Q.We use GPS to navigate outdoors. VPS is another emerging trend that uses Augmented Reality. Explore and find its other utilities.

VPS (Visual Positioning System) determines your position by matching what the camera sees (buildings, storefronts, landmarks) against a large visual map — far more precise than GPS, and it works where GPS is weak.

Other utilities

• Indoor navigation — malls, airports, railway stations, museums, large offices, underground parking (no GPS indoors).
• AR walking directions — e.g. Google Maps Live View overlays arrows on the street through your camera.
• Guiding the visually impaired with precise audio directions.
• Warehouse/factory robots and drones navigating precisely where GPS fails.
• Dense-city navigation where tall buildings distort GPS ("urban canyons"). …

The idea. GPS tells you roughly where you are by satellite signals — but it fails indoors, degrades between tall buildings, and its few-metre error cannot tell which shop entrance you face. A Visual Positioning System (VPS) instead uses the camera + Augmented Reality: it matches the live image of your surroundings (building facades, signboards, landmarks) against a pre-built visual map (e.g. Street View imagery) to compute your exact position and the direction you are facing — often to within centimetres.

Utilities beyond outdoor GPS-style navigation

1. Indoor navigation — the flagship use: malls, airports, railway/metro stations, hospitals, museums, large campuses and underground parking, where satellite signals do not reach. VPS guides you shop-to-gate-to-platform with on-screen arrows.
2. AR walking directions — Google Maps Live View uses VPS to overlay giant arrows and street names onto the camera view, ending the "am I walking the right way?" confusion — it knows your orientation, which GPS alone cannot.
3. Assisting the visually impaired — precise position + orientation allows step-accurate audio guidance ("door two metres ahead, slightly left") indoors and out.
4. Warehouse and factory automation — robots and forklifts navigate aisles visually with centimetre precision; the same applies to drones inspecting structures or delivering indoors, where GPS is unavailable.
5. Urban canyons — in dense city centres, reflections off tall buildings make GPS jump across streets; VPS stays accurate because buildings are exactly what it recognises. …