Unified Travel Solutions: Bridging Outdoor Route Planning with Intelligent Indoor Navigation

Abstract

Indoor navigation, an innovative service built on indoor localisation, is a game-changer for travellers. This paper introduces a unique multimodal, dynamic indoor navigation service for indoor spaces. The novelty of this service lies in its seamless integration with outdoor routers, paving the way for a comprehensive door-to-door trip planner. The service's indoor multimodality is a key focus, considering accessibility options profiling and incorporating limited vehicular paths (e.g., internal buses in airports). The service's indoor dynamism is another standout feature involving real-time monitoring of events within the navigation path. The integration with outdoor routers is a significant achievement, primarily through the establishment of common interconnection points (shared points where indoor and outdoor navigation systems can exchange data) and a common data format structure (a standardised way of representing and exchanging navigation data). The proposed navigation service was put to the test in three real deployments at Berlin Tegel (TXL), Berlin Schönefeld (SXF), and Palma International (PMI) airports. Users travelling between these cities experienced the system's rapid detection of mechanical problems (e.g., travellators or elevators out of order) and incidents (e.g., temporarily non-navigable areas). The service's integration with other travel assistants and services, such as evaluating waiting times at check-in counters and security checkpoints, provided more accurate estimations of indoor navigation travel time and helped avoid agglomeration. These successful real-world validations underscore the service's effectiveness and reliability. The findings indicate that this innovative service significantly improves the travel experience by enhancing the planning and scheduling of movements from origin to destination. The validation showed an increase in travel efficiency, reduced wait times, and better accessibility options for travellers, underscoring the practical benefits of the proposed door-to-door navigation system.