Key Takeaways
What does the Administrator module cover?
Manage users, groups, devices, and sites. Create buildings and floors, upload floor maps, and operate radio environment models. Export reports and CSVs.
How are users organized?
A customer account can have many users. Admins add, edit, and delete users. Users can add and edit places, run surveys, and track assets. You can group users and devices, set a default group, and the UI remembers your last group. A user or device can belong to several groups.
Which roles are available and how do you tailor access?
Three preset roles exist, Admin, Users, and Guest. You can also create custom roles with profile, description, Access Rights, Processing Rules, and Alert Rules. Access Rights define which features and views are visible. Processing and Alert Rules work per role, independent of device type.
How do you model buildings and areas?
Add Places as buildings, areas, or point locations. Pull a building shape from OpenStreetMap or draw it. Define floors above and below ground. Upload floor maps per floor or area in PNG, JPEG, or SVG.
What is a Feature Model?
A structured description for routing and wayfinding. Define routes, doors, stairs, elevators, time-based closures, and campus navigation across buildings. Create or update models manually, or upload CSV with thousands of nodes.
How do indoor surveys and radio models work?
Use the Combain AI Indoor Survey app to scan WiFi and Bluetooth with location. Data is processed into a Radio Environment Model that includes WiFi, BLE, cellular pico cells, BLE AoA anchors, 4G, and 5G. The best model by median error and survey coverage is published. You can edit beacons and view a heatmap of median error to guide improvements.
What import and export tools are available?
Bulk import BLE and WiFi with CSV. Export reports and data to CSV.
What languages are supported?
English, Swedish, and Chinese. You can set language per user within the same account.
What APIs are exposed for admins and developers?
A REST API for login, place creation, device and user management, and position retrieval. A dedicated /capture endpoint for device data with Service Tokens. Swagger docs are linked for interactive requests once logged in. High-volume users can route directly to the capture service.
Can you share buildings with others?
Yes. If you make a place public, other users can reuse the building and its positioning work.
Where does this fit in the wider platform?
Traxmate is a spin-out from Combain. The platform provides fusion location, indoor and outdoor positioning, geofences, alerts, visualization, and runs in cloud or on-prem.
In short
Manage users and groups
Easily create buildings or facilities by specifying the number of floors and uploading floor plans.
Indoor elements such as doors, elevators, stairs, and walkways can be specified.Multiple radio environment models with accuracy visualization
CSV bulk import of, e.g., BLE beacons and WiFi access points
Reports and data export to CSV files
Users & Groups
Users
A customer account can have multiple users. Administrators can add, edit, and delete users. Conversely, users can add, edit, and delete places, conduct surveys, and track assets.
Groups
You can group users (and devices) together to make things more organized. You can create, edit, and delete groups and add or remove users from them. You can also set a default group to be shown when you visit the Users page. The page will also remember your most recent group selection.
A device or a user may be a part of several groups.
User Roles
Traxmate offers three preset User Roles: Admin, Users, and Guest. Within the Settings, you can create your customized User Roles. You can assign a profile picture, provide a description, and specify Access Rights, Processing Rules, and Alert Rules for each User Role. Access Rights determine which features and views a User Role can access. Processing Rules and Alert Rules function similarly to Device Types, enabling independent data processing and alert triggering for each User Role, regardless of the specific Device Type used.
Site Management
Places (Buildings, Areas and Locations)
A place can be considered a building, an area, or a location. A building is characterized by its walls and floors and may include features such as elevators, stairs, escalators, and doors. An area is defined by its shape, and users can upload a map. A location is a specific point marked on the map.
Places can be created by searching for a specific address or clicking on a location on the map. If users choose to make their places public, other users can then utilize that building and benefit from any positioning work that has been completed.
Building Shapes
The building shape refers to the outer shape of a building. Typically, this shape is automatically obtained from OpenStreetMap if the building information is available there. If not, it can be drawn manually. Building shapes also accommodate inner shapes that define open areas within the overall shape. These building shapes are helpful for accurately aligning floor maps with the building layout.
Floors
A building can have multiple floors with different shapes above and below ground level. The floors can be named either using a scheme or individually.
Users can upload floor maps for each building floor or specific areas to improve positioning and visualize the location and tracking of users and devices. The floor maps can be in PNG, JPEG, or SVG file format.
