Press release
Munich, 3 March 2016

Indoor navigation using beacons. Bokowsky + Laymann creates 'BSB navigator' for the Bavarian State Library. 

The Munich-based mobile experts, Bokowsky + Laymann, have developed an indoor navigation smartphone app for the Bavarian State Library. The 'BSB Navigator' accompanies users through this vast collection of books, housed in a listed building on Ludwigstrasse, thanks to modern beacon technology

Visitors to the library generally find it difficult to find their way around when they first arrive in the enormous BSL building complex. And this is precisely where the BSB navigator for smartphones can help; it makes arriving at your chosen destination very simple and boasts a series of interesting additional features:

•	An interactive map that shows all floors of the building that visitors are allowed to see. You can select individual floors and the app always shows your current position as soon as you open it.

•	Indoor navigation in real time that leads you from your current position directly to your chosen destination within the building.

•	90 points of interest and destinations showing additional information (opening times, services etc.).

•	A discovery mode that gives you additional facts relating to the library, about objects and places that you are walking past.

•	A tour function that guides you through the library, along a previously-selected route, past points of interest. There are currently two tours available: the 'general tour' for new users and the 'tourist tour,' a guide to the main highlights of the Bavarian State Library, with information specifically for tourists.

Once the app is installed on your smartphone and bluetooth activated, you can touch the “take me there” button on the room maps and start navigating. 

How it works – technology
Since GPS navigation does not work within buildings, the app uses so-called beacons instead. As part of this project, 145 bluetooth signalling devices were installed throughout the Bavarian State Library complex in all rooms open to the public. Each device emits low-energy bluetooth signals in regular intervals, allowing the app to determine your position at any given time. This is a combination of several technologies; firstly, it calculates your proximity to a beacon. Secondly, trilateration, a method that we know from mobile communications and thirdly, so-called fingerprinting. This required 'measuring out' the entire building with a special app by placing 'fingerprints' every few metres. The app measures the signal strength and distance to the nearest beacons and writes this information into a database. The app also uses these values to determine your current position.  Smartphones are equipped with additional sensors that are used to determine, for example, the perspective (compass, gyroscope) and the floor you're standing on (barometer).

This complex technological development was devised in cooperation with Professor Brügge, chair for Applied Software Technology at Munich's technical university (TU München). An SDK, developed by the Austrian start-up indoo.rs, was implemented to calculate position and routing. In addition to this, a system for managing location-based services, developed by Bokowsky + Laymann was used and extended by additional customised indoor and beacon components. The content management system is identical to the one already in use at the Bavarian State Library.

“Indoor Navigation using beacons will greatly gain in importance since its technology is now financially feasible. Contrary to large proprietary systems based on Wifi, you are not dependant on a sole manufacturer. Beacons represent today's standard. You can choose between many different manufacturers and prices are calculable. This will make indoor navigation possible since they are affordable for a large number of buildings and objects," explains Markus Bokowsky, project and general manager at Bokowsky + Laymann.

The BSB Navigator app is available for iPhones starting 3rd March 2016 and can be downloaded for free in the App-Store. An Android Version is currently in development and will be released by the summer. The app is available in English and German.

About the Bavarian State Library:
The Bavarian State Library, founded by Duke Albrecht V in 1558, is one of Europe's most significant universal libraries and world famous as an international research library.  Together with other collections, it makes up Germany's virtual national library. Housing just under ten million tomes, approximately 57,500 current magazines, both in printed and electronic form, and around 94,000 manuscripts, the Bavarian State Library ranks among the world's most important knowledge centres. 
About Bokowsky + Laymann:
Bokowsky + Laymann, Marketing in Computer-Mediated Environments, has been planning and creating high-class internet-, intranet- and extranet sites, e-business applications, AR- and VR applications for international companies and organisations for over 15 years. In the last few years, the development of applications for mobile devices has become increasingly important and is now the Munich-based company's strategic business field. As a qualified full-service provider, Bokowsky + Laymann covers the entire product spectrum for smartphone and tablet applications, from planning and programing for all conventional platforms to distributing and promoting these apps.
Bokowsky + Laymann GmbH
Friedrichstraße 1
D-80801 München
presse@bokowsky.de
http://www.bokowsky.de

Phone: +49 (0) 89 / 33 00 869-0
Fax: +49 (0) 89 / 33 00 869-9