From Shop-Level to Shelf-Level: IGC Navigation Advances Indoor Positioning
New results from multi-floor indoor navigation demonstrate advances in beacon-free positioning and reveal opportunities for more precise retail experiences.
When we began building indoor navigation capabilities for the IGC ecosystem, our goal was straightforward: guide shoppers to the right retail store with approximately three-metre positioning accuracy. That shop-level ambition established the foundation for a much more precise vision.
Our latest engineering advancements bring that vision closer. During real-world multi-floor journeys, IGC Fusion has delivered encouraging final-position readings at centimetre scale, with some app estimates displaying even finer precision. This creates exciting possibilities for navigation from individual shops towards specific shelves, displays and products, without installed beacons.
From finding a store to finding a shelf
Three-metre positioning can help a visitor locate a retail unit in a busy shopping centre. Finer positioning opens additional possibilities: guiding a shopper towards a particular display, helping a warehouse worker locate a storage area or supporting wayfinding at specific points within a multi-level venue.
The photograph above shows one of our simplest physical destinations: a cap from a gas bottle. Its everyday size helps illustrate how precise destination recognition can transform indoor experiences.
Advances in multi-floor positioning
Our latest field results include correct barometric tracking from the ground floor to Level 14, strong camera-assisted destination recognition and increasingly precise final positioning. Directional guidance also improved across same-floor journeys.
IGC Fusion combines smartphone-based positioning capabilities with navigation logic designed for complex indoor environments. The experience is designed around existing devices and does not require venues to deploy a Bluetooth beacon network.
Final-position estimates and continuous route accuracy are different measurements. The latest readings relate to location near a recognised destination; they should not be interpreted as a guarantee of millimetre-level accuracy throughout every journey. Our engineers continue to enhance arrow direction and consistency as part of ongoing product improvement.
What this means for developers and venues
Our next phase brings these positioning advancements into updated IGC app experiences and navigation flows. For commercial venues, the opportunity extends across shopping centres, supermarkets, warehouses, hospitality and multi-level facilities.
For developers, IGC Navigation offers a practical API-first route to indoor and outdoor wayfinding capabilities, helping teams integrate location experiences without designing their own navigation infrastructure from the ground up.
Building on the foundation
From a three-metre retail-store objective to the possibility of shelf-level destinations, each engineering improvement broadens what indoor navigation can deliver. The latest results mark another meaningful step in the evolution of IGC Fusion and its integration across the IGC ecosystem.
Explore the free IGC Navigation API Sandbox, browse our indoor navigation capabilities or see API pricing.