LANDMARKS EVALUATION WITH USE OF QR-CODE FOR POSITIONING INDOOR ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

People tend to lose their sense of direction in closed environments and the role of indoor maps is to assist the user in navigating in these spaces, through understanding the environment, identifying reference points or positioning. Among the several forms of achieving positioning in indoor environments, this research used the method based on image recognition through identification of QR-Code labels, because of their low cost, easy implementation, and because their accuracy is not affected by the environment. As such, this article presents the use of QR-Code markers affixed to possible reference points to determine user positioning in an indoor environment using a mobile device. This study seeks to discover which are the most appropriate sites for placing QR-Codes in an environment, by evaluating what reference points and what type thereof are most used in indoor environments. This study is therefore based on the hypothesis that if initial positioning is obtained only through reference points this is sufficient for users to orient themselves. Through analysis of the results obtained from navigation tasks done by users we were able to obtain data regarding elements most cited as references. The results show that people orient themselves in distinct ways in the same environment and use as their main reference points structural elements of the environment such as stairways, lifts, and decision-making points; in general structural reference points were those most used to support orientation and navigation.