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I've seen a few options for indoor GIS platforms such as Google's indoor mapping, implementations of OpenLayers, Open Street Map, and many other plausible solutions. There's even a post on here asking a very similar question to mine but all the answers involved how to provide locations to users.

For my use I don't care to map where the user is but rather simply provide a usable map of our building and in my ideal world I would be able to provide static directions (think Google Maps without location for our building). Is there anything out there that can help us achieve this? I'm willing to learn as long as there's documentation.

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    Did you see gis.stackexchange.com/q/7158/7913 or were you refering to something else? – lynxlynxlynx Jul 9 '12 at 14:24
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    I just wonder if a rational naming system and a good set of signage is enough to get people where they want to go! – Spacedman Jul 9 '12 at 14:32
  • @lynxlynxlynx I had indeed. The answers there are what I was referring to when I said that they all seemed to involve locating the user rather than just displaying a map and static directions. – jak119 Jul 9 '12 at 14:47
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    @Spacedman One would think but various additions over the years have given us non-sequential room numbering. If it were me I would re-do the signage but this being a large university that's not my call. The IT department (my department) would just like to help our users find faculty offices – jak119 Jul 9 '12 at 14:49
  • @lynxlynxlynx If any of those suggestions could be adapted and I just didn't understand them I'd be open to trying them out! – jak119 Jul 9 '12 at 14:56
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For routing you'll need a vector-line network dataset with nodes at each possible endpoint of a journey. Think of it like a skeleton line running down each corridor with a dot (node) at each door.

It seems you then need one of these for each floor of each building.

You can then use pgrouting in PostGIS or igraph in R to compute routes between nodes. These routes can be overlaid on a more pictorial view of the floor.

To get descriptions ("turn left from elevator, go along 10m, turn right through fire door, go left 10m, you will have arrived at Fred's Office") is much harder. All I can find is this nascent project: http://sourceforge.net/projects/opengraphrouter/ and a few mentions on other StackExchange questions and PostGIS mailing list posts/

This looks cool: http://www.ridethecity.com/nyc?rid=866162

This looks even more immensely cool, and shows how to add the network data to your pictures:

http://www.paulcouch.com/index.php/component/content/article/47-indoor-gis?start=8

They've used Autocad to do that step, but I think their end-user system is open source. Just got to pick my jaw off the floor and read on...

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  • Now I understand what I need and a few ways to help accomplish it. Thank you so much. In regards to that last link, I also need to pick my jaw up from the floor, if I can get that working it will be beyond what we were looking for. Again, thank you. – jak119 Jul 9 '12 at 16:28
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I think the keywords you're looking for are "indoor wayfinding." Here is a product that claims to do just that http://www.here2theresoftware.com/

They use a university as an example: http://www.here2theresoftware.com/Education.html

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  • Thank you, I had come across that but I was hoping that there may be an open source solution out there. We may look at their pricing though. – jak119 Jul 9 '12 at 15:22

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