Key Takeaways
What does Routing and Wayfinding do?
It guides users from point A to point B and shows which corridors, stairs, elevators, or escalators to use. It supports single buildings and multi-building campuses.
How does it handle real building rules?
It respects opening hours and one-way directions, for example one-way escalators. You can exclude stairs and escalators for wheelchair accessibility.
What are typical scenarios?
Patient directions from hospital entrance to a clinic. Mall visitors finding a shop. Response teams getting the shortest path to an incident.
Can this run on kiosks?
Yes. You can run routing and wayfinding in kiosk mode on large screens.
How is the routing network created?
You add nodes, connect them into ways, and follow OpenStreetMap tagging standards. Nodes and ways are stored in a Feature Model.
What about Points of Interest?
You define POIs such as rooms, elevators, escalators, doors, entrances, walls, and bathrooms. POIs are searchable by name and saved in the same Feature Model.
What is the workflow to enable indoor routes?
Create a connected network of footway ways by linking nodes and features. Once the network is complete, Traxmate uses it for navigation.
Where does this fit in the platform?
It is part of Traxmate’s fusion location platform that can be deployed in cloud or on-prem. Traxmate is a spin-out from Combain.
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.