EDMONTON - West Edmonton Mall and Google have teamed up to develop an indoor mobile map to help visitors find their way around North America’s largest shopping centre.
Starting Tuesday, a Google Maps user zooming in on the mall on their Android device will see a detailed floor plan and be able to pinpoint their location inside the 5.3-million-square-foot mall.
If a user moves up or down a level in the mall, the map automatically updates the floor plan and labels points of interest such as the mall’s more than 800 stores and services.
Google says West Edmonton Mall is the first Canadian venue to partner with the information search giant to bring users indoor places on Google Maps.
Floor plans are already available on Android for hundreds of locations in the United States and Japan such as airports, department stores, shopping malls and large retailers,” said Google spokesman Aaron Brindle.
“When it came to expanding Google Maps coverage of popular indoor places in Canada, we thought: what better place than the largest indoor mall in North America?” Brindle said.
“It’s exactly the kind of place to highlight the amazing utility of this technology. Our hope is that visitors can spend less time being lost, and more time enjoying their experience within the West Edmonton Mall.”
Information about various points of interest within the mall were uploaded into Google’s system and overlaid on top of the building’s outlines.
The West Edmonton Mall map makes use of a breakthrough by Google to provide an indoor version of the “My Location” feature that has been available in Google Maps for mobile for outdoor spaces. Users will be able to see a blue dot depicting their location inside select buildings within several metres accuracy.
“We achieved this by using an approach similar to that of ‘My Location’ for outdoor spaces, but fine-tuned for indoors,” Brindle said.
He said indoor maps combine the information of a directory kiosk with the convenience of a phone and the location awareness of Google Maps.
“Aside from an accurate map of the mall, the most exciting thing about this feature is the familiar ‘blue dot’ icon which pinpoints, within a few metres, your precise location in the mall. Visitors can quickly and easily see where they are in relation to certain points of interest — be it a specific store or food court in a mall, or a department or restroom in a retail store.”
There is currently no plan to add Google’s Street View feature.
“Partnering with Google Maps to provide indoor maps on mobile devices enables us to better serve our guests,” Stacey Claffey, West Edmonton Mall’s general manager, said in a release.
The map is part of Google Maps 6.0 for Android devices with a cellular connection.
A one-time update of the Google Maps application is required to see the map. It’s available by visiting the Google Maps entry in Android Market on phones or desktop.
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