Get started with ArcGIS IPS

Available for an ArcGIS organization licensed with the IPS extension.

ArcGIS IPS is an indoor positioning system that provides geolocation for a variety of indoor location use cases. ArcGIS IPS allows you to locate yourself indoors by displaying your current position on an indoor map. You can navigate to people, places, and assets inside a facility in real time. With the integration of the indoor positioning system into ArcGIS platform, users can improve their operational efficiency by making better-informed decisions.

To enable indoor positioning, you must either survey your facilities and use the Generate Indoor Positioning File tool or use the Generate Indoor Positioning File Without Survey tool. To plan and perform survey recordings, use the ArcGIS IPS Setup mobile app for Android or iOS.

Required software

One of the following is required to use ArcGIS IPS:

  • ArcGIS Enterprise 10.9.1 or later for a portal connection
  • ArcGIS Enterprise 11.2 on Kubernetes
  • An ArcGIS Online organization

License ArcGIS IPS

To use the Indoor Positioning tools and perform recordings using the ArcGIS IPS Setup app, your organization must be licensed with the ArcGIS IPS organization capability. Organization members must also be assigned a license for the ArcGIS IPS user type extension.

Complete the following steps to assign a user the ArcGIS IPS user type extension:

  1. Add the ArcGIS IPS organization capability to your ArcGIS Online organization or Enterprise portal.
  2. Assign users who need access to the IPS Setup app an ArcGIS IPS user type extension and an Editor, Creator, or GIS Professional user type.
  3. Assign users who only need to access to the Indoor Positioning tools an ArcGIS IPS user type extension and a Creator or GIS Professional user type.

Access Indoor Positioning tools

Licensed users must complete the following steps to license the Indoor Positioning tools for use in ArcGIS Pro:

  1. Start ArcGIS Pro.
  2. Add a connection to an ArcGIS organization that has the ArcGIS IPS organization capability.
  3. Sign in as a user assigned an ArcGIS IPS user type extension.
  4. Connect to your active portal.

Create the ArcGIS IPS Information Model

Use the Enable Indoor Positioning tool to create the ArcGIS IPS core model in an existing workspace. The model contains the table and feature classes required for surveying facilities and generating a positioning file for use in ArcGIS IPS-enabled apps.

Use the Create IPS Quality Dataset tool to create an ArcGIS IPS quality dataset that contains the feature classes necessary to store quality assessment results.

Learn more about creating the ArcGIS IPS core model and ArcGIS IPS quality dataset

Create floor plan data

To accurately locate yourself during the survey process, you must use floor plan data that conforms to the ArcGIS Indoors Information Model or create the required feature classes and floor plan data.

Learn more about creating floor plan data

Create transitions

Transitions in ArcGIS IPS differ from transitions in ArcGIS Indoors and are used to define facility entrances and exits. This information is used by ArcGIS IPS during the positioning phase to provide a smoother transition from Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) to ArcGIS IPS. To enable transitions, you must use an Indoors model or create a feature class to add transitions to your floor plan data. The following are the primary steps for creating transitions:

  1. Configure a Transitions feature class created with Indoors geoprocessing tools or create a feature class for transitions.
  2. Add transitions to the floor plan data.

Create pathways

Pathways represent a predefined routing network and are used by ArcGIS IPS to snap the location indicator to Pathways line features. To enable pathway snapping, use pathway features that conform to the Indoors model or create a feature class for pathways and add pathway features to the floor plan data. The following are the primary steps for creating pathways:

  1. Configure a Pathways feature class created with Indoors geoprocessing tools or create a feature class for pathways.
  2. Add pathways to the floor plan data.

Create survey paths

Survey paths are linear features that represent the predefined paths where you plan to record a survey using the IPS Setup app. The preplanned survey paths are stored as IPS Recordings features without a recording attachment.

You can create survey paths in ArcGIS Pro, the IPS Setup app, the ArcGIS Field Maps app, or in Map Viewer in your ArcGIS Online organization before going on-site to increase productivity and efficiency.

Create wall features

Wall features are floor-aware polygon feature classes or feature layers that represent the physical extent of the walls in a facility where indoor positioning is being deployed.

You can derive wall features from levels and units, floor plan sketches, or BIM data of your facility. Once the wall features are derived, you can use them as input to generate a positioning file without performing surveys using the Generate Indoor Positioning File Without Survey tool.

Create beacon features

The Beacons feature class is part of the ArcGIS IPS core model and is used to do the following:

  • Identify the location of deployed Bluetooth beacons.
  • Generate a positioning file without performing surveys.
  • Inspect and monitor the status and configurations of beacons.
  • Plan optimal distribution of beacons within a facility for a future deployment.
  • Use as input for further analysis of a deployment.

To do these things, first create beacon features in ArcGIS Pro, in the Field Maps app, or in Map Viewer in your ArcGIS Online organization.

ArcGIS IPS Setup app

Once you create the ArcGIS IPS Information Model, you can prepare and share a web map for use in the IPS Setup app. The app allows you to plan and perform surveys to collect the environmental data required to enable indoor positioning. The survey data is stored as recording features that can be uploaded from IPS Setup to the web map shared to your ArcGIS organization. The survey data can then be used to generate an indoor positioning file using the Generate Indoor Positioning File tool. You can also generate an indoor positioning file without the IPS Setup app using the Generate Indoor Positioning File Without Survey tool. The positioning file generated using either of these methods can be tested for accuracy using IPS Setup in test mode. The IPS Setup app can also be used to collect quality recordings for assessing the performance of an ArcGIS IPS deployment.