Microsoft Corp. today announced the preview of Azure Maps Creator, a new tool in its public cloud platform that will enable companies to create custom indoor maps for use cases such as finding misplaced employee laptops and building augmented reality applications. 

The tool joins Microsoft’s Azure Maps suite of location services. Azure Maps provides access to maps from location data firm TomTom N.V. that companies can employ to develop location-aware services like navigation apps. With Creator, companies can create their own custom maps of indoor locations such as factories or office buildings.

Microsoft sees this enabling a whole range of new applications. Some of the potential use cases involve AR. Creator allows developers to convert the blueprint files for a building into a map, add extra details to the map such as the location of Wi-Fi routers and use this information to trigger events in an AR application. A hypothetical AR maintenance app, for instance, might use such a map to detect what floor in a building a network technician is on and provide information about that particular floor’s network setup. 

“You could also build cross-platform, mixed reality solutions with Azure Spatial Anchors accessible across HoloLens, iOS, and Android devices,” Roberto Lucchi, a senior program manager with the Azure Maps team, wrote in a blog post. “Applications tracking indoor positions can take advantage of Azure Maps and bring additional insights to mixed reality applications (for example, room properties and devices in close proximity) as well as trigger automated processes built using Azure Maps Spatial service and others.”

Another set of use cases Microsoft envisions for Azure Maps Creator focuses on Wi-Fi location tracking. According to the company, the next release of Windows will have a feature that will make it possible for information technology teams to track the whereabouts of employee devices using their wireless internet signals. Developers could use this feature with Azure Maps Creator to create maps that show device locations in real-time. 

“When deployed, IT departments can use it to find lost laptops, or employees can get live navigation through a building indoor map,” Lucchi wrote. “Azure Maps abstracts away from the method to let you choose the positioning technology suitable for your projects.”

The same capabilities could lend themselves to helping a company’s employees find available conference rooms, or enabling a retailer to track visitors’ location in a store and send offers to their phones at opportune moments. It’s also possible to combine Creator with other services in the Azure Maps suite. A farm operator, for instance, could create a custom map of a field and overlay rainfall data from the Azure Maps Weather service.

Creator may help make Azure more competitive with Google LLC’s public cloud on the mapping front. Google offers an enterprise version of Google Maps as part of its rival platform that is likewise designed for building location-aware applications. 

Image: Microsoft