Google Indoor Maps

[Susanne Starck]

Has Google contacted you about coming on campus to map the interior of buildings? 

Some people on our campus are concerned about providing floor plans, but Google in only interested in public spaces, specifically, the entrances and stairways. 

Here's some info about it:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/new-frontier-for-google-maps...!/2011/11/new-frontier-for-google-maps-mapping.html

It would be helpful to me if I had a list of colleges that were already working with Google to improve their campus map.

Susanne Starck

Harper College, Palatine, IL

[Cassie E]

We are starting to work with them. The hold-up is that our administration wants to make sure it is indeed free. We hope they sign off on it soon.

Cassie 

-Laramie County Community College

[Susanne Starck]

But they were okay about security-related issues, right?

[Cassie E]

No issues have been brought up regarding security. ... yet. :) I would hope that the benefits of providing our students and community members a great map would outweigh the potential risks of someone using the floor plans to plot an attack. The maps will be as helpful for the good guys as the bad guys ... 

[Susanne Starck]

Ask them about the version for first-responders. It would give fire/police access to areas that you don't want the public to see! Our admins have not approved the project yet, I'm still trying...

[Justin]

I was recently contacted by Google as well and am hoping to be able to move forward with them as well, but I'm currently in the process of running that by administration.  Sounds like the service could be really useful.

Justin

Mississippi College

[Susanne Starck]

This hasn't been approved yet, but we have had several meetings. Google has been great, always making themselves available by phone. They are also working on a version that would allow first-responders to access a secure map, just for them. That way they can see areas the public can't.

[Justin]

Do any of you know if the indoor maps are only available on Android devices, or are they available via the web too?  The website seems to communicate that you can only utilize them on Android devices.

[Susanne Starck]

I believe that is in development now.

Feel free to email Jacqui Erwin

[e-mail].

She is very helpful!

[Justin]

Has anyone had Google actually come to their campus yet in order to gather data for indoor maps? They are coming to our campus tomorrow, and I just wanted to see if anyone was willing to share that experience.  If not, I'll let you know here how it went!

[Susanne Starck]

I hope you have a great experience because with Google because it will help me to convince our administrators to let them come here. Google Indoor Maps would solve a lot of our wayfinding challenges. I hope we get the okay soon!

[Jacob Dolan]

How did this go? We are working on it here, but it is a slow process.

What exactly are they doing on the campus visit? It hasn't been clear to me just yet. 

Thanks for sharing your experience!

Jake

[Justin]

The Google team came to our campus about two weeks ago.  Everything went smoothly.  They had a team of about 10 people that came and split up into two groups and basically walked through all the buildings we are getting mapped while staring at their phones.  The group was all guys, mostly younger, dressed very casually (could have almost been mistaken for students). The team that came to our campus (in Mississippi) was from Texas.

We did have a couple of miscommunications because I didn't realize that they had to get into every single classroom that they wanted mapped. I thought they just needed access to the building itself.  However, we were able to work with our security office to get them all the access they needed. The team took two full days to finish the work.

As I understand it, Indoor Maps are only available on Android devices right now, but will be available on desktop soon.  I'm not sure about the status with regard to iPhone, especially with Apple dropping Google Maps on the newest IOS, but I'd imagine they'll come out with a downloadable map app soon.

Let me know if you guys have any other questions about my experience and I'll be glad to try and answer them for you!