California-based location intelligence company Esri has acquired Vienna-based indoo.rs, a provider of Indoor Positioning System (IPS) technology.
Founded in 2010, indoo.rs’ software will become part of Esri’s ArcGIS Indoors, a new mapping product that enables interactive indoor mapping of corporate facilities, retail and commercial locations, airports, hospitals, event venues, universities, and more. The acquisition will also provide users of Esri’s ArcGIS platform with imbedded IPS location services to support indoor mapping and analysis. The indoo.rs headquarters will also serve as a new Esri R&D center based in Vienna, Austria focused on cutting-edge IPS capability.
The capability to accurately map, manage, navigate, and plan indoor spaces is a rapidly emerging market that promises to decrease costs, increase safety, and provide users of indoor spaces with a better workplace experience. ArcGIS Indoors does this by providing floor-aware 3D maps and focused apps to support a variety of workplace and facility users, including owners and operators, maintenance and service personnel, security staff, employees, and visitors.
“indoo.rs is a leading provider of IPS software and services, working with organizations across the globe such as international hub airports, major rail stations, and corporate headquarters, and I am excited to welcome the company to the Esri family,” said Brian Cross, Esri’s director of professional services. “indoo.rs’ technology, experience, and leadership in the IPS field will be of tremendous benefit to our customers who want to bring the power of GIS to indoor spaces.”
The new Vienna-based Esri R&D center will also provide support for IPS within ArcGIS Indoors and across the ArcGIS line of products. Existing indoo.rs customers will now have access to ArcGIS, adding the most powerful GIS software to their indoor mapping uses.
“Becoming an integral part of Esri’s product catalog allows us to continue the provision of our services at the highest professional level,” said Bernd Gruber, founder of indoo.rs. “It also fosters new and exciting future developments as well as securing our leading-edge approach.”
“We have seen the IPS market skyrocketing over the last few years,” added Rainer Wolfsberger, CEO of indoo.rs, “and our enterprise customers showed a high demand for deep integration of IPS technology to release the benefits of such a solution at all levels of their organization.”