Hyper, indoor technologies for retail
Hyper has created a revolutionary interface for mobile by combining augmented reality with live maps and navigation.
Indoor location has always been a growing activity in the mobile industry, localization is always an area with multiple needs. A few years ago, Google launched after Apple iBeacon in 2015 the open source Eddystone format to counter Apple’s closed protocols. Since then, these two major players have been developing their services by offering a proprietary API or leaving Bluetooth connectivity active, as Apple has done for location since iOS 11.
There are many services built on top of Google Maps, such as MapsIndoors, a product that retailers can use to add indoor navigation functionality to their mobile apps as well as kiosks and in-store websites. By working with Google Maps, MapsIndoors enables its retail customers to help guide shoppers to their stores. Once those shoppers are inside, MapsIndoors’ indoor positioning technology provides guidance. In addition to basic recommendations, the service can be used to target shoppers with real-time location-based offers and coupons. Shoppers can also create location-optimized shopping lists and create routes through stores.
Retail
We are currently witnessing the emergence and growth of department stores in retail across the globe. They have grown greatly in both size and scope, making the adoption of a navigation solution an important decision. In the coming years, positioning and indoor navigation system are predicted to have a huge growth. This leads to a massive demand for indoor navigation software development.
The most important aspect of internal navigation is internal positioning. The larger the size of the store, the more problems it creates for visitors in terms of navigation, wayfinding and even positioning within the store. From a store management perspective, problems can be even more daunting because they need to be identified and resolved in real time. In one study, more than half (57%) of shoppers used an in-store retailer’s mobile app. For their apps to deliver the greatest value, retailers should leverage location-based features, including built-in mapping.
Hyper
Since Hyper’s inception, they have pioneered a vision of the future of smart spaces in retail. Hyper’s promise is to always be cutting edge, fast and innovative to transform physical spaces into Hyper Spaces. The company was founded by Andrew Hart, a former developer who pioneered deployment in AR spaces. Andrew pioneered AR navigation, built a community of thousands of AR developers, and started the largest open source project for Apple’s ARKit, which is now used by Apple, Google Maps, and Uber.
In 2018, Andrew launched Dent Reality (former name) to take the next big step and build the future of physical retail locations. Today, they are a team of about 20 people based in London, England, with a talented group of software engineers, indoor mapping and spatial technology experts. Their mobile engineers develop native iOS and native Android apps, and their web engineers ensure the highest reliability and availability for our online tools.
Over the past 4 years, they have developed positioning technology that is 5 times more accurate without complex setup. The technology combines WiFi positioning, phone sensor data and machine learning to achieve an accuracy of less than 1 meter, compared to the 3-5m accuracy of other solutions. No need to install beacons or any other equipment. Their solution is user-friendly and requires no internet connection, QR code scanning or manual phone orientation to use.
They have an SDK for consumer apps that allows you to create an enhanced customer experience, as shown in the demo below, which allows you to, for example, organize your customers’ shopping lists based on their location in the store. You can also choose to display relevant products based on shopper intent, purchase history, and store location. Their solution also allows them to provide greater efficiency to the people who put them on the shelves.
