971399High street and urban area positioning systemClosedSmall Business Research InitiativeInnovate UKLocation underpins the operation of almost all smartphone apps that connect users with their local environment. These “context-aware” apps are transforming the way we experience places, from how we navigate and travel to how we shop, access services, do business and socialise. They not only allow retailers to connect with their customers on a hyper-local level but also bring far-reaching benefits to other types of businesses and amenities in town and city centres. This raises the overall effectiveness and usability of town and city centres as business and social hubs, a vital way to attract users back to the high street. However, urban areas currently suffer from very poor positioning accuracy due to the disruption of satellite signals by buildings. Incorrect positioning damages the usability of all smartphone apps that rely on positioning, meaning they deliver irrelevant, inaccurate or misleading information or suffer from impaired functionality. This problem is exacerbated on many high streets and urban centres because they have grown organically over time and so suffer from inherent usability issues. To provide a solution to this problem, SuperLocal is developing technology that greatly improves smartphone positioning accuracy in town and city centres. Our innovative positioning system uses a “sensor-fusion” algorithm that combines data from a range of sensors on smartphones, including those not currently used for positioning. It has no local infrastructure requirements and so could be speedily rolled out across all town and city centres to help attract users back to high streets across the UK. In initial proof-of-concept trials, smartphones operating our system were almost always accurate to less than 15 metres, compared to over 30 metres for phones that used current positioning systems. Our system not only improves accuracy, but almost without fail locates the user to the correct side of the street and correct street corner – information that can dramatically improve users’ experience of the high street. For re-invigorating the high street, we believe that the strength of our offering is in its ubiquity. It isn’t a specific solution for just one high street or kind of urban area, but can instead be speedily and cost effectively deployed on every single urban area in the whole of the UK. Going further, it doesn’t just improve the movement of people in the high street, but also enhances the operation of all context aware apps. The solution is also timely, as the importance of context-aware, location-driven apps has been recognised by out-of-town shopping malls and supermarkets. As a result, these places will be rolling out bespoke positioning systems in the next few years (these types of positioning systems have already been deployed in the United States). However, these systems are not capable of providing improved position across urban areas. Therefore, without action, this will be yet another area where the high street is left behind.