This document discusses using beacon technology and indoor location services to provide contextually aware experiences for museum visitors. It evaluates different beacon options before choosing Gimbal beacons for their consistent performance. The document also describes integrating beacons with the TAP app to automatically update users' location and enable analytics collection on user interactions and time spent near beacons.

1. C O N T E X T I S K I N G
U S I N G I N D O O R L O C A T I O N T E C H N O L O G Y F O R N E W V I S I T O R
E X P E R I E N C E S

2. T H E A D V A N C E M E N T
O F S M A R T P H O N E
L O C A T I O N
• GPS
• Wi-Fi
• VLC ( Light )
• BLE ( Bluetooth )

3. A L I T T L E H E L P F R O M O U R F R I E N D S

4. Two Objectives
Provide the user with contextually aware data
Provide the museum with analytics about the user.

5. H I S T O R Y O F
B L U E T O O T H
• Created by Ericsson in 1994
• Ubiquitous today
• Short distance two-way
communication
• v4.0 (2010) brought Bluetooth
Low Energy (BLE) aka
Bluetooth Smart

6. B E A C O N S &
i B E A C O N
• Started appearing soon
after BLE was standardized
• Popularized by Apple under
the name iBeacon
• Transmits a short-range
signal that other bluetooth
devices can detect and use
to trigger interactions

7. B E A C O N
B R E A K D O W N
• Each beacon transmits three
pieces of info:
• UUID - A unique identifier
for institution
• Major - A number
representing geographical
region
• Minor - A number
representing a location in a
region
Our implementation:
• UUID - Unique to IMA
• Major - # by floor (100, 200)
• Minor - # by room or work

8. C H O O S I N G A
B E A C O N
• Battery Life
• Size & Appearance
• Security
• Build Quality
• Software Support

9. E S T I M O T E
• Small unique design
• Utilize coin-cell battery
• App for configuration
• SDK for integrating with apps
with advanced features
• Accelerometer &
Temperature Sensor
• Indoor/Outdoor

10. R O X I M I T Y
• White simple case
• Operates on 3 AA batteries
• Indoor/Outdoor
• SDK Required for use

11. G I M B A L
• Clean white case
• 4 user replaceable AA
batteries
• Temperature Sensor
• App + Web
Configuration/Management
• SDK
• Indoor/Outdoor

12. T E S T I N G T H E B E A C O N S

13. T E S T I N G T H E
B E A C O N S
• Each test 2 min
• Distances: 3.66m, 3m, 2m,
1m, .5m, 0m

14. T E S T I N G T H E B E A C O N S
Test 1 - iPhone on table

15. T E S T I N G T H E B E A C O N S
Test 2 - iPhone in hand

16. T E S T I N G T H E B E A C O N S
Outcomes
• To avoid vendor lock-in, check if the beacon supports
standard iBeacon protocol without SDK requirement
• Gimbal Beacons had the most consistent testing data
• Larger batteries, ease of configuration and consistent
data led us to choose Gimbal for IMA

17. B E A C O N M O N I T O R I N G & R A N G I N G F O R i O S
• Regions consist of a UUID, Major,
and Minor combination
• Apps can utilize 20 regions
• iOS 7 or greater

18. B E A C O N M O N I T O R I N G & R A N G I N G F O R i O S
• Notifications for
entering or exiting a
region
• Approx 20 second
delay on exit
• Can be enabled in
the background

19. B E A C O N M O N I T O R I N G & R A N G I N G F O R i O S
• Updated once per
second
• All visible beacons
reported to app
• Data includes accuracy,
proximity and RSSI

20. P E R M I S S I O N S
• iOS introduced new
location permissions
• While using app
• While not using app

21. P R O V I D I N G I N D O O R C O N T E X T W I T H
B E A C O N S & T A P

22. A D D I N G B E A C O N S T O T A P

23. A D D I N G B E A C O N S T O S T O P S

24. G E T T I N G T H E D A T A O U T O F T A P

25. T A P i O S A N D B E A C O N S
• Use ranging to locate
nearest stops
• Automatically update list
view (with buffering)
• Depending on beacon
placement Closest may
never be triggered

26. T A P i O S A N D B E A C O N S
• Ability to view beacon
status from within app
• Helps in analyzing
beacon placement

27. C O L L E C T I N G U S E R A N A L Y T I C S

28. C O L L E C T I N G U S E R A N A L Y T I C S
• Analytics reporting built
into TAP
• API’s added for
receiving data
• Beacon + Content
Analytics

29. C O L L E C T I N G U S E R A N A L Y T I C S
• Event Type: Entered
Region, Exited Region,
Ranged
• Mobile-device ID
• Beacons
• Timestamp
Beacon Analytics

30. C O L L E C T I N G U S E R A N A L Y T I C S
Beacon Analytics

31. C O L L E C T I N G U S E R A N A L Y T I C S
• Event
• Mobile-Device ID
• Stop ID
• Timestamp
Content Analytics

32. C O L L E C T I N G U S E R A N A L Y T I C S
Content Analytics

33. C O N C L U S I O N S
• Place beacons up high for
better coverage
• Great for room level
accuracy
• Tools are developing rapidly
• Avoid Lock-in

34. C O N T A C T I N F O
Kyle Jaebker
kjaebker@imamusem.org
@kjaebker
Gray Bowman
gbowman@imamuseum.org
@LateNightwGray

35. Contact info
Rich Cherry
rcherry@thebroad.org
@richcherry
Kyle Jaebker
kjaebker@imamusem.org
@kjaebker