What "indoor navigation software" means here
Two broad approaches exist in the market. OuterMap is the second one — and for most venues, it's the practical choice.
Hardware-based positioning
iBeacons, Bluetooth anchors or UWB chips installed throughout a venue to provide precise blue-dot positioning. Powerful, but expensive to deploy and maintain. Typical of mall and airport bids that span six figures and many months.
Software-only wayfinding
Interactive floor plan + search + drawn routes. Visitors orient visually against the map, tap their destination, and follow a clear walking path from the nearest mapped entrance. No hardware. Deploys in hours. This is OuterMap.
When to add hardware
If your site genuinely needs precise blue-dot indoor positioning (e.g., a complex hospital where every patient must be tracked to the metre), OuterMap can be paired with positioning vendors via API on the Enterprise plan. Most venues never need this.
What's in OuterMap's indoor navigation
- AI extraction from your floor plan.Upload PNG, JPG, PDF or vector — AI auto-detects paths, halls, rooms, stores, points of interest and zones in minutes.
- Multi-floor support.Upload one floor plan per level. Visitors switch floors and the app routes them via stairs, lifts or escalators.
- Search-and-route.Visitors type a name (store, gate, exhibit, department) and the app draws a route from where they are to where they're going.
- Accessibility filters.Tag step-free routes, lifts, accessible entrances and sensory-friendly paths. Visitors filter to show only what fits them.
- Offline-first.Map and POI data cache on first open. Wayfinding keeps working in basements, on concourses, on remote trails — wherever signal is unreliable.
- Multi-language content.POI names and descriptions stored per language. App auto-selects from the visitor's device locale.
- Real-time admin updates.Operators push closures, gate changes, event schedule shifts and new POIs from the admin dashboard — visitors see them on next app open.
- Branded iOS, Android, & web.Apps ship under your name and brand. The same map also lives at a web URL for QR-code access — no install required.
Industries using OuterMap indoor navigation
Each link goes to a dedicated landing page with the use case, FAQs and pricing context for that vertical.
Frequently asked questions
What is indoor navigation software?
Indoor navigation software is a digital system that helps visitors find their way around a multi-floor or large indoor venue — shopping malls, museums, hospitals, airports, stadiums, expos — through a mobile or web app. It typically combines an interactive floor plan, search-and-route functionality, and accessibility filters. OuterMap is software-only indoor navigation: it works from your existing map image without requiring positioning hardware.
How does indoor navigation work without iBeacons or hardware?
OuterMap uses three combined signals: an interactive floor plan the visitor recognises around them, search by name (so they tap their destination instead of trying to read coordinates), and a drawn route from the nearest mapped entry point with walking time. GPS provides outdoor positioning. Most visitors do not need precise indoor positioning — they need to know where the thing they're looking for is and the simplest way to walk to it.
What industries use indoor navigation software?
Shopping malls, hospitals, airports, museums, stadiums, convention centers, theme parks, universities, corporate campuses, and outdoor parks. OuterMap supports all of these from the same platform — the only thing that changes is the map image you upload and the POI categories you enable.
How long does deployment take?
With OuterMap, from raw floor plan to a published branded app is typically under 30 minutes per venue. AI extracts paths, points of interest and zones from the uploaded image; your team reviews and approves; the app publishes to iOS, Android and the web. No hardware install, no developer team needed.
Does it work offline?
Yes. Visitor apps cache the map and all POI data on first open. Navigation, search and POI details keep working with no signal — important for basement galleries, concrete-walled buildings, crowded stadiums where public Wi-Fi saturates, and any venue where reliable connectivity cannot be assumed.
See it on your floor plan in 30 minutes.
Free to start. Send us your venue map and we'll have a navigation prototype back to you within a working day.
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