How indoor navigation can help venues across industries adapt to the new normal

In 2020, we all had to grow accustomed to a new “normal”. Now, in 2021, it’s time to implement the changes we’ve been preparing for. In this blog, we show you how an indoor navigation platform can help venues across industries adapt to the new normal and offer staff, visitors, and customers a safe return to their facilities. 

Back to the office

Are you getting ready to welcome your employees back to the office after another round of COVID-19 lockdowns? With an indoor navigation solution, you can get your office ready and adapted to post-COVID times.

In every office, there are a lot of IoT integrations implemented to make your workday easier and more efficient. Room availability and booking, parking availability, climate control - the list goes on. However, these integrations are often scattered around different platforms or apps, making it difficult to quickly find the feature you’re looking for. 

MapsIndoors is a platform that allows you to combine all of this otherwise segregated data. Directly via the map, you’ll be able to, depending on your integrations, check the availability of meeting rooms, check the current CO2 level of the room, and book it as well. 

Something we introduced last year was the ability to implement dynamic integrations into your MapsIndoors platform. This gives you the option to show live data from your office directly via the map. This is a benefit for offices with for example agile seating, as it becomes possible for users to check whether there are empty desks before arriving. In order to enforce social distancing, some block out workspaces to ensure enough space for each employee. This can potentially result in people wandering in an attempt to find an available desk, which can end up with a contradictory result. To avoid this, real-time occupancy data can help employees find a desk in a less crowded area. 

Social distancing also matters when moving around and avoiding too much contact with other people. With MapsIndoors, it’s possible to implement one-way traffic and safely navigate employees and visitors around the office. People flow can further be used to identify areas that have been visited a lot and thus need a more thorough cleaning.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to do prepare your office for your employees’ return, take a lot at our free guide, ‘How to Adapt Your Office to COVID-19 Challenges’.

Get ready for traveling visitors

The year of 2020 was not in favor of the airports around the world, but hopefully, this year will allow us to start traveling more once again. Naturally, airports can’t be expected to just continue business as pre-COVID as multiple factors such as hygiene and avoiding crowds has a lot bigger focus now. 

We have previously shared how a MapsIndoor solution can help airport management prepare for post-COVID traveling. With the use of heat-mapping, airport management will be able to detect crowds and potential bottlenecks at busy spots and quickly deploy additional staff to the area. Additionally, it will be possible to identify crowds via the map, allowing guests themselves to navigate around the crowded areas if possible.

Hygiene has been a top priority during the pandemic and will continue to be so afterward. By implementing integrations to IoT devices on the MapsIndoors platform, staff can, for instance, be notified whenever a certain amount of people has used a restroom, allowing an efficient and timely cleaning of the facilities. 

If you want to know more about how MapsIndoors can help you prepare for the (hopefully) busy summer holiday reason, take a look at this blog post:

Read blog: 3 Easy Ways for Airport Management to Prepare for Post-COVID Traveling

Easy and efficient hospital navigation

Hospitals are not only large - they also offer miles and miles of nearly identical halls and corridors. It’s easy to get lost, and many have to ask for directions to find the place they’re looking for. This can be an issue in times of a pandemic where close contact can cause a risk of virus spreading. But while we can’t eliminate all close contact at a hospital, it’s possible to eliminate all unnecessary close face-to-face contact. 

With indoor navigation, users can safely and efficiently be led to their next destination, without having to ask for directions or getting in contact with staff or other patients. But it’s not only patients and visitors who can benefit from indoor navigation. In cases of emergencies, staff will have to move quickly. However, in a large hospital, it can be difficult to decipher the quickest route, and doctors and staff might spend unnecessary and critical time taking a longer route. 

By adding points of interest to the map, hospital staff can likewise use it to get a clear overview of where to find for example masks, face shields, and protective suits.

Indoor navigation allows hospital management to optimize and enhance the route planning for all staff members. Additionally, with the use of profile-based routing, it’s possible to decide which users get access to certain routes. In venues like a hospital, there are areas that only staff is allowed into. With profile-based routing, staff will be able to be led through these areas as shortcuts to get to their destination faster, while patients and visitors will be guided around them. 

In the blog post below, we offer more information about how a MapsIndoors solution can be beneficial for your hospital.

Read blog: World Patient Safety Day: Keep Health Workers Safe

Back to the stadium

Concerts.. sports games.. Things we haven’t been able to enjoy as usual in 2020. With the capability to welcome tens of thousands of guests, stadiums have suffered during a year of social distancing and restrictions on gatherings. Hopefully, 2021 will be the year where we once again can start visiting stadiums like we would before the pandemic. But how can facility management ensure a safe return to the stadiums? 

By adding integrations to your indoor navigation solution, a series of various benefits will be possible. With a MapsIndoors solution, you can easily block seats and update your layout, without having to change the physical layouts. In the content management system, you can customize your map to your liking, and the live and interactive map provides visitors with a clear overview of your venue. To ensure social distancing, it’s possible to use profile-based routing to keep visitors from crowding in the same areas: People seated in “block A” will only have access to areas that are restricted to people in “block B” and vice versa. 

Mobile POS systems will make it able for visitors to order food or drinks directly via the map, and if supported by the venue, have it delivered to their seats. This would not only give the visitors more time to enjoy what they’ve come for - an additional benefit is that it could potentially minimize queues and crowds around food stalls or bars. 

By integrating MapsIndoors with your queue management system it’s possible to show the live and current wait time at each food stall or bar, allowing the visitor to make an informed decision about whether to get up and wait in line, choose another bar, or stay put for a bit longer.

Want to learn more about how a MapsIndoors solution can help you prepare your venue for the return of fans? We have just the right blog for you.

Read blog: How Indoor Mapping Helps Ensure Social Distancing at Your Stadium

Enhance the visitor experience in outdoor venues

A MapsIndoors solution is not only suitable for indoor venues. Outdoor areas such as amusement parks can likewise benefit from combining a lot of various features into one platform. Many amusement parks will already have an app, and the MapsIndoors platform can be integrated into this to optimize the user experience. This can give way to multiple benefits such as integrating a queue management system, allowing the guest to check how long the queue is for that one ride they want to try, as well as booking a ride. Allowing guests the opportunity to spend more time exploring your venue and less time waiting in line is without a doubt a big focus, and with a MapsIndoors solution, this becomes a possibility. 

Integrating MapsIndoors into your already existing app has other benefits as well. To avoid crowds of people gathering around restaurants and food stalls, it is possible to integrate other points of interest onto the map. This means that the guest can be able to see the current availability at a restaurant, as well as see the menu and book a table if possible. If the restaurant is fully booked, or if there appears to be a long wait time at the food stall, guests can be shown nearby alternatives to choose from instead. All of this can be done directly via your already existing app for the venue, allowing your guests a smoother and enhanced experience.

If you’re interested in more information about how you can enhance the visitor experience in your outdoor venue, we have just the right blog for you to read.

Read blog: How to Enhance the Experience of Your Outdoor Venue

Are you interested in hearing more about how your venue can benefit from a MapsIndoors solution? We are always ready to talk to you, so don't hesitate to reach out.