Will beacon use in airports become widespread?

[ishanijerin1]

Bluetooth proximity detection platforms have been introduced by various companies since the introduction of iBeacon in September 2013. Then, with the provision of the Eddystone platform by Google in July 2015, the environment has become even easier to use for both operating systems.
Perhaps as a result, the large-scale introduction of advertising database iBeacon in airports seems to have progressed since last year.

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Looking back over the past year,

2,000 at Gatwick Airport
in the UK 2,000 at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands 700 at Hamad International Airport in Dubai , Qatar 500 at Miami Airport in the US


There are efforts underway to place hundreds of beacons throughout the airport to improve the user experience.

iBeacons in airports are mainly used for the following three purposes:



1. Indoor Navigation

The good thing about beacons is that they allow you to use navigation functions even in places where GPS is not highly accurate and can be used. In the case of an airport, you will move around the airport to check in, shop, eat, go to the gate, and so on. Many people would find it helpful to have navigation services indoors, but in seaside areas where GPS is prone to misalignment, it has been difficult to provide such services until now. However, the spread of iBeacons has made it possible to improve user convenience.


2. Special coupon distribution

After arriving at the airport, you often spend money at restaurants, buying souvenirs, etc. In such a situation, if a coupon is distributed at the right time, you may be tempted to go to that store.


3. Data Analysis

By analyzing where and how users are moving, and which areas are congested depending on the time of day, the data can be used to improve navigation and alleviate congestion.




In addition to these beacon movements , another service from Google that will be exciting in the future regarding indoor positioning technology is VPS (Visual Positioning Service). At the Google I/O 2017 conference, Google announced a positioning technology called VPS (Visual Positioning Service) that uses Tango devices. This technology provides indoor position information, and is like an indoor GPS. Although it is like GPS, it does not use satellites, but rather determines the location by analyzing information measured by the Tango device.

This technology could make it easier to navigate complex airports, and by linking it with beacons, it is likely to further improve the user experience.
iBeacons are already being introduced on a large scale, but adding Google's VPS technology to this could lead to the creation of a solution that takes the user experience one step further.