The present study is motivated by the widespread need for applicable indoor navigation services in large and complex buildings. Fast and effective navigation is mostly desired in this kind of buildings that concentrate great masses of people and can contribute vastly in saving money and time while people avoid stressful situations. Until now, in contrast to their outdoor counterparts, indoor navigation services are limited in use due to their high implementation cost and their conceptual complexity that derives from the lack of navigational organization, the necessity of vertical connectivity and the existence of light objects.
This study is focused on the deep understanding of how an indoor navigation service works, what its major components are and how the above-mentioned challenges can be addressed in a short timeframe. Furthermore, the research examines methods for developing more flexible and reliable routing services that would provide coherent description of the examined places and would release the users from the insecurity of navigating in complex and crowdy indoor spaces. The aim of the research is the development of an indoor routing service that visualizes both the interior space of a real building and its routing paths supported in a three-dimensional virtual environment. This service is based on open source tools and has no installation requirements.
The selected case study of this project is the Building A at the University of Aalborg in Copenhagen and aims on the development of a desktop- based WebGIS that allows the three-dimensional navigation around the examined building and the calculation of the most suitable route between two points. Specifically, the service offers the possibility to the user to choose two points between which he/ she would like to move to and from, along with his/ her 3D virtual navigation around the building. The result of the routing calculation is the recommended path displayed in 3D mode among the interior places of the building, while the user gets the chance to watch a human model moving along the path. Moreover, the service provides written instructions on the side of the map highlighting the most significant places that the user has to pass by in order to reach his/ her destination.
The research concludes that 3D digital navigation offers great advantages on the deeper understanding of the explored environment, while it helps people improve their cognitive spatial maps when combined with the promotion of animated stimuli and landmarks.