Delivered on November 3, 2025
Changing the world with indoor sensing and area management
Speaker: Nobuhiko Nishio
Professor, College of Information Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University
Affiliation and position information is as of the time of distribution
Professor Nishio has been researching indoor sensing at Ritsumeikan University for over 20 years. He talks about the development of Street View while working at Google in 2008, his subsequent mapping research in the Umeda underground shopping mall after returning to Japan, and the application of indoor sensing technology to autonomous driving and disaster prevention systems. This episode is a must-listen for anyone involved in indoor location information, including research into UWB and automatic fingerprint updates.
＝＝＝＝
The Cutting Edge of Location Technology: The Future of Indoor Positioning and Area Management
As the use of location data advances, technological development and social implementation, particularly in indoor spaces where GPS is difficult to use, have become critical issues. This article, based on an interview with Professor Nishio of Ritsumeikan University, delves into his experiences at Google, his challenges in Japan's underground shopping malls, his current research themes, applications to disaster prevention systems and autonomous driving, and future prospects.
From His Experience at Google to Japan's Underground Shopping Malls: The Challenge of Indoor Street View
Professor Nishio was involved in the launch of Google Street View around 2007-2008 and contributed to building its infrastructure. After returning to Japan, although outdoor Street View was already available, he aimed to realize it indoors, focusing particularly on Osaka's underground shopping malls, known as labyrinths. Initially unable to secure cooperation from Google, he prepared his own filming equipment and, with the cooperation of Osaka Underground Shopping Mall Co., Ltd., created and released indoor Street View data for approximately 1,500 locations throughout the area.
Positioning in Places Where GPS Doesn't Reach: The Evolution of Indoor Positioning Technology
Professor Nishio began full-scale research into indoor positioning, focusing on underground shopping malls, where GPS is unavailable. Initially, he developed a beacon-alternative system combining a special solar cell capable of operating under fluorescent light with a low-power Wi-Fi chip. He subsequently pursued positioning techniques utilizing various sensors, including radio waves, geomagnetic fields, and atmospheric pressure, such as PDR (inertial navigation), Wi-Fi positioning, and more recently UWB (ultra-wideband).
UWB positioning, while highly accurate, presents a major challenge: automatic updating of the fingerprint (radio fingerprint) in environments where obstacles are constantly shifting, such as factories and warehouses. This automation is currently one of his primary research themes.
Area Management and Disaster Prevention Systems: Utilizing Location Information to Save Lives
Underground shopping malls, artificial spaces where multiple businesses and railway companies intertwine, present challenges for wide-area area management, despite being commercial spaces. Navigation, in particular, poses challenges, including complicated route guidance due to competition and coordination between operators.
In such complex spaces, Professor Nishio's laboratory considers disaster prevention an important application. In recent years, in underground shopping malls where flooding and inundation damage are a concern, Professor Nishio has provided a B2B system that uses sensors to monitor flooding in real time and provides facility managers with real-time action plans for where and how to stop the flooding. Using disaster prevention as a "framework for everyone to collaborate," Professor Nishio aims to promote the social implementation of location information technology and area management.
Future Outlook: Autonomous Driving and Smart Buildings
Recently, he has expanded the application field of his research to include autonomous driving and sensing using autonomous mobile robots. For buildings lacking sufficient existing sensors (non-smart buildings), he is promoting research to transform them into "smart buildings" by using sensor-equipped robots to patrol the building and grasp the flow of people and the situation within the building. In the future, he also envisions using drones in indoor spaces, regardless of whether they are barrier-free.
Summary
Professor Nishio's research demonstrates how location information technology can contribute to addressing important challenges facing modern society, including the evolution of indoor positioning technology, the promotion of area management in complex urban infrastructure, and its applications in disaster prevention and smart building development. In particular, by incorporating location information technology within social frameworks such as disaster prevention and decarbonization, the technology's initial investment barriers can be overcome, enabling widespread real-world use. Further technological development and social implementation through industry-academia collaboration is anticipated through collaborative frameworks such as the LBMA.