A Proposal for Modeling Indoor–Outdoor Spaces through IndoorGML, Open Location Code and OpenStreetMap

Rubén Cantarero Navarro,Felix J Villanueva Molina,Maria J Santofimia Romero,David Villa Alises,Ana Rubio Ruiz,Juan C Lopez Lopez,Javier Dorado Chaparro

doi:10.3390/ijgi9030169

Rubén Cantarero Navarro, Felix J Villanueva Molina + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi9030169

Copy DOI

Abstract

Traditionally, the standards of spatial modeling are oriented to represent the quantitative information of space. However, in recent years an increasingly common challenge is appearing: flexibly and appropriately integrating quantitative information that goes beyond the purely geometric. This problem has been aggravated due to the success of new paradigms such as the Internet of Things. This adds an additional challenge to the representation of this information due to the need to represent characteristic information of the space from different points of view in a model, such as WiFi coverage, dangerous surroundings, etc. While this problem has already been addressed in indoor spaces with the IndoorGML standard, it remains to be solved in outdoor and indoor–outdoor spaces. We propose to take the advantages proposed in IndoorGML, such as cellular space or multi-layered space model representation, to outdoor spaces in order to create indoor–outdoor models that enable the integration of heterogeneous information that represents different aspects of space. We also propose an approach that gives more flexibility in spatial representation through the integration of standards such as OpenLocationCode for the division of space. Further, we suggest a procedure to enrich the resulting model through the information available in OpenStreetMap.

Highlights

At present, the rise of new paradigms such as the Internet of Things (IoT) gives us the opportunity to retrieve data from a wide variety of sources [1,2] to produce more advanced and powerful services and applications
We propose to take the advantages proposed in IndoorGML, such as cellular space or multi-layered space model representation, to outdoor spaces in order to create indoor–outdoor models that enable the integration of heterogeneous information that represents different aspects of space
Limitations, and strengths of existing approaches for space modeling described in the previous paragraphs, here we propose a new use of the IndoorGML standard, applying the concepts and relationships established by the standard to a different dimension—the outdoor space

Summary

Introduction

The rise of new paradigms such as the Internet of Things (IoT) gives us the opportunity to retrieve data from a wide variety of sources [1,2] to produce more advanced and powerful services and applications. Our hypothesis is based on the adaptation of the descriptive power of the IndoorGML standard to outdoor spaces in order to make it possible to face the two challenges mentioned: (i) the integration of heterogeneous information into spatial models to describe different aspects of space and, at the same time, (ii) the incorporation of a way to divide the space more flexibly and abstractly than traditional GPS coordinates do. The multi-layered representation makes it possible to represent the different types of information in a single model so that a certain region of the space can be described simultaneously from different points of view, such as lighting, WiFi coverage, geometry,or topology contexts It has not been mentioned so far, note that through this proposal we manage to face the challenges posed, and to achieve a solution to represent indoor and outdoor spaces together.

State-of-the-Art for Space Modeling

Applying IndoorGML to Outdoor Spaces

Experimental Validation

Conclusions