Now that it’s easy to find your way in the real world with just a smartphone in hand, the next logical navigation frontier is indoors, where GPS doesn’t work and maps are often nonexistent. Australian startup Navisens says it has a plan to track everyone from firefighters searching through burning buildings to consumers wandering through shopping malls, without requiring any special wireless signals.

Using an approach known as "inertial navigation", modified from military and industrial applications and Dr Donikian's own work with firefighters and first responders, Navisens' algorithms process raw data gleaned from low-cost motion sensors on smartphones.

Australian indoor navigation firm Navisens recently won the "Best Technology" award at the Launch Festival 2013 in the US for discovering how to do indoor and underground mapping without any infrastructure, including wi-fi networks.

… Navisens, went on to win an award for software that allows people to do indoor and underground mapping without using things like Wi-Fi networks. It was designed originally for locating firefighters operating in extreme conditions outdoors and underground and in multi-story buildings.

When you’re outside on a clear day, GPS devices work like a charm, pinpointing your location to within a few metres. But step indoors (or, worse, underground), and the world’s most popular tracking system becomes almost useless. That’s where Navisens moves in.

Software-based location platform Navisens is introducing a new indoor and outdoor tracking technology that doesn’t rely on GPS, WiFi or Bluetooth. According to the company, the location solution is designed to leverage motion sensors in smartphones, making it more reliable than alternative location solutions.

Best Technology award went to a company solving deep technology problems. Navisens’s motionDNA technology locates personal and mobile devices indoors and underground with no infrastructure.

Navisens, a startup building a modern technology to compete with the Global Positioning System currently ubiquitous in digital mapping… The San Francisco-based startup is building a location system designed for mobile devices in urban environments. The technology aims to better support today’s uses of location positioning than GPS, a technology the U.S. military developed during the Cold War era for aeronautical defense applications.

Navisens selected in the 50 most promising startups from around the world. There are a few early clues that a startup will be successful, according to market researcher Quid: Have the company’s founders worked together before? Is the business in a hot sector, one where many other new startups are also focusing? Has it raised funding at a quick pace? Based on those criteria and others, Quid looked at more than 50,000 companies and chose 50 it deemed the most promising.

Now that it’s easy to find your way in the real world with just a smartphone in hand, the next logical navigation frontier is indoors, where GPS doesn’t work and maps are often nonexistent. Australian startup Navisens says it has a plan to track everyone from firefighters searching through burning buildings to consumers wandering through shopping malls, without requiring any special wireless signals.

Now that it’s easy to find your way in the real world with just a smartphone in hand, the next logical navigation frontier is indoors, where GPS doesn’t work and maps are often nonexistent. Australian startup Navisens says it has a plan to track everyone from firefighters searching through burning buildings to consumers wandering through shopping malls, without requiring any special wireless signals.

Now that it’s easy to find your way in the real world with just a smartphone in hand, the next logical navigation frontier is indoors, where GPS doesn’t work and maps are often nonexistent. Australian startup Navisens says it has a plan to track everyone from firefighters searching through burning buildings to consumers wandering through shopping malls, without requiring any special wireless signals.

Now that it’s easy to find your way in the real world with just a smartphone in hand, the next logical navigation frontier is indoors, where GPS doesn’t work and maps are often nonexistent. Australian startup Navisens says it has a plan to track everyone from firefighters searching through burning buildings to consumers wandering through shopping malls, without requiring any special wireless signals.

Now that it’s easy to find your way in the real world with just a smartphone in hand, the next logical navigation frontier is indoors, where GPS doesn’t work and maps are often nonexistent. Australian startup Navisens says it has a plan to track everyone from firefighters searching through burning buildings to consumers wandering through shopping malls, without requiring any special wireless signals.

“Whether you’re clumsily attempting to find where your Uber is parked or trying to find your friend at a crowded venue, it’s clear that GPS has some major limitations that need to be fixed. Navisens wants to gather reliable mapping data from users’ smartphones without even touching GPS, instead relying on sensors like the gyroscope and accelerometer to track the phone’s positioning in space. Today, the company is launching its main patent-pending product called motionDNA, which uses internal sensors in AR headsets and smartphones to track a user’s location in tight urban areas.”