPos has developed and patented software-based alternative for indoor positioning combining superior algorithms with cell tower information. While an old idea that had previously been discounted based on the difficulty and unreliability of the position achieved through the cell-network, GloPos has turned this into a viable solution that can make all mobile phones indoor-location capable.”
IndoorAtlas Ltd.
IndoorAtlas provides magnetic-field-based indoor location technology, which utilizes magnetic anomalies inside buildings and smartphones to pinpoint positions indoors. It offers a toolbox for indoor positioning that enables businesses and individuals to create indoor location-awareness applications for store promotions, mobile gaming, and logistics efficiency or to find one’s way around shopping centers and airport terminals. The company’s toolbox includes IndoorAtlas Floor Plans, a solution that enables the user to add and manage a building floor plan with the geographic coordinate system; Map Creator is a mobile application used to create magnetic maps for buildings added through Floor Plans; and Maps API is used to create indoor-location applications.”
Meijer Find It App (Meijer Inc.)
“Meijer Inc. is a leading supercenter and grocery store chain throughout Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky. The Meijer Find It app is used to locate grocery items indoors. The company also tracks the user’s purchasing behavior and provides real-time advertising through the application.”
Meridian Apps Inc.
“Meridian Apps operates as a mobile software supplier of location-based services. The company provides a mobile phone application platform that engages users with turn-by-turn directions and other location-based services wherever they are in participating locations. Its enterprise mobile-device software is used by location-based businesses and venues to engage with customers through their mobile phones. The company was incorporated in 2011 and is based in Portland, Oregon, with additional offices in Oakland, California. US Meridian Apps, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Spotlight Mobile Inc. As of May 13, 2013, Meridian Apps, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Aruba Networks Inc.”
Microsoft Corp.
“Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services, devices and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. The company, since the acquisition of the Nokia Corp. smartphone business, provides indoor LBS services. The company uses the indoor LBS maps used by HERE.”
Navizon Inc.
“Navizon provides location-based services for geo-location of wireless devices. The company’s application enables users to locate their friends and navigate indoors through buildings, shopping malls, convention centers, and airports. The company was founded in 2005 and is based in Miami Beach, Florida, US.”
NearbyNow Inc.
“NearbyNow creates mobile shopping applications for magazines, brands, and retailers that enable consumers to stay updated on the latest products, buy online, and locate and place products on hold at a nearby store. The company was founded in 2005 and is based in Mountain View, California. The company operates as a subsidiary of JiWire Inc.”
NextNav LLC
“NextNav provides indoor and urban location services. It offers location and height information, as well as differential barometric pressure measurements. The company was incorporated in 2007 and is based in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia.”
Pole Star
“Pole Star’s US headquarters is in Palo Alto, California. The company is a leading indoor LBS platform provider. The company’s product is NAO Campus. The company’s indoor positioning solution is based on a unique hybrid technology combining WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth low energy, MEMS (motion sensors) and map data. The application is compatible with iPhone and Android.”
Qualcomm Atheros Inc.
“Qualcomm Incorporated is a world leader in 3G, 4G and next-generation wireless technologies. Qualcomm Incorporated includes Qualcomm’s licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of its patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of Qualcomm’s engineering, research and development functions, and substantially all of its products and services businesses, including its semiconductor business, QCT. Qualcomm ideas and inventions have driven the evolution of digital communications, linking people everywhere more closely to information, entertainment and each other.”
Sensewhere Ltd.
Sensewhere provides hyper-local and indoor positioning solutions that drive LBS applications on mobile devices. Its crowd-mapped software technology enables precise location information in areas where there is no or inaccurate GPS satellite data, such as indoors or in tight urban areas. The company’s portfolio includes Friendswhere, an indoor mapping and friend-location application. Snapp!, an application allows users to post social media updates in a geographical context even deep indoors. Adwhere, a precise location-based advertising platform that delivers intelligent context-aware adverts, coupons, and vouchers to potential customers indoors and within areas of poor GPS coverage.
Skyhook Wireless Inc.
“Skyhook Wireless is a leading developer of WiFi positioning systems to provide location results in urban areas. It engages in location positioning, context, and intelligence. The company provides Core Engine, a software-only location system based on Wi-Fi positioning, global positioning systems, and cell tower triangulation that provides positioning to various consumer mobile devices and applications. The company was founded in 2003 and is based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company operates as a subsidiary of TruePosition Inc.”
Sonic Notify Inc.
“The company provides Sonic Notify, a platform that enables media to be delivered to a smartphone or tablet based on presence through sound. Its technology enables the communication of data in the ultra-high-frequency inaudible range between various speakers and microphones. Sonic Notify’s solution includes a decoding algorithm, which enables a common process for extracting data from audio using various microphones on a range of smartphones or tablets. Sonic Notify Inc. was founded in 2011 and is based in New York, US.”
Spirent Communications PLC
“Spirent Communications plc is a global leader in test and measurement inspiring innovation within development labs, communication networks and IT organisations. We enable today’s communication ecosystem as well as tomorrow’s emerging enterprises to deploy life enriching communications networks, devices, services and applications.”
STMicroelectronics Inc.
“STMicroelectronics designs, develops, manufactures, and markets semiconductor products used in various microelectronic applications, including automotive products, computer peripherals, telecommunications systems, consumer products, industrial automation, and control systems. The company was incorporated in 1972 and is based in Coppell, Texas. STMicroelectronics, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of STMicroelectronics NV.”
Teldio Corp.
“Teldio provides communications solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises, government, and utilities. It offers Radio Branch Exchange (RBX), an enterprise level solution for organizations to bring a layer of connectivity to their existing unified communications platforms. Teldio Corp. is based in Kanata, Canada, with a location in Dulles, Virginia, US.”
WirelessWERX
“WirelessWERX introduced iInside, a company focused on delivering the industry’s most accurate and detailed indoor analytics. The introduction of iInside comes on the heels of the significant growth and success of Aand its indoor traffic analytics solutions. In order to serve an increasing demand for retail traffic analytics, iInside plans to build on its leadership position in indoor location services and move forward with a brand that more clearly reflects WirelessWERX’s ability to give clients an insight into their physical locations.”
