Microsoft launches Path Guide; a new app for indoor navigation that works without GPS

**Microsoft** has released a new research-based mobile application called ‘Path Guide’ that helps with indoor navigation at places like an office building or a shopping mall. According to a blog post on the Microsoft blog the new app will help users find a place or room inside an office building or a shopping mall, even if GPS is not available. According to the post, GPS satellite signals are not accurate and most of the signals get blocked by building walls. Due to the poor penetration of GPS signals indoors, users are not able to access navigation apps in indoor locations. Microsoft keeping the problem in mind has created an app that will help users navigate inside a building without any assistance from a GPS satellite. The app will navigate by tracing the path created by a ’leader’ a person who has been to the location before and has uploaded the path followed by him. The updated or traced path by the ’leader’ will help new users visiting the place to get to the location easily.  The app also allows users to trace back the path from the destination i.e if a person wants to go out of a building from a room, the app will show instructions to get out of the building. The navigation system is based on magnetic sensor data gathered from different locations thanks to the geomagnetic field inside a building that Microsoft claims is relatively stable. The app can be installed in a smartphone without any need for a map service and is available free of cost on the Google Play Store and on the project’s official website.