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Active Navigation via QR codes

Mobile devices with GPS (Global Positioning System) capabilities and that have one or other navigation application onboard can make use of QR codes to activate as example, a route planner, for realtime navigation activation.

Like the sextant (six piece od a circle measurement) a nautical and astronimical device to determine the longitude using Greenwich time, our modern electronic devices need three components to make it work.

• GPS receiver and processor
• Navigation and mapping application
• QR Code reader capable of understanding geo-encoded data

Creating navigation QR codes

QR4 provides a free QR Code Navigation Generator

There are other geolocation and routing options

For devices that do not have GPS, nor mapping capabilities, but do have a QR code reader the use of an Internet service is the best choice to show where the co-ordinates you have encoded are on the globe. It stands to reason that navigation will need to be done externally by entering your current location in the online service.

The requirements for this type of service are:

• Available Internet connection (via any type of connection, teathered or wireless)
• QR code reader capable of understanding a request to go to a resource on the Internet

Passive geolocation and routing

QR4 provides a free QR code Geographic Generator

So now you can implement active and passive (via an external service) geo-location using QR codes.

Which type of QR geo-coding is best to use when and where?

Let me start off with: If it's printed, painted, projected or anything in the analogue world...use QR codes. If it's digital and portable DON'T!

Both types have their merritts. If you want people to know where you are, play safe and use the passive version, knowing that if that service fails or changes it's way of working, your published and printed QR codes could become totally useless. If you need to guide people to your location the navigation QR code is your best option, but will only work with mobile devices meeting the three criteria for direct navigation ability. The choice is yours. As complete measure you could consider providing both geo-location types to service as wide an audience as possible.

Maps and Navigation QR code examples

What mobile marketers use to get their message to mobile markets.

A comparison between 2010 and 2011 deployed mobile marketing tactics. I'm sure that 2012 will again see an increase in the use of QR codes.

Source: Chief Marketer Mobile Marketing Survey

In 2010 no one bothered to check the use of augmented reality, so data is missing for this year.

Interesting to note is that barcode scanning is up 15% (this includes QR codes, MS tag and other proprietary barcoding technology) and outperforms any other technology used between 2010 and 2011 and I expect it to increase even more in 2012. Mobile apps are also still a popular instrument for branding and marketing.

SMS marketing that was always seen as an urgent and immediate communication channel has declined the most. Even though it is the fastest and simplest way to set up, use and to communicate to mobile devices, I can only imagine that the costs per message in combination with limited interaction and presentation options are the reason it is being abandoned by marketers.

Drupa, Printers and QR codes

Drupa is a printing convention held once every four years at the Messe in Düsseldorf in Germany. If you're in the printing trade, whether it is analogue or digital, this is the place to be. The place meet up with old friends and colleagues, network with business relations and see what others have been doing and have to offer.

Turning the tide
Eight years ago I remember loads of Chinese and Koreans taking loads of pictures of everything and anything. This year there where a record number Chinese and Koreans with big and heavy press and printing hardware. The most amuzing part of many of these areas was the fact that it was forbidden to use cameras as well as cellphone cameras... and yes, the stands had QR codes on display. Some even had spotters that approached, blocked and repremanded you on using your camera phone to scan a QR code! Is this an omen of what is to come? WTF!

Things to remember at an International Convention where you want use QR codes!

• Attendees will not allow 'roaming' and certainly not 'packet data' on foreign networks, the costs are just to high!
• Without convention wide (limited) known free Wifi access, no foreigner will scan QR codes and potenitailly have to go online (I think I was maybe the only person) trying to do it as I saw no one else bother (and in hindsight, rightly so).
• One QR code does not fit all. People have little to no time to take the trouble to scan a QR code, why should they! Reps are all over the place, right? A QR Code in a magazine <> a QR Code at a convention or on the back of a bus

How do the QR codes created by and used by printers score?

QR Code Banners
Plus point: The weather in the picture is better than when I was there!	Besides the 9 'fat figure' buttons, the party stops here.

From QR codes on big banners to QR codes in the halls and on the grounds drupa.

It did not get any better! There were even suppliers would claimed they could bring paper to life with nothing at all, just a display sign! And to rub salt in the wound, digi:media 2013 was boasting a QR code with a slogan 'Content meets Technology meets Business'. What I learnt from this is that larger advertsing and marketing organizations clearly still have no clue about using QR codes correctly.  Moral to this story, you cannot rely on printers and also not marketing and advertising agencies to guarantee any kind of successful QR code campaign. They don't have what it takes and it shows.

