{"id":774990,"date":"2026-09-17T10:46:46","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T17:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcwatch&p=774990"},"modified":"2026-09-17T14:54:31","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T21:54:31","slug":"swiss-university-enhances-accessibility-with-indoor-gis-technology","status":"publish","type":"arcwatch","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcwatch\/swiss-university-enhances-accessibility-with-indoor-gis-technology","title":{"rendered":"Swiss University Enhances Accessibility with Indoor GIS Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":5342,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","transcript_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[493012],"tags":[348472,477492,474202,493382],"arcwatch_issues":[493591],"class_list":["post-774990","arcwatch","type-arcwatch","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-indoor-mapping","tag-arcgis-indoors","tag-arcgis-ips","tag-eth-zurich","tag-indoor-wayfinding","arcwatch_issues-september-2026"],"acf":{"short_description":"Students and staff use smartphones to access digital campus maps with real-time indoor positioning for navigation and barrier-free routing.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"The historic corridors of ETH Zurich, a prestigious public university in Switzerland, often present a maze-like challenge for students and visitors. Founded in 1855, the institution has grown from a single building with 36 students into a global leader in science and technology with around 27,000 students and more than 500 professors across more than 230 buildings.\r\n\r\nWhile the university\u2019s heritage is a point of pride, its complex architecture\u2014including the 158-year-old main building\u2014has historically made the campus difficult to navigate, especially for individuals with disabilities.\r\n\r\nTo address these needs, the university recently launched a smart campus initiative powered by ArcGIS Indoors<\/a> and Esri\u2019s indoor positioning tools. The existing ETH campus mobile app<\/a>, which offers information like school news and dining options, now includes building and floor-aware maps with real-time indoor positioning. This helps ensure that people of all abilities can traverse the sprawling facilities with confidence.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n "},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":774993,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Prioritizing Barrier-Free Access<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nThe primary driver for the project was a commitment to helping people get around and improving accessibility with a wayfinding solution. According to Ricardo Roch, a GIS specialist in the department of engineering and systems at ETH Zurich, many campus buildings feature winding halls and have historic preservation restrictions that limit physical modifications\u2014including installing new ramps and additional signage that provides directions or building information.\r\n\r\nPreviously, navigating the campus could be challenging for those needing barrier-free routes. In many older buildings, reaching a specific room might require a long detour that was not always obvious on static maps.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe most important factor and [driving] part of our project when we started was the topic of accessibility,\u201d Roch says.\r\n\r\nThe project evolved from a pilot program into a core component of the university\u2019s digital ecosystem. The mapping capabilities that were added to the school\u2019s web app provide digital routing that calculates the most efficient and accessible path from one place to another. For users with mobility challenges, the app maps out barrier-free routes that utilize ramps and elevators rather than stairs. The indoor wayfinding capability is particularly vital for a younger, tech-savvy generation that expects to have the same user experience indoors as outdoors.\r\n

Building the Technical Foundation<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nImplementing a campus-wide indoor map with navigation was a comprehensive undertaking that spanned more than three years and relied on a suite of ArcGIS technology. With the system hosted on ArcGIS Enterprise<\/a>, the team used ArcGIS Pro<\/a> to process the data needed to map building interiors, including floor-specific CAD files and spreadsheets with room numbers and security levels. The team used ArcGIS Indoors<\/a> to structure the university\u2019s CAD files in a standardized indoor information model, creating the floor-aware maps and the routable network of pathways. To enable the live \u201cblue dot\u201d positioning on those maps, was paired with thousands of installed Bluetooth beacons.\r\n\r\nThese beacons are hardware transmitters that broadcast their unique identifiers to a compatible app, which can be used to track visitors in real time or determine the device\u2019s location. The ETH mobile app picks up these signals and converts them into precise location information. This is done by measuring the signal strength from multiple nearby beacons and cross-referencing that data with smartphones\u2019 built-in motion sensors.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n "},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":774994,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"These indoor GIS<\/a> capabilities were integrated into the ETH mobile app rather than a separate wayfinding app. Now, students can use the app they\u2019re already familiar with to search for a room number or the cafeteria and see their live position on the map as they move toward their destination.\r\n\r\nThe beacon and mapping deployment currently covers 44 buildings with about 405 floors. It includes roughly 33,000 points of interest such as lecture halls, libraries, and even the famous student locker used by Albert Einstein. Managing this volume of data required integrating various sources, including CAD files and departmental databases. Roch used Python scripting to create data pipelines\u2014automated workflows that connect different systems and migrate their information into the central GIS.\r\n\r\nWhen it came to publishing floor-specific data, the team faced a unique security challenge. Because the school stores sensitive research and prioritizes campus safety, administrators could not simply release detailed architectural floor plans that showed exact wall thicknesses, window placements, or the locations of critical laboratories. To resolve this, Roch developed an algorithm to generalize these features for the public version of the app."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":774995,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

User Adoption and Smart Campus Success<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nFor the ETH Zurich community, the ability to find places via a mobile phone or a web app has transformed the daily campus experience. Now, this complex environment is a more accessible and inclusive space for everyone. Since the launch of the new mapping functionality in September 2025, the indoor map data has been downloaded more than 18,000 times. Usage spikes during exams and when a new semester starts, as students seek out unfamiliar lecture halls.\r\n\r\nBeyond general navigation, the system has fostered greater independence for users with mobility challenges. Roch notes that while the indoor GIS technology cannot fix physical barriers, it provides a better solution for people with disabilities.\r\n\r\n\u201cThey can do it on their own now,\u201d he says, emphasizing that users no longer need to rely on others for guidance.\r\n\r\nBeyond simple navigation, the system helps streamline daily operations. Roch notes that users\u2014including himself\u2014are discovering better ways to get to and from locations they visit daily.\r\n\r\n\u201cMany people found out that their usual route to a location isn\u2019t the most efficient,\u201d Roch says. \u201cI actually found out my [past] way to my office wasn\u2019t the fastest way to go.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe initiative also balances sophisticated GIS technology with a familiar user interface. The design follows common mapping standards found in popular commercial apps, making it intuitive for users who are not GIS professionals. For those needing additional help, the university provides video tutorials and information on a dedicated web page for PolyMaps<\/a>, the web-based version of the system.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n "},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":774996,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"The success of the indoor GIS project aligns with ETH Zurich\u2019s broader plan to create a digital twin of its entire campus. Integrating GIS technology into existing workflows helps the university maintain its buildings more efficiently by enhancing operational insights. For instance, staff can now see the exact geolocation of safety assets such as automated external defibrillators, rather than just viewing them as text entries in a database.\r\n\r\nFor other organizations considering a similar path, Roch suggests they start with a clear understanding of what they want to achieve and ensure that their intended use cases fit with the available technology. He also emphasizes the importance of keeping floor plans updated. For example, at ETH Zurich, the real estate department provides new CAD plans following construction work. This data is then imported into the GIS regularly to keep the system current.\r\n\r\n\u201cWayfinding and positioning on a complex campus increases efficiency,\u201d Roch says. \u201cI think this results in a better mood for the employees and the students. If they can save time searching for their destination, it can improve their campus experience.\u201d\r\n\r\nFor more information, contact Ricardo Roch at <\/em>ricardo.roch@ethz.ch<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>"}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"\nSwiss University Enhances Accessibility with Indoor GIS Technology<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Students and staff use smartphones to access digital campus maps with real-time indoor positioning for navigation and barrier-free routing.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcwatch\/swiss-university-enhances-accessibility-with-indoor-gis-technology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Swiss University Enhances Accessibility with Indoor GIS Technology\" \/>\n<meta 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