Available for an ArcGIS organization licensed with the ArcGIS IPS extension.
Survey-based indoor positioning involves collecting and using radio signal data to generate indoor positioning data. Creating an indoor positioning dataset involves creating an IPS survey plan in ArcGIS Pro, then performing the planned survey using the ArcGIS IPS Setup app.
These steps are explained further in the sections below.
Create an IPS survey plan
When performing an IPS survey, radio signal data is sampled throughout the indoor environment using the IPS Setup app. Collected survey data is stored in the IPS_Recordings feature class from the ArcGIS IPS Information Model. The geometry of IPS Recording features represents the paths along which the survey is conducted. You can create survey paths in ArcGIS Pro or directly within the IPS Setup app.
Survey paths can be edited in the IPS Setup app if they cannot be traversed while performing a survey. For instance, this may be necessary if the floor plan is outdated and doesn’t reflect the actual layout of the indoor environment.
To ensure complete coverage of the areas where you want to enable IPS, use the following guidelines when planning survey paths:
- Place survey points strategically.
Position waypoints no more than 20 meters (60 feet) apart, and at every change in direction. This helps ensure accurate and efficient recording while performing a survey.
- Use landmarks.
Place waypoints near easily-identifiable landmarks to help locate them during a survey.
- Avoid obstacles.
Sketch the path exactly where you plan to record, avoiding obstacles such as walls, columns, or furniture.
- Recording length.
Recording paths should be between 10 and 200 meters (30 and 650 feet) long. This length ensures that enough radio signals are recorded while minimizing the risk of mistakes while performing a survey.
- Ensure complete coverage.
Ensure that your recording paths span all areas where ArcGIS IPS will be enabled. Each recording covers an area equal to a 3-meter buffer around the path, so plan survey paths accordingly to cover the entire desired area.
To create a survey plan, complete the following steps:
- Open the map you created for IPS or create a new one.
- Add the IPS_Recordings feature class to the map.
- Optionally, configure the map and layers as floor aware.
Note:
A floor-aware map is recommended for environments with multiple floors. With a floor-aware map, you can use the floor filter to visualize and modify data for each floor individually.
- On the Edit tab, in the Features group, click Create
.The Create Features pane appears and lists the feature templates defined for the active map.
- In the Create Features pane, click the IPS Recordings feature template.
The IPS Recordings template expands, showing the tool palette.
- On the IPS Recordings template, click Open the active template
.The tool palette and the feature attribute table for the IPS Recordings template appear.
- In the attribute table for the active template, set the field values as follows:
Field Value Site ID
The site ID of the site feature for which you are creating IPS Recordings features
Facility ID
The facility ID of the facility feature for which you are creating IPS Recordings features
Level ID
The level ID of the level feature for which you are creating IPS Recordings features
Planning Date
The current date
Note:
This field is automatically populated by a calculation attribute rule with the current date when a new feature is created in a feature class in a file or enterprise geodatabase, or in a feature service that references registered data. If you are creating a survey path in a feature service that does not reference registered data, you must manually populate this field.
- In the Create Features pane, click Line
to create a line feature. - Draw the line where you want to sketch a survey path, as shown in the example below.
- Save your edits.
- Use the floor filter to select the next level for which you want to plan recordings, and repeat steps 4 through 10.
Survey paths created in the IPS Recordings layer can be used to perform a survey with the IPS Setup app.
Perform an IPS survey
You can use the IPS Setup app to perform surveys using existing planned survey paths, or you can plan and perform surveys directly in the app. After performing a survey, you can use the data to generate an Indoor Positioning Dataset.