What are Physical Web beacons and how is the Augmented Reality technology a commonplace in events?
Words: Gregory Cornelius
Gregory Cornelius
Managing Director
Modn Media
The emerging beacon industry is at its embryonic stage of development but has potential ramifications for the events industry. With major tech companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook making multi-million dollar investments into beacon technology you know it is something to keep an eye on.
A second generation of beacon technology: Google's “Physical Web”, was showcased by designers Rob Peart and myself at Singapore Design Week from March 8-20, 2016. The #DesignDiscoveryTour - mobile formatted walking tours of Chinatown and Little India – raised awareness of this next generation of beacon technology.
The tours highlighted an interactive map that showed locations of design and heritage significance in walking distance of the New Majestic Hotel in Chinatown and Wanderlust in Little India. The web tours were accessed from beacons positioned in the lobbies of the hotels without the need to install a unique application.
To encourage event participation, Unlisted Collection (the owner of the participating hotels), offered staycation prizes. Augmented Reality (AR) smart glasses were demonstrated so “design tourists” could choose to access the tours using the AR headsets instead of their smartphones. This novelty created a talking point for organisers and participants. Local food and beverage businesses hosted additional beacons broadcasting hidden menus and special offers.
The Physical Web is a method for Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons to communicate webpage links directly to smartphones without the need for a unique application to be developed, downloaded, and installed on the device. The Physical Web beacons speak directly to a phone's browser. This overcomes one major obstacle to popular beacon adoption: people resisted installing an app for a one-time engagement.
The Physical Web is a new technology that's part of Google's Eddystone beacon platform launched in June 2015. Eddystone is to beacons what Android is to smartphones. Any manufacturer can install the open source software platform on their beacon hardware. Some 20 companies now manufacture Eddystone beacons that support the Physical Web protocol. The distinguishing characteristic of the Physical Web is that it communicates directly with a smart phone browser. Everyday mobile formatted websites are used instead.
The Physical Web is an evolution of the original iBeacon™ platform launched by Apple in 2014. iBeacon requires users to install dedicated applications on their devices, which has been a major barrier to beacon adoption. Whereas the Physical Web circumvents this obstacle. As Chrome, Opera, Firefox, and other mobile browsers upgrade to support the Physical Web it opens the door to increased beacon use, but we are still at an early stage of adoption.
It is similar to the situation with Wi-Fi 10 years ago. In those days we had to install a sign to say that Wi-Fi was available. We had to show people how to find the Wi-Fi network on their device and navigate to enter the password. These days the majority is familiar with Wi-Fi and log-in without support from IT staff. We should be able to see history repeating itself with beacons and the Physical Web. For now, we have to educate and signpost that a beacon is available. We have to help individuals to configure their phones so they can enjoy these additional services. In coming years though, people will turn up at meetings and events, log-in to the Wi-Fi, and then start looking for beacon services. Just like Wi-Fi today, beacon services are destined to become an expectation of business event attendees.
Beacons installed at business event facilities offer a new media platform upon which useful content can be delivered to event stakeholders. Examples of possible software products and services that could be broadcast over the top of a beacon network include:
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