Waterloo’s Mappedin Collaborating with Apple on Indoor Maps

Mappedin has announced a collaboration with Apple to help shoppers navigate through malls on their iPhones and iPads.

The news coincides with the release of Apple’s iOS 11 which will support indoor navigation through its Maps app, including shopping malls and airports—an extremely useful update that’s bound to help users save time.

The Waterloo-based Mappedin represents some of the world’s leading Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT) and mall owners. Their software platform provides REITs and retailers the tools to manage their indoor GIS and build digital wayfinding experiences for customers.

“Apple’s new indoor mapping feature unlocks huge potential for retailers to provide the omnichannel shopping experience today’s consumers desire,” said Patrick Flanagan, vice-president of digital marketing and strategy at Simon Property Group.

The company is exporting customer property data to Apple Maps, information that can easily be updated by their customers across wayfinding platforms—websites, kiosks and apps—when needed and reflected accurately in the app.

“Using Mappedin’s tools, our team has the ability to make updates to our center maps to show store changes, new amenity and service deployments and have that information reflected across our wayfinding technology now including the Apple Maps platform,” said Flanagan. “That ability allows us to form a powerful and consistent connection with our shoppers.”

Now through Apple Maps, users will be able to view detailed floor plans of malls, zoom in to view the exact location of stores and easily locate retailers, restaurants, restrooms, escalators, elevators and even stairs on each floor. Users can also filter stores by categories including clothes, shoes, accessories, beauty and food.

With data coming in from both Mappedin’s wayfinding platforms and Apple Maps, property owners and retailers will have better insight into shoppers’ intentions and enhance the customer experience.

Mappedin CEO Hongwei Liu said that while 90 per cent of all retail transactions still involve physical stores, consumers expect digital experiences as part of the physical ones.

“At Mappedin, we have worked to make this a reality for over 500 [metre] square feet of premium retail space with our customers. It’s always about the experience. We are thrilled to see Apple, a world-class company and a leading retailer, contribute back to the digital brick ecosystem,” said Liu.

The new iOS 11 will be available for download on September 19.