LLM-Guided Indoor Navigation with Multimodal Map Understanding

Abstract: Indoor navigation presents unique challenges due to complex layouts and the unavailability of GNSS signals. Existing solutions often struggle with contextual adaptation, and typically require dedicated hardware. In this work, we explore the potential of a LLM, i.e., ChatGPT, to generate natural, context-aware navigation instructions from indoor map images. We design and evaluate test cases across different real-world environments, analyzing the effectiveness of LLMs in interpreting spatial layouts, handling user constraints, and planning efficient routes. Our findings demonstrate the potential of LLMs for supporting personalized indoor navigation, with an average of 86.59% correct indications and a maximum of 97.14%. The proposed system achieves high accuracy and reasoning performance. These results have key implications for AI-driven navigation and assistive technologies.