Compute positioning quality

Available for an ArcGIS organization licensed with the ArcGIS IPS extension.

After creating an IPS-aware map, it is recommended that you verify its positioning performance. To do so, perform an on-site assessment by opening the map in the ArcGIS IPS Setup app and traversing each facility to evaluate the positioning accuracy of the location indicator. If there are areas where the positioning accuracy is below expectations, a more detailed assessment can be performed by collecting quality recordings and processing them using the Quality Assessment toolset.

If you identify one or multiple areas where the positioning performance does not meet the required expectations, you can troubleshoot the positioning performance.

Collect quality data

You can analyze indoor positioning performance by collecting quality recordings. This process is similar to collecting survey recordings, but the process uses an IPS-aware map to collect radio signal data and the live indoor position data generated by the ArcGIS IPS Engine, using the Indoor Positioning Data Service and the Indoor Positioning Configuration specified for the map.

To collect quality recordings, refer to the workflow that is appropriate for your mobile device:

After collecting quality recordings, you must perform the following steps to process them for analysis:

  1. Create an ArcGIS IPS Quality Dataset with the Create IPS Quality Dataset tool.
  2. Compute ArcGIS IPS Positioning Quality with the Compute Positioning Quality tool.

These steps are described in detail in the sections below.

Create an ArcGIS IPS quality dataset

The ArcGIS IPS quality dataset is used for computing the positioning quality of an ArcGIS IPS deployment. The ArcGIS IPS quality dataset includes the following feature classes, which are essential for quality assessment:

  • Computed Positions—Indoor positions computed by the ArcGIS IPS Engine during a quality recording.
  • Reference Positions—Actual positions of the surveyor during a quality recording.

You can generate an ArcGIS IPS quality dataset using the Create IPS Quality Dataset tool in ArcGIS Pro.

To create an ArcGIS IPS quality dataset for a map in ArcGIS Pro, complete the following steps:

  1. Start ArcGIS Pro.
  2. Open an ArcGIS IPS map or prepare a new map in ArcGIS Pro.
  3. On the Analysis tab, click Tools Toolbox.

    The Geoprocessing pane appears.

  4. In the Geoprocessing pane, click the Toolboxes tab.
  5. Expand Indoor Positioning Tools, expand Quality Assessment, and click the Create IPS Quality Dataset tool.

    The Create IPS Quality Dataset tool opens in the Geoprocessing pane.

  6. Click Browse Browse next to Target Workspace and choose the workspace where the quality dataset will be created.
    Caution:

    This tool honors the Allow geoprocessing tools to overwrite existing datasets geoprocessing options. If overwrite is enabled and the output quality dataset already exists in the target workspace, it will be overwritten.

  7. Optionally provide a coordinate system for the Spatial Reference parameter.
    Note:

    If no coordinate system is provided, WGS84 is used to create the quality dataset.

  8. Provide a name for the dataset in the Dataset Name text box.
  9. Click Run.

    A feature dataset with the provided coordinate system and name is created in the target workspace that contains the Reference Positions and Computed Positions feature classes.

You can compute the positioning quality from the collected quality recordings.

Compute ArcGIS IPS positioning quality

You can compute the positioning quality of quality recordings in ArcGIS Pro to determine the accuracy of positioning data that will be used for ArcGIS IPS.

To compute the positioning quality in ArcGIS Pro, complete the following steps:

  1. Open an IPS-aware map that contains the collected quality recordings.
  2. On the Analysis tab, click Tools Toolbox.

    The Geoprocessing pane appears.

  3. In the Geoprocessing pane, click the Toolboxes tab.
  4. Expand Indoor Positioning Tools, expand Quality Assessment, and click the Compute Positioning Quality tool.

    The Compute Positioning Quality tool opens in the Geoprocessing pane.

  5. For the Target IPS Quality Dataset parameter, choose the ArcGIS IPS quality dataset that you created in the previous section.
  6. For the IPS Recordings Features parameter, choose a feature layer that contains quality recordings.
  7. Optionally, provide values for the Sight Blocking Details Features parameter.

    If no values are provided, the line of sight between reference and computed positions will not be computed.

  8. Click Run.

The tool extracts the real-time positions computed by the ArcGIS IPS engine and the actual position of the survey device. These are stored in the Computed Positions and Reference Positions feature classes, respectively. Each computed position is linked to a unique reference position using a recording ID and a timestamp, and each position contains information about the quality of positioning performance at that specific location. This data can be used to compare the reference position with the corresponding computed position, optionally taking into account any obstacles present in the environment.

Positioning performance metrics

Positioning performance is evaluated using the following metrics:

  • Level Match—A Boolean value indicating whether the reference and computed positions are located on the same level.
  • LOS to Computed—A Boolean value indicating whether the reference position is visible from the corresponding computed position. If there is a floor mismatch, this is set to False; otherwise, it is the result of a line-of-sight calculation that takes the Sight Blocking Details features into account as obstacles. If no sight obstruction details are provided, the line of sight is not computed and this field is set to Null.
  • Distance to Computed—The distance between the reference and computed positions. If there is a floor mismatch, this is set to Null; otherwise, it represents the Euclidean distance between the computed position and its corresponding reference position.
  • Level of Accuracy—A classification of the positioning accuracy based on the Distance to Computed field. If there is a floor mismatch, this field is set to Invalid; otherwise, it is classified as Low, Medium, or High, according to the following threshold values:

    Distance to ComputedLevel of Accuracy

    < 5 meters

    High

    5–10 meters

    Medium

    > 10 meters

    Low

The possible combinations of the Level Match, LOS to Computed, and Level of Accuracy fields provide a qualitative assessment of the deployment, as shown in the table below. Not all combinations of values are possible.

Level MatchLOS to ComputedLevel of Accuracy

TRUE

TRUE

High

TRUE

TRUE

Medium

TRUE

TRUE

Low

TRUE

FALSE

High

TRUE

FALSE

Medium

TRUE

FALSE

Low

FALSE

FALSE

Invalid

The accuracy level is a classification of the positioning accuracy based on the Distance to Computed field and the following threshold values:

Distance to Computed Level of Accuracy

<5 m

High

5 m–10 m

Medium

>10 m

Low

The reference positions and computed positions features can be used to assess the quality of the ArcGIS IPS deployment's positioning data.