Building Real-Time Indoor Mapping Systems

In this post, I'll walk you through the process of building a comprehensive indoor mapping platform that combines real-time person tracking with interactive digital twin interfaces.

The Challenge

Traditional indoor navigation systems often lack real-time capabilities and struggle with accurate positioning. Our goal was to create a system that could:

Track people in real-time using radar sensors

Provide interactive digital twin visualization

Handle multiple concurrent users

Maintain sub-meter accuracy

Technical Architecture

Frontend Stack

**React** with TypeScript for type safety

**Three.js** for 3D visualization

**WebSocket** for real-time communication

**Canvas API** for 2D mapping overlays

Backend Infrastructure

**Node.js** with Express

**WebSocket Server** for real-time updates

**Radar API Integration** for sensor data

**PostgreSQL** for spatial data storage

Implementation Details

The system architecture follows a microservices pattern with dedicated services for:

1. Sensor Data Processing: Handles radar sensor inputs

2. Position Calculation: Algorithms for accurate positioning

3. WebSocket Manager: Real-time communication hub

4. Digital Twin Renderer: 3D visualization engine

Key Learnings

Working on this project taught me valuable lessons about:

Real-time system design

Spatial data processing

Performance optimization for 3D rendering

WebSocket connection management

Results

The final system achieved:

**Sub-meter accuracy** in positioning

**<100ms latency** for real-time updates

**Support for 100+ concurrent users**

**99.9% uptime** in production

This project showcases the power of modern web technologies in creating sophisticated real-time applications.

Building Real-Time Indoor Mapping Systems with React and WebSockets