I sat in a coffee shop ~5 years ago, and sketched out what a lost-and-found system based on QR codes and QR code readers. My particular application was 'Non-verbal kid lost at mall, kindly smartphone user with QR reader scans (branded) QR code on kid's shirt to get parent's contact info', but I saw no reason why that couldn't work for any item large enough to have a QR code painted/sprayed/stapled on. I don't know why this doesn't exist yet.
Nearables: Why a global lost-and-found network is finally viable
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Re: Nearables: Why a global lost-and-found network is finally viable
#12Isn't this basically Tile? https://www.thetileapp.com/
Hey there one of the Co-Founders of Estimote here, that makes the Sticker Beacons and coined Nearables.
Sometimes we think of Estimote Stickers as 'Tile for Developers', at least among the community that knows Tile.
Meaning, we're a developer facing platform, more B2B2C and anyone can create a digital tethering application, and any app can adopt it.
We have a big vision for the 'Nearables' concept and hope that the community can push this narrative forward together. Sometimes we think abstractly of beacons as place URLs for physical objects.
Re: Nearables: Why a global lost-and-found network is finally viable
#13Thanks for the thorough description. Could we simplify this by replacing the beacons with a sticker that says "if found email DS7-4BD-62A@lostfound.org" and the rest of the flow begin through email? Much lower barriers with almost all of the same results.
I think the benefit with using beacons would be that you can be anywhere within ~70 meters of the item and get a notification to help out. You don't have to even see it to be able to help.
Re: Nearables: Why a global lost-and-found network is finally viable
#14For that matter, the app could just record every time it "sees" an object and when you mark it lost, it tells you where it was the last time (GPS coordinates and all) it "saw" it.
Re: Nearables: Why a global lost-and-found network is finally viable
#15I sat in a coffee shop ~5 years ago, and sketched out what a lost-and-found system based on QR codes and QR code readers. My particular application was 'Non-verbal kid lost at mall, kindly smartphone user with QR reader scans (branded) QR code on kid's shirt to get parent's contact info', but I saw no reason why that couldn't work for any item large enough to have a QR code painted/sprayed/stapled on. I don't know wh…
My mother just wrote her phone number on the tag of my brother's shirt. What's the point of the QR code?
Re: Nearables: Why a global lost-and-found network is finally viable
#16Cory Doctorow's Makers describes a very similar item tracking and locating system based off of RFID. With effective reader ranges being up to several meters, this could be extended to a L&F system.
Re: Nearables: Why a global lost-and-found network is finally viable
#17I sat in a coffee shop ~5 years ago, and sketched out what a lost-and-found system based on QR codes and QR code readers. My particular application was 'Non-verbal kid lost at mall, kindly smartphone user with QR reader scans (branded) QR code on kid's shirt to get parent's contact info', but I saw no reason why that couldn't work for any item large enough to have a QR code painted/sprayed/stapled on. I don't know wh…
This actually does exist already[1]. They sell a ton of products with a user-specific QR code. Parents/caregivers/etc. can change the message that gets displayed when someone is scanned at any time.
Re: Nearables: Why a global lost-and-found network is finally viable
#18I sat in a coffee shop ~5 years ago, and sketched out what a lost-and-found system based on QR codes and QR code readers. My particular application was 'Non-verbal kid lost at mall, kindly smartphone user with QR reader scans (branded) QR code on kid's shirt to get parent's contact info', but I saw no reason why that couldn't work for any item large enough to have a QR code painted/sprayed/stapled on. I don't know wh…
My mother just wrote her phone number on the tag of my brother's shirt. What's the point of the QR code?
Two benefits I can see:
- The parent can change what the QR code points to at any time.
- You can scan a QR code from a distance without making physical contact.
Re: Nearables: Why a global lost-and-found network is finally viable
#19I'd like a passport holder that sets off an alarm on my phone eveytime its more than 2 meters away. You'd only have it active when you are travelling. Might help relieve some of the paranoia I have about loosing it.
I Say passport holder because I'm not sure if you could physically affix if to the passport without upsetting border control.
Re: Nearables: Why a global lost-and-found network is finally viable
#20It's been viable for at least a year in other forms. (Have a small demo system) However, there are some technical and social challenges associated with such a database. Most notably it would be very easy to poison the well as a thief/opportunitist. There's zero security around what beacons represent themselves as, it takes less than a second to clone one with a smartphone app.