Feature Models
Feature models provide detailed descriptions of buildings or areas and outline how to navigate through them from point A to point B. The feature model for an area contains the specified routes that pass through it. Various features can be defined within a building to depict its layout and functionality more accurately. For instance, you can select the locations of closed doors during certain times of the day and the positions of stairs to assist a disabled person in finding an elevator instead. Feature models can be created and modified manually or uploaded in comma-separated .csv format, manipulating over 3000 nodes simultaneously. Additionally, it’s possible to define campus navigation, enabling seamless wayfinding through one or several buildings within an area.
Radio Environment Models
Indoor Surveys
Indoor Surveys capture the existing Wi-Fi and Bluetooth infrastructure within a building. The Combain AI Indoor Survey for Android conducts such a survey. When the app is run in Survey mode, it scans for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals and sends that data, along with the user’s current location, to Traxmate. Traxmate then uses this data to create a Radio Environment Model for indoor positioning.
Radio Environment Models
A Radio Environment Model is an electronic representation of the placement of beacons such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Cellular Pico cells, Bluetooth AoA anchor points, 4G, and 5G within a particular area. This model is created through indoor surveys performed by one or more users. Once the surveys are completed, the data is sent to the system for processing into a Radio Environment Model. The newly generated model is then compared with existing models, and the one demonstrating the best results (e.g., smallest median error and best relative survey coverage) is published. This published Radio Environment Model is used for indoor positioning of devices or users. Additionally, the model can be manually edited by adding or editing beacons to improve the positioning accuracy.
Traxmate presents the Radio Environment Model in a heatmap of the median error, showing where, for instance, more beacons should be installed to improve positioning accuracy.
Multiple languages support
Traxmate currently offers support in three languages: English, Swedish, and Chinese. Users can select their preferred language, and different languages can be applied to users of the same account.
Traxmate API
Traxmate has a REST API that the Traxmate Web Front-end, the Traxmate App, and other external systems use to communicate with Traxmate. The Traxmate API includes functionality for logging in, creating places, adding devices and users, obtaining the location of devices and users, and more.
Traxmate Capture API
The Traxmate API’s /capture endpoint is where tracking devices submit their data. Processing Rules are used to parse the data coming through the /capture endpoint. A dedicated capture endpoint is available for high-volume usage. (The /capture endpoint at the visualize service routes traffic to the dedicated capture service. For high-volume users, it is recommended to route traffic directly to the capture service.) The Traxmate Capture API uses the Service Token as an access token.
Service Token
Each account can have one or several Service Tokens. Devices or external systems use these tokens to identify themselves when submitting data to the Traxmate Capture API. Device types can be automatically enrolled by default, assigning them to a service token. Any new devices that submit data with such a Service Token will then be enrolled as devices of that specified type. The default initial Service Token for the account can be accessed via the Account settings page or by making an API request to /customer/me.
API Documentation
Here, you can access the detailed Swagger documentation of the Traxmate API. The documentation is interactive and contains examples of requests and responses. Once logged in, you can make requests using your data.
Traxmate supports routing to efficiently guide end-users from point A to point B. For example, a patient at a hospital needing directions from the main entrance to their doctor’s appointment, a visitor to a mall looking for a specific shop, the shortest way to an incident for a response team, or similar.
The routing feature indicates the pathways, stairs to take, and the appropriate elevators or escalators. It is adaptable for navigation within a single building (Indoor Routing) or across a campus area with multiple buildings (Campus Routing). The routing functionality considers opening hours and meticulously considers directional circumstances, such as one-way escalators. Moreover, it can selectively exclude certain features like stairs and escalators if the user requires wheelchair accessibility.
Traxmate Routing and Wayfinding can be run in kiosk mode for large screen wayfinding kiosks.
In short
- Footways, stairs, elevators, or escalators to walk or ride
- One building (Indoor) or several (Campus Routing)
- Considering opening hours and one-way directions
- Exclude stairs and escalators for wheelchair users
The routing schemas, with all the possible ways of walking, are created manually by defining nodes, ways, and Points of Interest, following the OpenStreetMap’s (OSM) standard for tagging.
Nodes and Ways
To enable routing, you must first add nodes. These nodes are then connected to form ways and stored in Traxmate in a Feature Model.
Additionally, the nodes can be utilized to create Points of Interest (POIs), such as rooms. The ways can guide a user in the correct direction based on factors such as opening hours, one-way paths, or blocked routes spanning multiple buildings and areas.
