Welcome to the Eighth International Conference on Indoor Positioning and Indoor Navigation, IPIN 2017, and welcome to Sapporo, Japan. Starting in 1869, the city of Sapporo was redeveloped by the Hokkaido Development Commission into a planned city that followed the model of Kyoto. The Sapporo area, located between the south mountain area and the north coastline, was previously a wetland. However, after a soil improvement that was conducted, the land in this area became rich and fertile. The border between the improved area and the wetland remains on the Hokkaido University campus, where, in front of the convention hall, you can see a wide expanse of trees and some ponds, as well as a small, farmed river. These features serve to remind us of the history of our environment.
From the first IPIN, IPIN2010, held in Zurich (Switzerland), the conference has been an excellent forum dedicated to indoor positioning and indoor navigation. In particular, the demonstration of research products was useful for developing practical devices and systems for positioning and navigation. Subsequent editions, held in Guimaraes (Portugal), Sydney (Australia), Montbeliard (France), Busan (Korea), Banff (Canada), and Alcara de Henares (Spain) have also shown that there is a large and active community working in this sector.
Same as the last edition, the IPIN2017 Technical Program Committee (TPC) requested two types of submissions: regular papers (limited to eight double-column pages, preferably for an oral presentation) and works-in-progress (limited to four double-column pages, preferably for poster presentations). IPIN2017 received 216 contributions (147 regular papers and 69 works-in-progress). Both types of manuscripts followed a peer review process wherein the TPC selected 102 contributions for oral presentations and 63 for poster presentations. The IPIN2017 Technical Program consists of 16 oral sessions and two poster sessions, covering a broad range of indoor positioning and navigation topics. The regular papers presented at the conference will be submitted to the IEEE Xplore Digital Library, and the authors of both types of papers will have the opportunity to send technically extended versions of their conference papers to IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement. Recognition for the best papers will be awarded during the Conference.
We would like to express our gratitude to everyone involved in the events at this conference, and we are particularly indebted to Hokkaido University’s Graduate School of Information Science and Technology and university administration office for the facilities and support they provided. We would also like to acknowledge and offer our thanks for the support of our technical sponsors, the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society and IEEE Japan Section, our Competition Sponsors, and the financial support from the city of Sapporo, Hokkaido prefecture, and The Secom Science and Technology Foundation.
We would also recognize the members of the TPC have done a remarkable job of reviewing the papers submitted to the conference in such a short time. Furthermore, IPIN2017 has been made possible thanks to the hard work of the members of the organizing committees as well as the competition chairs.
Finally, we want to thank you for coming to IPIN2017. The success of this event will depend on the contributions you make. We hope you enjoy our conference and the beautiful City of Sapporo.
September 2017
Prof. Hideo Makino and Prof. Jesús Ureña
Conference Co-Chairs