The document discusses beacon technology and potential uses. It begins by providing background on beacon APIs and how retailers began using beacons. It then discusses technical details of beacons, including UUIDs, majors, and minors. Several potential uses are outlined, such as guiding blind users, tracking foot traffic, and connecting teachers to student groups. The document concludes by encouraging the use of beacons to solve real problems and lists examples like making spaces more inclusive.

1. Beacons

2. With iOS 7 Apple
released the iBeacon API

3. “Nobody cares until
Apple does”
- me, just now

4. Sales people
LEAPT on it

5. BEHOLD THE JESUS STONE

6. A typical scenario

7. A beacon
A bag
An iPad

8. However…

9. A label

11. User Journey Analysis
Before - Walk in - ‘Nice bag!’ - buy it - pub.
!
After - Walk in - vibrate - get phone out of tight
pocket - unlock phone - go to app - agree to the terms -
read the guff - swipe a bit - find price - reject spam …

12. “That’s shit”- Ian Huckvale

13. Public service announcement

14. What is a BLE
beacon?

15. Immediate
Near
Far
In Region

16. Beacon Device Cloud

17. UUID etc
UUID = The group the beacon belongs to (Design Museum,
Tate Modern, Simon’s Pub, etc)
e.g. E2C56DB5-DFFB-48D2-B060-D0F5A71096E0
!
Major = The sub group the beacon belongs to (Gallery A,
Building 2, etc)
e.g. 33995
!
Minor = The specific beacon (Object 1, Painting B, etc)
e.g. 59204

18. Combine all that together and you get this
!
d6 be 89 8e 40 24 05 a2 17 6e 3d 71 02 01 1a 1a ff 4c 00 02
15 e2 c5 6d b5 df fb 48 d2 b0 60 d0 f5 a7 10 96 e0 00 00 00
00 c5 52 ab 8d 38 a5

19. ‘Experiment’ and perform ‘research’ in work time?

20. Hack some beacons and the API to let you
triangulate your position in 3 dimensions and
measure the gap between them instead of just
knowing which distance bracket you were in?

21. - (CGPoint)getTrilatterationCoordinateWithBeaconOne:(CGPoint)one beaconTwo:(CGPoint)two beaconThree:(CGPoint)three distanceOne:(CGFloat)dOne distanceTwo:(CGFloat)dTwo distanceThree:(CGFloat)dThree {
CGFloat W, Z, x, y, y2;
W = beaconOne*distanceOne - distanceTwo*distanceTwo - beaconOne.x*beaconOne.x - beaconOne.y*beaconOne.y + beaconTwo.x*beaconTwo.x + beaconTwo.y*beaconTwo.y;
Z = distanceTwo*distanceTwo - distanceThree*distanceThree - beaconTwo.x*distanceTwo.x - distanceTwo.y*distanceTwo.y + beaconThree.x*beaconThree.x + beaconThree.y*beaconThree.y;
! x = (W*(beaconThree.y-beaconTwo.y) - Z*(beaconTwo.y-beaconOne.y)) / (2 * ((beaconTwo.x-beaconOne.x)*(beaconThree.y-beaconTwo.y) - (beaconThree.x-beaconTwo.x)*(beaconTwo.y-beaconOne.y)));
y = (W - 2*x*(beaconTwo.x-beaconOne.x)) / (2*(beaconTwo.y-beaconOne.y));
y2 = (Z - 2*x*(beaconThree.x-beaconTwo.x)) / (2*(beaconThree.y-beaconTwo.y));
! y = (y + y2) / 2;
return CGPointMake(x, y);
}

23. Can you turn every bluetooth
device - every phone and tablet
and laptop - into a beacon if it’s
not Apple hardware?

25. Can you reprogram a commercial
flight controller to hunt for a
beacon signals and therefore build
an autonomous flying drone?

28. Can you write a
technology demo in 2
weeks for a MeetUp?

30. Can you get Apple to
approve it?

31. NO

33. “technology demonstration
apps will no longer be
submitted to the App Store”

35. So what could all of
you do with beacons?

36. Solve real problems

37. Some problems we have made
in order of how I typed them
that I’d like to see solved.

38. Problem #1
Our world is not inclusive

39. Problem #2
We are bombarded with fluff

40. Problem #3
Colouring-in is eroding design

41. However, using the flippant
hacks from the start of this
talk you could…

42. Build an audio guide for blind people
which describes where they are,
what is around them, and directs
them safely to where they are going.

43. Track the flow of people through your spaces in real time
and push this data to Google Analytics. Identify popular
exhibitions and objects or areas of obstruction.
!
Talk to people in specific areas in real time with
notifications.

44. Connect teachers to school groups.
!
Child leaves the building
=
your phone tells you.

45. Pre-plan a learning tour and let the
device guide the group, offer up
appropriate content, and mark off
each area completed.

46. Start telling the story
before your visitors arrive
at your venue.

47. Make queues less dull.

48. Auto generate music playlists
based upon the movement of
the people on the dance floor.

49. And while your at it
control the lights.

50. Build the biggest
treasure hunt ever.

51. Just please don’t use it to
make shopping worse.

52. Thank you