MappedIn working with Apple on new feature

KITCHENER — Apple is touting a new, indoor maps feature as part of its latest mobile operating system that was made possible thanks to collaboration with a Kitchener startup.

MappedIn has been working for months with Apple on the indoor maps feature, said Hongweii Liu, the startup’s founder and chief executive officer.

“This feature is launching with iOS 11 this fall,” said Liu. “It is a collaboration we have been working on quietly for the past seven months with them on behalf of our customers.”

For years, MappedIn has developed digital maps of some of the biggest malls, hospitals, airports and museums in the world. The company’s platform makes it easy to keep the maps up-to-date, and available on websites, computers, smartphones, tablets and at digital kiosks.

In a recent web post, Apple says iOS 11 will features detailed maps of hundreds of airports and malls around the world. “This is the future: finding out which restaurants are past security at LAX or which stores are on Level 3 of the multi-storey mall is possible with iOS 11,” it says.

Apple was asking owners of many large buildings for the data that’s needed to make accurate, easy-to-use maps. Many of those landlords are already customers of MappedIn. That created a natural opening for the startup to bring together all the information Apple wanted and in the right format, says Liu.

“So we found ourselves in the positions to be helpful to everyone,” he said.

MappedIn proposed working with Apple on behalf of all of MappedIn’s clients to save everyone time, and to ensure all of the data was in formats that complied with Apple’s exacting standards.

“Unbelievably, everyone agreed,” said Liu.

Convincing the parties that MappedIn wanted to do this on behalf of its customers and get the indoor maps into the hands of millions of Apple users was the hardest part of the project, said Liu.

“If I can create value for my customers — malls, stores, airports, museums, hospitals — that’s my mandate, and in giving them a more efficient way to collaborate on their end with Apple, I am creating value and they are happy,” he said.

MappedIn employs about 35 people in offices inside the building 305 King St. W. in downtown Kitchener.

Its first outside investor was Esri Canada, a company that uses geographic information systems technology for mapping, spatial data analytics and providing locations. Liu’s main contact at Apple on the indoor maps feature for iOS 11 used to work at Esri.

“We went about building our tools and building our data model so that they are feature friendly, they are future proof, they match all of our internal standards for what we think is required,” said Liu. “And Apple of course takes the same approach.”