SMILAS: sensor based map generation for indoor location aware systems

Abstract

The increasing availability of handheld and other kinds of mobile devices has increased the interest in creating location aware systems many of which require a map interface. Map generation of an area; be it outdoor or indoor is a tedious process. A considerable number of research proposals in this area propose using complex mobile systems that create a 2D map of the indoor environment. This might be a cost effective solution in an industrial or large business setting, but such systems cannot be used in a home setting for simple context aware applications. In this paper, we are proposing a minimal configuration system (SMILAS) for indoor map generation using handheld devices like smart phones. The proposed system can be used by any smart-home/context-aware application that needs context for indoor positioning and navigation - the context in this case being the position of the user in an indoor setting. The map generated by SMILAS has a reasonable error margin that can be tolerated by most of the context aware applications. We present the limitations of the current system and also suggest various improvements that would improve the accuracy of the map generated.