Space classification for indoor pedestrian navigation with morphological and functional characteristics

Abstract

Indoor navigation networks serve as the foundation for indoor pedestrian navigation services. However, current graph‐based topological network models cannot easily represent complex indoor structures in a manner consistent with user behaviour and cognitive patterns, and thus cannot support fine‐grained indoor navigation analysis services. To enhance the rationality of the model, we considered the influences of morphological and functional characteristics of indoor spaces on pedestrian movement and proposed a method for classifying navigation spaces. This method, based on convex space segmentation, defines morphological and functional characteristic functions, classifying indoor navigation spaces as either corridors or open spaces, which suitable for representing as median axis models or visual graphs, respectively. These categories supported the creation of topological network models for route planning analysis. Indoor map experiments confirmed the effectiveness of our method in identifying various types of corridors and open spaces, that addressing the limitations of width‐based parameters, even in complex indoor settings.