BEIJING, CHINA and PALO ALTO, CA — (Marketwired) — 06/04/15 — IndoorAtlas today announced that Baidu, China–s leading search engine, has begun rolling out indoor location services powered by IndoorAtlas to the 270 million monthly active users of Baidu Maps. This roll out follows the agreement signed last year by the two companies.
IndoorAtlas, the global leader in indoor positioning technology, uses the Earth–s magnetic field to pinpoint locations inside buildings to the last meter, enabling accurate indoor navigation, location-aware mobile search, location based advertising, and new online-to-offline commerce opportunities at an unprecedented scale. Baidu is using IndoorAtlas as the foundation for Baidu Maps Location Based Services (LBS), and is using the unparalleled accuracy and scalability of the magnetic technology to enable indoor search, and to power innovative use cases like store and product search and way-finding that will elevate end-user experience to a new level. Moreover, Product Proximity Advertising is replacing the need for many beacons and increases conversion since way-finding will make advertising much more relevant to consumers.
IndoorAtlas technology offers a cross-platform solution on both Android and iOS, and can be deployed without requiring any infrastructure installation in buildings, making it the most ubiquitous solution available globally. IndoorAtlas will enable Baidu to roll out indoor location-based services to end users at an unprecedented scale as a result.
was founded in 2012 by Professor Janne Haverinen and currently has a team of 35 employees including three professors and 11 PhDs. IndoorAtlas–s patented technology utilizes built-in magnetometers in smartphones to detect anomalies in the geomagnetic field to help users reliably navigate through indoor spaces without any additional infrastructure.
“IndoorAtlas–s accuracy to the last meter level and scalability sets it apart and complements Baidu–s existing mobile Location Based Services and maps offering,” said Liu Jun, Vice President of Baidu Maps. “IndoorAtlas–s intellectual property portfolio and global geographical coverage will be instrumental in helping us at Baidu build out our LBS platform indoors in China and abroad. And it will allow us to implement new use cases at scale that is not possible with other technologies.”
In 2014, had received a $10 million Series A investment from . The two companies also signed an agreement that allowed exclusive rights to Baidu for use of IndoorAtlas–s technology in China. IndoorAtlas is using the capital for research and development, as well as engineering and business development in the U.S., Asia, and Europe.
In 2011, Baidu had released indoor maps with a large number of participating malls. Integrating the IndoorAtlas solution will increase the accuracy of the maps application at existing locations, and allow Baidu to make indoor maps and location aware searches available at a much wider scale. IndoorAtlas is globally available over the Internet in a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) model, making it easy to integrate with mobile applications.
“Being able to pinpoint indoor locations at this level of accuracy is a game changer for mobile search, O2O commerce, way-finding and other indoor location based applications,” said Professor Janne Haverinen. “Being able to do all this anywhere on the globe, and without undertaking expensive infrastructure installations in buildings, is what sets our technology apart. We look forward to our continued commercial and technology partnership with Baidu in rolling out Baidu Maps Location Based Services powered by IndoorAtlas across venues in China and abroad.”
IndoorAtlas has also announced the opening of their office in China to support expansion in Asian markets.
Founded in 2012, IndoorAtlas is transforming indoor positioning and advertising through use of patented technology that utilizes built-in magnetometers in smartphones to detect anomalies in the geomagnetic field to pinpoint location with an accuracy to the last meter, without any additional infrastructure such as beacons or routers. IndoorAtlas is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA and Oulu, Finland. For more information, visit .
Baidu, Inc. is the leading Chinese language Internet search provider and developer of award-winning PC, Web and mobile products. As a technology-based media company, Baidu aims to provide the best and most equitable way for people to find what they are looking for. In addition to serving individual Internet search users, Baidu provides an effective platform for businesses to reach potential customers. Baidu–s ADSs trade on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “BIDU.” Currently, ten ADSs represent one Class A ordinary share.
For Baidu:
Kaiser Kuo
Director, International Communications
(86-10) 5992-8419
For IndoorAtlas:
Monika Raj
Strategic Advisor, Marketing and Communications
415 205 4906
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