The Jurong Indoor Map offers barrier-free routes for people with disabilities and guides blind people with audio guidance.

SINGAPORE – Visitors to Jurong can now use a mobile indoor mapping app that helps users navigate a network of connected shopping centers and hospitals, including the Cem and Ng Teng Fong General Hospital.

Like the indoor version of Google Maps, the CitiGeni app offers directions to stores or facilities in a network of shopping centers and hospitals, providing shortcuts and even barrier-free routes for users with disabilities.

The app also includes an alternate mode designed to help visually impaired users by guiding them with audio cues as they move around the mall.

Available for Android and iOS, the free service, which was unveiled to the public on October 23, is part of a collaboration between Hong Kong navigation technology startup Mapxus and the National University Health System (NUHS) to help users, especially those with underlying health conditions. disabled people, find your way around the room.

CitiGeni App services will officially be available in Jem and other locations in January 2025.

The app, believed to be a first in Singapore, uses unique mapping technology to match Wi-Fi beacon codes to a map, making it easier to map locations indoors without the need for new hardware.

It is designed to guide users through different levels of indoor location, unlike most navigation apps which can determine the user’s bird’s eye location, but not the exact floor inside a building.

For example, in Jurong East, shopping centers such as Gem and Westgate, as well as nearby hospitals, are connected by bridges with access points that may not be immediately clear to new visitors.

The app complements the work of hospital staff in escorting people between hospital facilities, NUHS chief operating officer Ng Kian Swan said in response to questions from The Straits Times.

“The initial rollout covers public areas within the hospital that do not require registration, allowing easy access for all visitors,” Mr Ng said, adding that the service is specifically designed for wheelchair users and blind people.

“We are also evaluating the possibility of expanding coverage to (hospital wards) in the future to provide even more comprehensive indoor navigation,” said Mr Ng, who oversees facility management for the healthcare group.

Founded in 2018, Mapxus is among the companies participating in Infocomm’s Media Development Authority’s Spark program, which supports startups through industry connections or grants.

Mapxus technology, which was used in transport networks and more than 150 buildings in Hong Kong, was among Jurong Lake Innovation Competition Winners in 2023, where participating teams proposed urban solutions to problems faced by hospitals and other stakeholders such as SMRT and CapitaLand.

Explaining Mapxus’ technology, the company’s head of business development, Joseph Yee, said the user’s position is determined using the phone, which detects unique signals from indoor Wi-Fi beacons.

The app does not require login to the premises’ Wi-Fi network and only collects non-sensitive data from the Wi-Fi beacon code and signal strength, which is matched to the floor plan to determine users’ location, it said. Mr. Yi, 39 years old.