Why finding your way indoors is harder than mapping India’s roads

Indoor navigation is increasingly being pitched as the next layer of digital maps. Yet, scaling it has proved far more complex than building outdoor navigation.

The reasons are structural. GPS does not work reliably indoors, indoor maps are privately owned rather than public goods, and each building requires custom mapping and permissions, making scale far harder to achieve.

Even companies that cracked indoor location intelligence stopped short of full navigation. Peter Theil’s Palantir in the US, for instance, worked extensively with Wi-Fi signals, device metadata, and sensor data to infer presence and movement inside buildings—often without users needing to actively connect to a network. But that capability was used for situational awareness, security, and operational monitoring—not turn-by-turn wayfinding.

Focus on controlled environments

A small but growing set of startups in India is now attempting to make indoor navigation commercially viable: for consumer and other businesses.

Indoor navigation is often embedded within a larger app such as Google Maps, Apple Maps and MapmyIndia’s Mappls app or run on proprietary systems. In many deployments, the primary objective is to track workers, assets, or inventory rather than help visitors find their way.

Companies such as Rannlab Technologies operate purely as B2B providers, offering indoor positioning systems accessed through enterprise logins for worker safety and asset tracking.

Others, like IWAYPLUS, while building enterprise-grade indoor maps for venues, also enable consumer-facing navigation for visitors.

MapmyIndia’s recent acquisition of a 6.06% stake in IWAYPLUS signals a push to extend its outdoor navigation stack indoors.

“GPS doesn’t work indoors, indoor maps aren’t publicly available, and every building requires collaboration with owners and operators. That’s why indoor navigation hasn’t scaled the way outdoor navigation did," said Pulkit Sapra, co-founder of IWAYPLUS. “For large mapping companies, partnering with specialised indoor navigation providers often makes more sense than building everything from scratch."

Where adoption is actually happening

IWAYPLUS’ clients include AIIMS Jammu, Ashoka University, and Brookfield Candor Techspaces—large campuses.

beComap, active across India and the Middle East, works with enterprises such as HP, GMR Airports, Honeywell, Global Village Dubai, and multiple large retail and healthcare venues, said Nidhin Chandra Mohan, co-founder at the company.

A typical commercial deployment for a mid-sized facility (e.g., a mall, hospital, or corporate office) generally ranges from ₹5 lakhs to ₹25 lakh for the initial setup, with recurring maintenance fees, according to the founders mentioned here. For large airports or warehouses, a standard charge ranges from ₹2 to ₹8 per square feet for the entire ecosystem.

Rannlab, which does asset/device-based tracking of warehousing inventory and workers charges ₹3,000 to ₹10,000 per tracked object annually.

“Indoor positioning only works when the business case is obvious," Umesh Kushwaha, CEO at the company, said. “For us, that’s asset tracking and worker safety, not general navigation."

How indoor navigation works

Most indoor navigation systems rely on Wi-Fi and bluetooth signals rather than GPS. When a user enters a building, their device can be detected in much the same way Wi-Fi networks detect nearby devices, even if the user does not actively connect.

This relies on device identifiers such as MAC addresses, which are considered personally identifiable information. As a result, providers face stricter compliance and data-protection requirements, particularly in sensitive environments such as airports, hospitals, and workplaces.

In practice, this enables precise, real-world use cases. At Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, for instance, users can search on Google Maps for a specific outlet—say, the nearest McDonald’s and be guided through the terminal. In large malls, indoor navigation can direct users not just to a store, but to the correct gate or entrance, reducing confusion.

Globally, the indoor navigation market is estimated at approximately $20.77-$37.54 billion, with an annual growth of 23.1%-41.4%, according to a report by Bain & Company. The report said "hyper-localization"—knowing exactly which aisle a customer is in—increases "conversion at the shelf" by up to 20%.

Precision and privacy matters

Several experts argue that the core challenge is less indoor versus outdoor navigation and more about resolution and privacy.

“Outdoor GPS is designed for meters, indoor use cases need sub-meter to a few meters as you’re dealing with far denser environments where signals are obstructed by walls, people, and materials. Add multi-storey buildings, where vertical positioning becomes critical, and the problem gets harder," said Akash Bhatia, co-founder of Infinite Analytics, an AI-based consumer analytics company.

Indoor systems typically rely on custom infrastructure—bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and sensors—that varies widely from building to building, making standardisation difficult.

“These systems can also raise privacy and compliance concerns, particularly when location signals intersect with device identifiers. As a result, economics often becomes as challenging as the technology itself," added Bhatia. Infinite Analytics works with brands including Coca-Cola, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Skoda, Brown Forman, and ITC.

Big Tech's interests

The constraints that limit indoor navigation’s scale have not deterred Big Tech; they have reshaped how the problem is approached.

Companies such as Google and Apple have embedded indoor maps and positioning into their consumer platforms, while global retailers and logistics players, including Amazon, have funded and deployed indoor mapping, vision, and localisation systems internally to optimise warehouses and fulfilment centres.

Venture capital has followed a similar pattern, backing specialised players like Peter Thiel foundation-backed Mappedin in Canada and Finland's IndoorAtlas that has partnered with Yahoo Japan.

In India, large telecom players are also entering the space. Reliance Jio is building location-intelligence platforms such as Jio Xplor that extend indoor tracking and navigation through telecom- and IoT-led systems rather than standalone consumer apps.

Public infrastructure is following suit, with deployments such as AIIMS Delhi’s Bluetooth-based Disha app and MapmyIndia’s Delhi Metro integration.

As airports, hospitals, warehouses, and campuses digitise operations, indoor mapping is being absorbed into broader location and analytics stacks. Adoption is now being driven by necessity.