A CMX Partner Ecosystem Blog
Ecosystem partners are an important adjunct to Cisco Connected Mobile Experience (CMX). They augment the analytic and customer engagement capabilities of the solution with innovative business outcomes. This blog is one in a series that will highlight several of our CMX Ecosystem Partners. Today—MazeMap.
MazeMap is a provider of indoor maps and navigation services. With MazeMap Indoor Maps, end users have interactive, searchable and linkable indoor maps available on all their devices. To ensure their indoor maps deliver richer, more informative experiences, MazeMap offers several capabilities.
- Interactive Maps—MazeMap can build indoor maps from DWG/DXF files (CAD-format) and extract information to make the maps searchable and linkable. (See use.mazemap.com.) This process is nearly fully automated making it easy to update maps whenever there are changes to the building structure.
- Map Editor—MazeMap provides a map editor for customers to control how their campus should appear, what should be searchable and what should be visible in the maps. Here customers can add points of interest making sure the maps are always relevant for the end users.
- Indoor Positioning—MazeMap uses Cisco Connected Mobile Experiences to deliver “blue dot” location on the digitized map.
- Indoor Paths—MazeMap can provide wayfinding information to help users navigate from their current location to their desired end point. With the map editor customers can edit the paths making sure that users are routed through the desired route, not necessary the shortest one. Customers can even see which routes are available for the mobility challenged to ensure everyone can navigate on their own.
- Integration API—MazeMap can be easily integrated into existing applications such as loyalty apps or can integrate other data sources into the MazeMap navigation application.
In Step
Cisco and MazeMap have teamed on the indoor location deployments for several customers. One of these customers—College of Bergen—is the subject of a recently released a case study.
The college had just consolidated the distributed campus from five buildings down to two. The move required more efficient space utilization and more flexibility in scheduling. As a result, the college needed a navigation solution that helped students and staff find their classes and schedules. The wayfinding service required two elements—location and maps. Cisco Connected Mobile Experiences used the campus’ Cisco wi-fi network to determine the location of each mobile device. And MazeMaps provided the maps.
Using digital floor plans of the college facilities, MazeMap created the maps and made sure all rooms and points of interest were searchable and available across all platforms, including iOS and Android. MazeMap also integrated with the university’s existing services, including the e-timetable system, to provide a richer information tool.
When users click “Find my location,” they can see themselves as a blue dot moving along the shortest route to their destination. This feature factors available elevators, stairs, and doorways, and avoids no-entry areas. The handover between outdoor GPS and indoor Wi-Fi connectivity is invisible.
By combining the expertise of Cisco and MazeMap, the College of Bergen helps students and staff make the most of their time on campus. Just two weeks after launch, the service was used by 4,000 users, equivalent to 60% of all students and employees.
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This is exciting stuff, Daryl. I remember years ago envisioning how technology might be utilized to help find personnel in large facilities during a personal emergency. Imagine someone working in a large manufacturing facility over a weekend when a personal emergency stikes. It may be all they can do just to place the 911 call. After that, emergency personnel have to be able to quickly locate that individual. With current IoT technologies and applications like MazeMap, the time required to find that individual could be greatly reduced, potentially saving a life.