4 ms·

Is iBeacon used for anything other than to push ads to your phone as soon as you enter a store?

ambirex 13y ago
That seems to be the current push, but off the top of my head I could see museums use them for exhibits, airports for communication back to the airline on where you are in the airport (ie, you should head to the gate now, or your gate has changed).
jensC 13y ago
I think you can use it for indoor navigation were GPS is useless. However I am not sure of this.
- nicholassmith 13y ago
  In theory it'll be much more accurate for indoor navigation than GPS, as the accuracy level should be higher (as long as there's no RF interference etc etc).
kjell 13y ago
I'm using an 'iBeacon' (raspberry pi) in a museum setting to nudge visitors entering a certain gallery: "if you'd like to take our Matisse audio tour…" They slide that notification and iOS opens our app directly to the audio tour. Here's a much richer interactive tour: http://blog.estimote.com/post/77385955199/estimote-beacons-are-enriching-experiences-at-the http://blog.estimote.com/post/77385955199/estimote-beacons-a...
olefoo 13y ago
With two or more beacons in range you can triangulate for an accuracy within centimeters. It's a key enabling technology for Augmented Reality. It's also how you're going to talk to ambient environmental controls and retrofit older buildings with situational awareness (thalience) that allows them to be responsive to the needs of humans passing through.
- untog 13y ago
  Do you have any examples of this? I was excited for this use but everything I can see suggests that it is highly inaccurate: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/20332856/triangulate-example-for-ibeacons https://stackoverflow.com/questions/20332856/triangulate-exa...
  - olefoo 13y ago
    This is why it's bleeding edge technology. At the moment it's not very good; and it won't be for some time. To get to something useful will probably take multiple iterations. This is why it's so exciting. If you can build something useful with the current generation of technology; it will get better.
    - untog 13y ago
      But you said: "With two or more beacons in range you can triangulate for an accuracy within centimeters." it appears that is objectively not true. In fact, the technology powering iBeacons does not seem to be capable of it. So, sure, in a few year's time, a beacon-like technology that may or may not be called iBeacons will allow for accurate positioning. So what?
      - olefoo 13y ago
        I've seen a demo; it was finicky and had issues and didn't do orientation.
  - simpsond 13y ago
    BLE is not ideal for accurate positioning, or RSSI for that matter. That said, it works for proximity, which should be sufficient for many applications.
- msoad 13y ago
  iBeacon doesn't give you anything useful for triangulation. Sorry. A closer beacon can give you worse signal than the one which is far. That's the nature of Blutooth.
MBCook 13y ago
Yes. For example a recent update to Automatic [1] included iBeacon support. It is supposed to make the connection between the phone and the Automatic it's self more reliable when you get into your car. They've actually said they are the largest iBeacon deployment at the moment since they turned that feature on. [1] http://www.automatic.com http://www.automatic.com
SigmundA 13y ago
Two-Factor auth?
josephpmay 13y ago
At a recent hackaton, my team created an app for using iBeacon for employee tracking: http://tracktimeapp.com/ http://tracktimeapp.com/
comex 13y ago
I want to see it used to provide an interactive map of a large store, with the ability to search for products and see where the relevant shelf is compared to your current location. I don't know if anyone is doing this, but the technology seems accurate enough.
rada 13y ago
I did a trial project with the goal of walking around a lab having readings appear for each piece of equipment as you approach it. Proximity detection was terrible... as it is, I don't think it's useful for anything but very gross distance estimations. Walking into a store will likely work but even then, the distance between stores would have to be pretty significant (or else other stores are presumed to not operate the same beacons).

That seems to be the current push, but off the top of my head I could see museums use them for exhibits, airports for communication back to the airline on where you are in the airport (ie, you should head to the gate now, or your gate has changed).

jensC 13y ago

I think you can use it for indoor navigation were GPS is useless. However I am not sure of this.

nicholassmith 13y ago
In theory it'll be much more accurate for indoor navigation than GPS, as the accuracy level should be higher (as long as there's no RF interference etc etc).

kjell 13y ago

I'm using an 'iBeacon' (raspberry pi) in a museum setting to nudge visitors entering a certain gallery: "if you'd like to take our Matisse audio tour…" They slide that notification and iOS opens our app directly to the audio tour. Here's a much richer interactive tour: http://blog.estimote.com/post/77385955199/estimote-beacons-are-enriching-experiences-at-the http://blog.estimote.com/post/77385955199/estimote-beacons-a...

olefoo 13y ago

With two or more beacons in range you can triangulate for an accuracy within centimeters. It's a key enabling technology for Augmented Reality. It's also how you're going to talk to ambient environmental controls and retrofit older buildings with situational awareness (thalience) that allows them to be responsive to the needs of humans passing through.

untog 13y ago
Do you have any examples of this? I was excited for this use but everything I can see suggests that it is highly inaccurate: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/20332856/triangulate-example-for-ibeacons https://stackoverflow.com/questions/20332856/triangulate-exa...
- olefoo 13y ago
  This is why it's bleeding edge technology. At the moment it's not very good; and it won't be for some time. To get to something useful will probably take multiple iterations. This is why it's so exciting. If you can build something useful with the current generation of technology; it will get better.
  - untog 13y ago
    But you said: "With two or more beacons in range you can triangulate for an accuracy within centimeters." it appears that is objectively not true. In fact, the technology powering iBeacons does not seem to be capable of it. So, sure, in a few year's time, a beacon-like technology that may or may not be called iBeacons will allow for accurate positioning. So what?
    - olefoo 13y ago
      I've seen a demo; it was finicky and had issues and didn't do orientation.
- simpsond 13y ago
  BLE is not ideal for accurate positioning, or RSSI for that matter. That said, it works for proximity, which should be sufficient for many applications.
msoad 13y ago
iBeacon doesn't give you anything useful for triangulation. Sorry. A closer beacon can give you worse signal than the one which is far. That's the nature of Blutooth.

MBCook 13y ago

Yes. For example a recent update to Automatic [1] included iBeacon support. It is supposed to make the connection between the phone and the Automatic it's self more reliable when you get into your car. They've actually said they are the largest iBeacon deployment at the moment since they turned that feature on. [1] http://www.automatic.com http://www.automatic.com

SigmundA 13y ago

Two-Factor auth?

josephpmay 13y ago

At a recent hackaton, my team created an app for using iBeacon for employee tracking: http://tracktimeapp.com/ http://tracktimeapp.com/

comex 13y ago

I want to see it used to provide an interactive map of a large store, with the ability to search for products and see where the relevant shelf is compared to your current location. I don't know if anyone is doing this, but the technology seems accurate enough.

rada 13y ago

I did a trial project with the goal of walking around a lab having readings appear for each piece of equipment as you approach it. Proximity detection was terrible... as it is, I don't think it's useful for anything but very gross distance estimations. Walking into a store will likely work but even then, the distance between stores would have to be pretty significant (or else other stores are presumed to not operate the same beacons).