Gecko could kickstart an Indoor Positioning mobile app explosion

You might be used to your phone helping you find your way around outdoors, but new technology for Android could help do the same inside buildings too.

Swedish indoor positioning company Qubulus has launched a tool for developers called Gecko that paves the way to some interesting new types of apps.

Outdoor location-based services have spawned all manner of games, social services, navigation tools and review sharing services. Indoor location is still very much a blank canvas and while the launch of Gecko won’t give any immediate benefit to end users, if developers embrace the idea we could see a similar explosion of innovation in the near future.

Qubulus says that event organisers could use Gecko to create and app that helps users find stands and other visitors, it could be used in retail to help shoppers find deals in-store and  museums could use it to create apps that guide visitors around exhibitions.

How does it all work? As the video below shows, once maps and location data for a building have been uploaded to Qubulus’ servers, it’s possible to track indoor movements of both the user and of friends who also use the app. Crucially, Gecko requires no hardware to be installed in buildings to make it work.

We can’t wait to see what gets built on the back of this. If you’re a developer who wants to give Gecko a go, you can read more here and sign up here.