Is it possible to create IndoorMaps like airports from Apple with IMDF?

Question

Im quite confused about creating an IndoorMap for our company to display it on iPad's. Regarding to the new IndoorMaps-Program from Apple I thought I found the perfect solution. Nice examples are shown at some airports in the official Maps App. But the more I dig deeper into this topic, I understand less and less.

• At airport indoor maps, provided by Apple directly, the max. zoom level is nearly disabled. You can zoom insanely deep into the indoor map (close to 5m). When I am creating a map with MapKit I can zoom not even close enough to a building, to fill it fullscreen. Is it even possible to get that zoom level as a private developer?

• In the documentation about IMDF-files they mentioned, that as an private developer,

  you will need to create IMDF yourselves. The good news is there are a number of third party platforms and tools that can make creating and updating IMDF easier. See section on third party platforms below.

  So I studied these third party platforms and noticed, that I can only create IMDF, when I am using it together with their provided software and map-SDK's. So I would make me dependent to another platform and SDK, which isn't in my interest. I didn't found anything about one platform/software to simply convert some floor plans to IMDF. Where is the trick? Am I thinking to complicated?

• The most confusing part of IMDF is: What is IMDF exactly? Third party platforms advertise it with the new file for indoor maps. Apple on the other hand, mentioned that

  IMDF is a data model that is used to describe an indoor space. IMDF is output as a set of GeoJSON files.

  So is it a file or a format? Would it be enough to get a tool to create GeoJSON-files?

Maybe somebody got a little bit experience with this topic and can get me some hints for my questions or can even suggest another simpler and better solution to display indoor maps for example warehouses.

Answer 1

The Indoor Mapping Data Format is Apple's way of modeling how to map indoor spaces. An IMDF archive is one manifest.json file with many .geojson files which are tightly related to the id property in some of the GeoJSON.

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See the IMDF Sandbox link to get a sample IMDF archive from Apple

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If you are building indoor maps for your example warehouse, and you want to stay independent of other parties, then you need to create your own GeoJSON. You would use the IMDF Sandbox from Apple to validate and/or report any issues you may have with your IMDF archive.

You mentioned a few links above, let me summarize your links plus a couple of others that we used to learn development of our IMDF solution.

• Indoor Mapping Data Format — https://register.apple.com/resources/imdf/

• Introducing the Indoor Maps Program - https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2019/245

  • Video 245 from WWDC 2019 describes the IMDF Sandbox — https://register.apple.com/indoor/imdf-sandbox

  • Because building and understanding IMDF can be a bit more complicated, there is the IMDF Sandbox, a tool for visualization, archive inspection, editing and experimentation with an IMDF archive.

• Adding Indoor Maps to your App and Website — https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2019/241

  • Video 241 from WWDC 2019 gives sample MapKit & MapKit JS projects
  • Displaying an Indoor Map — https://developer.apple.com/documentation/mapkit/displaying_an_indoor_map
  • Displaying Indoor Maps with MapKit JS — https://developer.apple.com/documentation/mapkitjs/mapkit/displaying_indoor_maps_with_mapkit_js

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I apologize that this was downvoted by someone, it's likely that someone deemed it not a programming question. I thought it a worthwhile question enough to answer.

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To answer your questions:

• What is IMDF exactly?

  • See https://register.apple.com/resources/imdf/Reference/#archives

  • Datasets MUST be delivered as ZIP compressed archives

  • Archives MUST contain a Manifest object supplied in a dedicated file named manifest.json

  • Features MUST be packaged as homogenous GeoJSON FeatureCollections

• Is it possible to create IndoorMaps like airports from Apple with IMDF?

  • Yes, See the IMDF Sandbox link above, as they have an example of Victoria YYJ International Airport

• Is it even possible to get that zoom level as a private developer?

  • Zoom level or MKMapView.CameraZoomRange would have to be determined empirically.

Answer 2

If you are familiar with GIS solutions, ESRI has a own indoor mapping template using which you can create Indoor maps and then export them into IMDF format.

The process should be:

1. Map you components and path using the ArcGIS Pro of ESRI and store them in a geodatabase. Getting Started with ArcGIS Indoor Maps
2. Complete you map test the paths and openings using navigation tool to make sure everything is perfect.
3. Export the existing geodatabase into IMDF format using the Generate Unit Openings tool. Export Indoor Maps data to IMDF