NextNav pinpoints where someone is in an Embassy Suites hotel.
NextNav pinpoints where someone is in an Embassy Suites hotel.
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NextNav can figure out which floor you’re on in a skyscraper

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 4 min

NextNav has figured out how to use barometric pressure sensors and other networks to determine what floor of a building a person is on when they’re calling from a skyscraper or other multi-floor building. And it does so using software that can work with sensors that have been in smartphones for years.

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted five-to-zero in favor of adding a requirement that smartphones mark the location within three meters of altitude for all 911 calls. That was exactly what NextNav was hoping for, as the company provides a solution that can help smartphone makers meet that mandate.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.