Azure Indoor Maps: Is it possible to show the image embedded in drawing file in Azure Maps?

Question

Hi All,

I wanted to check if it is possible convert drawings with images in to Azure Indoor Map. We are having some complex features that doesn't meet Azure map requirements in our drawing, hence wanted to know if those areas can be added as image in drawing along with other drawing layers. Any suggestions or links with sample will be of great help.

Thanks
Koushal

Answer 1

Currently the Azure Maps Creator platform (indoor maps) only accepts Autocad files as input. Additional data types map be supported in the future. That said, if you are starting with an image (drawing), then that would likely need to be converted into vector data at some point before it could be integrated into this platform. That said, all is not lost, there are many ways to create indoor map type capabilities in Azure Maps without using Azure Maps Creator, depending on what features and functionalities you need. In fact, I've created interactive indoor maps using several of Microsoft's mapping platforms over the past decade. Which of the following functionalities are you looking to support in your app (just tell me the numbers)?

1. Visualize one or more floors on a map (can be achieved using an image pretty easily). The simpliest method is to use the ImageOverlay layer: https://samples.azuremaps.com/?sample=image-layer-options
2. Interact with point data in the map. For example, you might have a single point for each room that the user can click. You would have to manually create the point data but this isn't overly difficult (I can provide details). https://samples.azuremaps.com/?sample=cross-reference-pixels-in-image-layer
3. Interact with polygon areas in the map. Instead of an interactive point per room, the user can click on (or some other user action). This would require vector polygon data that would need to be extracted from the image, either programmatically somehow, or manually traced (not too bad if smaller building).
4. Change the color of points or areas (polygons) based on data from an external service (such as IoT sensor readings or metric in a database somewhere).
5. Indoor routing. A lot more work, but achievable (I built a tool for this using an older Microsoft mapping platform that I might be able to update).

Additional things to consider:

• Depending on the interactive data requirements (points vs polygon) and the size of your building or facility, or number of buildings, the overall data size might become an issue and a more advanced data visualization method might be required, such as converting the building data to vector tiles.

Provide as much details as you can and I'd be happy to assist you in getting something up and running. These types of app scenarios tend to be a lot of fun to build.