Study On A Hybrid Indoor Positioning Method In Museum Mobile Guiding System And Its Implementation

The electronic guiding mode based on smartphones has become the future trend for museum guiding services in which the indoor positioning is one important link. Nevertheless, current positioning technologies cannot perfectly solve the mobile positioning problem of visitors in the museum, In addition, the functions of most museum guiding systems today are not complete, of which the display technology of exhibits is monotonous and lack enough interaction and sharing. Such systems are not capable to meet the diverse demands from different types of museums and visitors.This paper has done some research as below:1. A hybrid positioning method is proposed making full use of the characteristics of museum electronic guiding, which combines the passive and active positioning modes of visitors to meet the demand of indoor positioning in the museum, In the passive mode, a hybrid method combining WLAN positioning based on location fingerprints and positioning based on inertial sensors. Positioning accuracy is increased and meanwhile sampling workload of location fingerprints and resource demand of instant positioning are reduced. In the active mode, positioning based on QR code and image identification is used as an assistant mean, which can adjust the position information of visitors and improve adaptability to the environment.2. The deployment of the aforementioned hybrid indoor positioning method is designed and the application is tested in the "Yue Di Chang Ge" exhibition room of Zhejiang Museum. A strategy for the distribution of sample points is proposed based on investigation results about the room structure, AP deployment, positions of exhibits, visiting route etc. A sparse but effective position fingerprint library and adjusting points are established to meet the demands of mobile positioning. The feasibility and effectiveness of the hybrid indoor positioning method are validated.3. A complete museum mobile guiding system based on the Android platform is developed fulfilling the functions of hybrid indoor positioning, digital integrated display and information sharing. The system can realize self-guiding for users in the museum. Users can use their smartphones to know their positions, acquire multimedia materials about exhibits of interest, review their visiting process and share on social websites.The study in this paper is deployed and tested in Zhejiang Museum. The results indicate that the system can meet users’demands for self-guiding in the museum and has value of demonstrative application.