TIP: Seek advice from companies that are experienced with QR codes and have a proven track record or you too may be throwing money down the drain and become the next QR code critic.

	The Poster
Just how do they do it! Anyone? How do you bring paper to life? Digi:Media gets at least -100 points for this very poor implementation of a QR code. Granted, they did take the trouble to embed their logo into it with success, however sending it off to a totally mobile unfriendly website is an amateurs error, and not one that should be made by a digital media organization.	The Page

The winner

Cross Media Publishing Konica Minolta The QR code at the Cross Media Publishing booth of Konica Minolta gets the first prize. Of the codes we saw and scanned, this was the best implementation. With easy to navigate pages and easy to read applicable information. Clearly they do understand what cross media publishing is about as they do practice what they preach.

On a final note:

Special thanks to Henk van Houten of Scriptworx for making the visit to this years Drupa possible.

QR codes can help those in times of need and when people cannot speak for themselves.

Medic-Response

Many people are aware of the International *'Medic Alert'® necklaces and bracelets that should signal people and draw attention to the fact that the bearer of this amulet has potential special medical needs. The purpose of this is to speak for the bearer when the bearer is unable to. The instructions/allergies/medication/and possibly contact information for doctor and next of kin are engraved on the inside of the amulet.

* Have been approached by this organization and forbidden to use their name amongst other damands. Sad to see how corporations protect their interests.

Purpose Medic-Response:

• Enhance the existing service by providing more comprehensive information via digital resources using QR codes. This in not a replacement, but an enhancement. There is a limited amount of information you can engrave on an amulet. A qr code can open doors to unlimited information via digital networks.
• Be of service when the bearer is not in needs of direct and immediate external assistance to help them undertake what is needed to avoid the need of external assistance and to improve the quality of their life.

Why Medic-Response:

Most users using medical alert amulets rely and trust that this will convey the right information for them when they are not able to do so themselves. Imaging such a service to be more dynamic and able to assist and help the bearer to avoid a situation where they are no longer able to speak for themselves and at the same time provide more than just the basics to hopefully bring what ever caused this unfortunate situation to a healthy and happy end.

Medical Response an example:

John Doe is nearly completely deaf, suffers from diabetes, has hay fever (mild) and is allergic to bee stings. His doctor knows him well and advises accordingly. However John loves life and does and goes where it leads him, knowing that it is not always a good idea, he has gotten away with it pretty well over the past 45 years. The amulets QR code will lead you to John's public exposed information that anyone, including John can use at any time.

QR Code Service

John and anyone scanning the QR code can:

• Using GPS location find the closest hospital and either take John there or contact them via phone.
• Using GPS locate the closest pharmacy to get needed medication.
• Using GPS get real-time updates on any local situation that may have adverse effects on health (Hay fever as example)
• Using a medical password get access to John's medical folder if he chose to make this available to registered medical staff in his absence via his profile settings.

A service that John can use to get updates on things that may affect his health and possibly explain why he is feeling the way he is. Find the closest hospital to his location. Find a pharmacy in the vicinity to get medication. Real-time check on pollen counts in the area where he is located. Effective locally (where John lives) and also when John goes on holiday too, as example South Africa, United States, Europe. And a service that provides more information for and about John when he can and cannot speak for himself.

QR codes are not just for 'marketing' they can help save lives and improve quality of life.

This implementation of QR codes enhances existing medical information systems by providing more information than can be engraved on an amulet or necklace and is at the same time a service to the user in good times and also when the user is unable to speak for themselves.

Find out what's inside those QR codes online.

You probably know about the Online QR Code Decoder that decodes QR code images you upload to it. The decoder API is similar, here you tell it the URL of the image on the Internet and it will return the contents as text string. It uses a simple HTTP web request method and returns a string.

Making use of a simple web request this QR code reader API can decode the contents of a QR code image anywhere on the web. It uses two parameters:

• KEY - a required activation key to enable the API to perform the job. This key can be be requested for free here.
• Image URL - the HTTP address of the location of the QR code image.

The API will return (as plain text) either an error message that starts with the text "ERROR:" or the contents that it has decoded from the QR code image.