Nokia has published a rather interesting read over on its main blog, which goes into some detail about indoor mapping. Smartphone owners who utilise mapping services while on the move don't necessarily think about indoor maps for supported buildings and locations, but said feature can prove invaluable at public locations where it's easy to get lost. Nokia calls its HERE indoor mapping "Venue Maps".
If a building has more than one floor, the HERE team ensure it's simple to find your way around, as well as multiple points of interest on different levels. Attributes are available, including ATM locations, escalators, stores, gate numbers (airports), restrooms and more. We've previously looked at indoor mapping in the past, but so far the HERE team has covered 49,000 buildings in 45 countries.
Here's a sweet infographic that explains it all better:
So how does one use Venue Maps? When using HERE Maps, you'll notice a blue icon resembling a building. This is the Venue Maps icon and will enable you to check out what's at your current location. The interior of the building on a Nokia Lumia Windows Phone sports a small amount of colouring, which represents different interests (restaurants, clothing stores, cinema, etc).
Tapping individual venues will reveal addresses, contact numbers and other details that are required to get in touch. Floors can be altered by selecting which floor you'd like to focus on. It's easy and real user-friendly. If you'd like to search for specific stores or facilities within a building, there's a directory option at the bottom of the screen to make panning around more efficient.
Looking to the future, Nokia states that 1,000 new venues are added every three months and the team will look to improve support as time passes by, so fear not if your favourite venues aren't covered just yet.
Source: Nokia
