A lighting system comprises multiple luminaries (4b) installed at known locations in an environment. Each is configured to emit a unique luminaire identifier (ID) into the environment. A database (28) holds multiple location identifiers, each of which identifies one of the known locations. A route (rA, rB, rC, rD) through the environment is identified based on the location identifiers, the route traversing a plurality of the known locations. Data generated by moving a photodetector (6) along the route though the environment is received, the data conveying a sequence of the luminaire identifiers detected by the photodetector from luminaries encountered in moving along the route, the sequence being in order of detection. A database update is performed by, for at least one luminaire identifier in the sequence: identifying its position in the sequence, and updating the database based on the at least one luminaire identifier and its identified position in the sequence.