POI´s (Points of Interest)
A point of interest (POI) is a point or area that is relevant to the use case and should be searchable. Several POIs are already defined in Traxmate, such as elevators, escalators, doors, entrances, walls, bathrooms, and so on. Specific POIs and Rooms of Interest can be defined and given a searchable name in accordance with the use case’s needs.
The defined Points of Interest are also saved in the Feature Model with nodes and waypoints.
Creating a route - connecting nodes and features
To enable indoor walking routes, you first need to create a network of connected model features as footway Ways. Once established, the footway network is ready for utilization by Traxmate Routing, helping visitors find their way.
Traxmate provides powerful analytics capabilities, including the generation of graphical tracks and the display of heatmaps. These tools enable operational optimization and resource planning by visualizing device movement patterns over time. By converting spatial and movement data into visual actionable insights on how physical spaces are used, organizations can make informed decisions that lead to better resource allocation, improved workflow efficiency, and support growth and sustainability.
The tracks and heatmaps are also essential for improving personnel safety in environments where monitoring movement and location is crucial. These functions offer visibility into where staff members frequently move or spend time, allowing organizations to identify and mitigate potential safety risks.
In short
- Every position message that includes a valid position can be displayed as a track of how the device has moved. The track can be played back for any period.
- If more than one device track is displayed simultaneously, every track will be given a specific color.
- The heatmap feature shows the density of device locations. The heatmaps can be displayed per floor in buildings.
Graphical Tracks for Operational Analysis
Analyzing historical location data and visualizing movement patterns can help organizations identify inefficiencies. For instance, tracking the paths of devices such as forklifts, robots, and personnel at a construction site can reveal congested areas and overused routes, indicating the need for better space allocation or alternative pathways. Safety managers can pinpoint areas with frequent traffic and potential hazards by creating a visual map of the movement of devices and personnel within a facility. They can identify intersections as potential danger points and adjust routes, improve signage, or install barriers to reduce the risk of accidents.
Similarly, monitoring guard movement in security operations settings can guide route planning improvements, leading to more efficient workflows. Analyzing device movement frequency and consistency can also help security operation managers identify weaknesses in service delivery and improve SLA fulfillment.
Heatmaps for Resource and Space Management
Heatmaps, which visually represent the intensity of device presence in specific locations, are particularly valuable for understanding space and resource utilization. If a device frequently remains in one area, such as a room, hallway, or building, it suggests either a high-traffic zone or a location where prolonged activity occurs.
These insights are critical for operations management. Some examples:
- Suppose heatmaps reveal that certain rooms or zones are consistently occupied. In that case, managers can prioritize maintenance, allocate resources such as staff and equipment accordingly, or even adjust cleaning schedules based on actual usage.
- Heatmaps can pinpoint where most idle time or worker activity occurs, helping to reassign resources or redesign workflows to reduce downtime.
- Heatmaps provide insight into the most populated areas at different times of the day, allowing for tailored emergency response plans and quick evacuations. In scenarios such as fires or chemical spills, these heatmaps can guide the deployment of emergency personnel to the areas where help is most needed, ensuring a faster, more organized response. Their adaptability to different scenarios and ability to indicate crowding in certain areas instill confidence in their versatility for safety management.
- A heatmap showing prolonged time spent in high-risk zones could indicate unsafe practices, such as workers lingering in restricted areas or staying too close to hazardous equipment. This awareness of potential safety risks can help you be more vigilant in safety management and response planning.
Enhancing Compliance and Safety Monitoring
Regarding safety and security compliance, tracking and heatmap data provide continuous real-time monitoring to identify risky behaviors or non-compliance. For instance, if safety protocols require workers to follow specific routes or avoid certain restricted areas, any deviations from these guidelines will be visible on graphical tracks. This enables management to address unsafe behaviors before they result in incidents. Heatmaps can also highlight areas where personnel spend more time than expected, which could indicate that safety protocols are being ignored or that additional safety measures, such as barriers or restricted access, are necessary.
Another critical aspect of safety is managing personnel fatigue. If tracking data shows that workers spend long periods in one location without moving, it could indicate overwork or inadequate break times. Fatigue is a well-known contributor to workplace accidents, and having a clear view of movement patterns allows managers to proactively schedule breaks, rotate tasks, or reassign roles to ensure workers remain alert and safe.