System and method for location-based access control

A system comprising:

• a portable device;
• a plurality of access point devices, each of the access point devices including an access mechanism for selectively providing access to an authorized user;
• and
• a server including one or more processors, the one or more processors communicatively coupled to the access point device and the portable device, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute program instructions stored in memory, the program instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to:
• determine whether a user of the portable device is authorized to access the plurality of access point devices based on one or more credentials received from the portable device and whether the user has authorization to access the portable device;
• retrieve a location of the portable device via location circuitry contained within the portable device;
• determine whether the location of the portable device is within one or more of a plurality of pre-defined geographical regions based on location data acquired via the location circuitry contained within the portable device, wherein each access point device of the plurality of access point devices has a unique pre-defined geographical region;
• upon determination of user authorization to one or more of the plurality of access point devices and that the location of the portable device is within two or more of the pre-defined regions, display a plurality of graphical indicators of the plurality of access point devices on a display of the portable device, wherein the plurality of access point devices are displayed according to a distance from each access point device of the plurality of access point devices and the portable device;
• receive a user selection of a selected access point device via a user interface of the portable device;
• and
• upon receiving the user selection of the selected access point device via the user interface of the portable device, transmit a control signal from the server to the access mechanism of the selected access point to direct the access mechanism of the selected access point device to provide access to the user without the access mechanism directly communicating with the portable device.