CompAcc : Using Mobile Phone Compasses and Accelerometers for Localization

This paper identifies the possibility of using electronic compasses and accelerometers in mobile phones, as a simple and scalable method of localization. The idea is not fundamentally different from ship or air navigation systems, known for centuries. Nonetheless, directly applying the idea to human-scale environments is non-trivial. Noisy phone sensors and complicated human movements present practical research challenges. We cope with these challenges by recording a person’s walking patterns, and matching it against possible path signatures generated from a local electronic map. Electronic maps enable greater coverage, while eliminating the reliance on WiFi infrastructure and expensive war-driving. Measurement on Nokia phones and evaluation with real users confirm the anticipated benefits. Results show a location accuracy of less than 11m in regions where today’s localization services are unsatisfactory or unavailable.