Location intelligence is making waves in today’s world. Wider availability of geospatial location data is strengthening this sector with the global location analytics market projected to nearly double by the year 2026.
Geospatial World had an exclusive conversation with Sri Krishna Murthy Hari, Head of GIS from the California based company Beans.ai, to discuss the innovative location data solutions he has pioneered with his team.
Location Intelligence has become a much required need today with the post pandemic world embracing online services options.
You have created an effective solution in this domain for which you have won the top Creative Content Award at Esri Partner Conference 2022. Please can you share more about this project?
Precise location data is a crucial element for essential services and several critical public facing geospatial solutions. Time is a crucial factor in any business activity and any solution that saves time is highly sought after.
In this context, the availability of accurate and precise location data is a great asset to help save time. In the US, large apartment complexes with several buildings usually have several entry points and parking areas. Once inside a building there are again many elevators to choose from to reach the exact apartment unit.
Negotiating all these factors often leads to delays in arrival time and can impact anyone ranging from first responders to food delivery drivers. . We recognized this ‘last mile problem’ and have developed a digital solution to solve it. The digital ecosystem we have developed has two primary interlacing components:
The first is a 3D Digital twin model detailed to the doorstep of any location. The second is a 3D indoor routable network, which is a virtual representation of all traversable spaces within a building. This includes elevators, stairs and walkways.
This complex multi-modal network allows us to provide 3D geocoding services and routing services that lead up to the exact address and reach an exact apartment unit in the shortest time.
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Exactly, navigating areas with highly clustered and dense venues has been a great challenge for location intelligence solutions.
How has your project looked at solving this challenge?
Unlike single family home addresses, Multi Dwelling Units (MDUs) require the identification of a unit in a specified space and also require contextual data points like entrance, internal walkway, elevators and so on to effectively navigate to the destination.
Prior to our solution, there has never been a large-scale dataset available of such specific data points. Our team at Beans.ai has developed an intricate and robust pipeline rooted in the concepts of remote sensing, Photogrammetry, field survey, machine learning and GIS automation to build detailed replicas of complex locations at scale.
This allows us to build routable networks, unit level 3D depictions and other interesting data points that never existed before. Consolidating the indoor routing networks with already available street network datasets allowed us to build an extensive 3D multi-modal routable network that can provide routing directions both externally and inside buildings. .
The GPS location on a map indicated by the ‘blue dot’ marker is primarily related to the ‘x-y’ realm and is less effective indoors.
How do you plan on complementing your indoor routing service with “positioning” the user or bringing the ‘blue dot’ experience indoors most effectively?
Our solution renders unique three dimensional models coupled with specific ‘turn by turn’ indoor routing directions. In our experience these two combined have been able to provide enough information to our users for navigating complex addresses.
This helps the users receive enhanced context and orientation information related to their location route. We are currently experimenting with some of our partners to bring indoor positioning systems to apartment complexes. This would essentially bring the same ‘blue dot’ experience indoors and make indoor navigation seamless.
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The enhanced level of accuracy provided in location solutions will enable superior business outcomes for your users.
Kindly share with us any interesting approaches you have used to validate location data accuracy?
Our highly precise geocodes (including 10 feet of accuracy) are consumed by Emergency Medical Services and public safety personnel daily and we take that responsibility seriously.
Since there is no extrapolation involved and most of our data comes from floor plans, authoritative maps and field surveys, the scope for error is practically zero. Additionally, since we power over 4% of all the residential deliveries in the US, we have a tight feedback loop from our logistics partner.
Any data discrepancies will be addressed by field surveys rapidly helping close the feedback loop. As partners to leading property management companies, we reach out to the property managers and allow them to update our data securely through our in-house tools.
We understand the real estate industry has been effectively using your creative solution. Please can you share how it is helping them?
Yes, that is right. Our three- dimensional routing services and digital twin solutions are helping by offering seamless self-touring within apartment complexes. Our 3D models provide wider context compared to what a regular two dimensional map may offer.
Our team has also created the Beans sunlight index, which provides the number of hours a day a specific unit receives direct sunlight. This allows tenants to make informed decisions based on their sunlight requirements.
Detailed network datasets within building complexes allows us to recommend parking spots to units based on fairness and the overall walking distance. Line of sight analysis helps prospective tenants visualize their view out the window. These are some of the many ways the real estate industry is benefitting from our digital solutions.
You mentioned public safety officials have also benefited from your team’s location intelligence platform. Can you share more about this?
Firefighters and emergency medical services have derived great value from our routing and geocoding services. In many circumstances the first responders are faced with non-specific location information when they need to reach a specific apartment unit.
Here the guidance from our services can reduce response time by several minutes. In the case of a choking child or an older adult in cardiac arrest or rescue missions, these minutes can easily translate into life and death.
Location intelligence solutions are indispensable today and we are committed to delivering maximum value in this critical space.
