[Translated from Japanese] TOKYO, AUGUST 24, 2021 — MetCom Co., Ltd. will begin a pilot for high-precision vertical positioning services in select areas of central Tokyo beginning in September 2021. Enabled by NextNav, a leader in next generation GPS and a major shareholder in MetCom, the pilot will utilize NextNav’s vertical location service, Pinnacle, to accurately identify floor-leveling positioning indoors through a smartphone’s barometric sensor. Developers and partners will also be able to incorporate this z-axis intelligence into their applications via the service’s software development kit.
The vertical positioning data is gathered from the barometric pressure sensor built into most smartphones and then analyzed over the Pinnacle network in real time, so that vertical location can be gathered with an accuracy of less than 3 meters, regardless of weather conditions or temperature.
This service will be available in the southern half of the Yamanote Line, the center of Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and its surroundings. Several partner companies will be leveraging this service to implement it in different initiatives, including:
- Demonstrating network construction by installing it in contract facilities of MetCom’s partners, Kyocera Communication Systems Co., Ltd. and Sony Network Communications Co., Ltd.
- Exploring opportunities for use of indoor positioning in security services in partnership with SECOM Co., Ltd.
- Conducting research on the opportunity to leverage indoor 3D location information of Nippon Telecommunications System Co., Ltd. for its corporate customers.
- Demonstrating the application of high-precision 3D indoor positioning for managing human flow at Tokyo Building Co., Ltd. and the Nihonbashi Building managed by the company.
- Identifying opportunities in marketing and advertising for designing and developing customer experiences that utilize vertical location intelligence, in cooperation with Dentsu Co., Ltd. and its partner companies.
About MetCom Co., Ltd.
MetCom Co., Ltd. was established to provide wide-area, high-precision 3D positioning that visualizes “what, when, and where”. It enables gps weaknesses such as “indoors”, “underground”, “building districts”, and “vertical positioning”, and provides 3D positioning services that can be used universally both outdoors and indoors. NextNav, a world leader in this area, is a major shareholder and will partner with the company to deliver the world’s highest level of positioning services. We aim to develop and operate social infrastructure that realizes a safe and secure society in Japan and a highly convenient citizen’s life.
About NextNav
NextNav provides next generation GPS. NextNav Pinnacle uses highly accurate vertical positioning to transform location services so they reflect the 3D world around us. Our revolutionary TerraPoiNT system keeps critical infrastructure resilient with reliable Position, Navigation and Timing services in the absence of GPS. With carrier-grade dependability and a rapidly expanding nationwide service footprint, NextNav is driving a whole new ecosystem for geolocation applications and services.
Inquiries About This Matter
Hiroki Hirasawa
[email protected]
https://metcom.jp/