Pedestrian Navigation

Applications
Title	Pedestrian Navigation
Author(s)	Rui Barradas Pereira.
Level	Basic
Year of Publication	2011

Pedestrian Navigation consists in the navigation of pedestrians in urban environments.

Application Architecture

Pedestrian Navigation applications are normally implemented using a standalone application running on a mobile device. This mobile device can be GNSS-enable phone with multimedia capabilities or a custom Personal Navigation Device.

Normally the map and database of these applications are local although in some case the local application is supported by an online services that provide database updates, additional ephemerous data (such as wheather) or even parts of the navigation fuctionality.

The process normally followed by these applications is:

• The user uses the application to define a destination. Restrictions may be applied on how to get to the destination (e.g. use of public transport).
• The application will guide the user using visual and audio information to its destination.
• If the user diverts from the suggested route the application will recalculate the route.

Variants to this architecture are:

• The more basic pedestrian navigation applications support only outdoor pedonal movements not supporting public transportation.
• These applications can be combined with Location based Information Streams to provide additional information to the user.

These applications are considered non-critical applications.

The precision required by these applications is medium, being the current accuracy provided by civilian GPS enough in most situations but not in all. To support indoor navigation these applications would need addtional availability that might require the use of inertial sensor or other indoor localization technique.

Application Characterisation

Pedestrian Navigation as been seen wrongly as merely an extention of Road Navigation. But the fact is is that the environments where pedestrians move around are generally more difficult than the road environment. Pedestrians normally move in sidewalks where the buildings shadow the GNSS signals, in tree shadowed environments and in indoor tridimensional environments.

These environments are much more difficult than Road Navigation that even in urban environments will have better satellite visibility. To support indoor navigation these application would have to support inertial sensors integration or other indoor navigation techniques.

In simplyfied models for these applications the maps used for road navigation can be reused but this limits the degree of functionality that the application can provide. Pedestrians move in the sidewalks, not in the roads and can move more freelly in the environment since they can use more narrow streats and to go accross open areas.

The mapping of indoor environments is also much more complex and dynamic requiring tridimensional mapping that is nor generally required for road applications.

Also to support public transportation, the routes and the frequency or the timetable of the public transports must be supported making the database and the routing algorithms more complex.

Currently the interface for these applications is supported by the graphical and audio interfaces of mobile phone but these applications would benefit significantly from the used of [[Location based Information Streams#Augmented reality|augmented reality][ technologies.

Application Examples

Applications and services that fit in this category are:

• Journey Pro by Navitime<ref>Journey Pro by Navitime</req>: Journey is pedestrian navigation application for iPhone and Android.
• Ovi Maps<ref>Ovi Maps: Nokia free navigation solution that supports pedestrian navigation in the Walk mode.
• Google Maps<ref>Google Maps: Google free map solution that supports pedestrian navigation including public transportation.
• Personal Navigation Devices: Most road oriented personal navigations devices support pedestrian modes although usually the same maps and routing algorithms as for road navigation are used.