What is the Visual Positioning System and Why It Is the Future of Navigation?

Do you reside in a populated area with confusing roads? Do you face trouble finding the exact location even with the navigation apps? VPS can help you overcome this trouble. The entire world is using GPS for navigation and it has proved to be a boon. However, the GPS that we are using is taken a notch higher with Google’s new VPS (visual positioning system).

VPS has given a new edge to navigation app development. This amazing update in navigation technology has people from all across the globe on edge. With the advent of this new technology, Google maps use the camera of mobile phones to capture the surrounding area and give directions right in front of your eyes. 

What is VPS and How It Is Different From GPS?

A positioning system is a tool that is used for knowing the position of an object or an individual. GPS technology needs global coverage and accuracy to know the exact location. GPS enables one to locate the exact destination as well as the path to reach that destination. To make this happen, a satellite view of the region is used.            

The visual positioning system is a bit different from GPS. It offers a basic navigation system as well as advanced features of navigation as it offers a live scenario. This means a live location with the orientation of the surrounding environment. VPS makes use of computer vision to accurately figure out the location of the user’s phone. This technology combines the camera and sensor of the mobile phone with the software. The software has vision clues, 3D, and depth sensors. VPS is also integrated with virtual and augmented reality which needs an exact position to mingle virtual content with physical content in cities. 

At present, VPS covers cities, and the software that it is connected with decodes the input of the camera that captures the city’s images. Post that the images encode the coordinates of the location with the angle at which markers can help figure out the distance and height which shows a three-dimensional location with precision. The visual positioning system market is divided on the basis of type, solution, application, technology, and region. 

How VPS Works?

The extensive back-end data of Google and the phone’s camera gives an accurate analysis of where you are. Here’s how it works: 

• In the first step, a button must be tapped to activate the visual. Point the camera of your phone to your surrounding to get proper details.  

• The surrounding area will be shown with an overlay of map data with the arrows pointing toward your preferred destination. 

• It also provides a small map at the bottom which will work as a reminder of where you are going. 

• VPS avails its data from the surrounding landmarks and buildings where you are currently located instead of depending on the satellite location which eradicates any flaws with GPS.

• Google plans to place a character on the screen to give users a feel of an AR tour guide. 

The entire VPS system works so accurately as it has new board sensors working on two essential elements:

1) Localization

• Position tracking sensor
• Get the location with the map’s assistance

2) Mapping

• Map updating
• Map sharing
• Manual map overlaying with/without a floor plan

Benefits of Using VPS in Your Mobile App Development

There is plenty of navigation app development that focuses on using GPS as their core element. However, with the new technologies, GPS has to be replaced with VPS. GPS is not enough as this new visual positioning system can offer a plethora of things that can fix navigation issues. Here are some of the highlighting advantages.

1) Whether the technology is used for a large enterprise, public venue, or school, it is of great assistance to visually impaired people. Minute navigation and close-up direction can make finding routes easier for visually impaired people.    

2) The technology is budget-friendly and offers high benefits making it the first choice for mobile app developers. It offers multiple benefits with no beacon or anchor charges and allows finding exact routes on the go. 

3) One of the unique benefits it offers is not just outdoor navigation but also provides indoor navigation. This means never having to ask for the favourite store in the mall. Indoor navigation has never been possible to date but now, you don’t have to rely on people while searching for a conference room in a big hotel or a meetup or exhibition. 

4) It is of utmost use in urban areas where the exact location cannot be detected when GPS services are blocked or distracted by skyscrapers. 

5) Camera-based navigation system saves you from getting lost at an intersection or unknown location. Just open your camera in your phone, point it in the front, get the visual view, and you know where you are headed and where you should actually go.

6) VPS enables you to know your business better, gives clients assistance on foot, and is available for all transportation modes. 

7) It sets a new standard in the navigation sector offered by Google to provide amazing comfort and ease to travel from one spot to another with complete dependency with no chance of error.

8) The technology not just assists with routes and directions but also makes the best use of augmented reality to get supplementary information by accumulating information from nearby signboards and shops. 

9) This navigation system not just shows the desired destination but also shows your favourite restaurant or any specific store, or favourite retail shop. 

10) One of the best things about integrating VPS into your navigation app development is easy usage. Users will feel comfortable using it and hence improve your user engagement.

How Can VPS Improve Your Business?

When VPS would be highly popular and more people will know about it, they will want to integrate it into their business. Before this happens, it would be highly recommended to stay ahead of time and integrate it before they enter the league. Here are some of the most astounding features of VPS that would help improve your business.

• Using VPS will allow customers to easily reach your store’s doorstep without putting much effort into finding it. 

• Fill out the Google business profile which is the key for the users to get information about the users which will be shown through Google’s VPS.

• We know that AR uses virtual digital presentations to help businesses and enterprises to improve physical real-life scenarios. VPS allows businesses to give their customers a virtual visit to their store or office.  

Indoor Visual Positioning System

With VPS every indoor place can be covered whether it is a mall, a school, or an enterprise, finding your way around an unknown place becomes really easy. Every indoor room or area converts into an immersive augmented reality experience. This works by showing the exact location of any user through a computer vision and delivering precise AR content based on it.

Improved location tracking is linked with AR and makes it easy for users to visit it. Say, for example, a menu with better facts is shown in a shopping mall before visiting the cafe or restaurant. The menu is shown in the exact location of the phone as it is physically located with the help of AR, textures, and animations. 

Real-World Uses of VPS

VPS will extract its visual point features from geo-referred images on the grounds of the popularity of location-based services to add existing location data models for advanced navigation, marketing, and robotics.

Here are some of the real-world uses of VPS:

1) Augmented Marketing

Plenty of businesses around the globe are focusing on implementing AR for marketing. Say for example furniture stores develop a mobile app with AR that shows how a piece of furniture will look in-house and help in decision-making. Similarly, a real estate app development will also create a mobile app with AR that virtually shows the property and surrounding to determine whether the property is worth buying or renting. 

2) Augmented Robotics

Whether it is drones, cars, or robots, augmented reality and VPS services allow access and improve the ability to navigate using GPS well. 

3) Augmented Navigation

In one of the first truly compelling use cases for mobile AR, a modification to Google Map’s AR mode used VPS to overlay useful AR artifacts that let users navigate to locations without consulting a map. This was one of the most amazing demonstrations at this year’s Google I/O Developers Conference. 

Drawbacks of VPS

No innovation can be a hundred percent perfect. There can be a possibility of error in the initial phase of usage. The same will be the case with VPS. Google will also be looking for user feedback to update and make necessary changes accordingly. Here are some of the obvious drawbacks of the technology at present. 

1) All the indoor areas might not be suitable for VPS and hence it can be a drawback in the initial stage of usage.

2) There is no preloaded street view in this system. This means there are changing lighting conditions which means there can be trouble with the visual view. Hence, getting a route will be difficult when the surrounding area is dark or there is too much light that the view is unclear.

3) There are several areas that look extremely similar and detecting those areas and showing the route might be complicated for the newer technology. False-positive detection can be neglected only if the area and the surrounding region are different. 

4) It might seem simple to just point your phone’s camera and detect location. However, in real life, there are people walking, blocking the area, and vehicles parked which makes it difficult to use VPS and get the exact location and show the desired path. 

Wrapping Up

While using Google maps, they say you need to take the left but there are 2 lefts and you are confused about which is the correct left. With VPS, you will get a street view right on your phone and get rid of all the confusion you are currently facing with GPS navigation applications.