Cardiff ComSci Tour Guide

Using Estimote Beacons, this app has the ability to recognise your indoor location, precise to 30cm and deliver location specific information to your device. This app will server as a secondary tour guide for your UCAS open day here at Cardiff. Offering beneficial, contextually aware information to aid you throughout the day.

App requirements:

+ API 4.1+
+ Bluetooth Smart / Bluetooth 4.0
+ Access to Network
+ Access to Bluetooth Adapter


This app has been developed to form the groundwork for my 3rd year Computer Science dissertation...
"An investigation into the application of beacon technology in the entertainment industry".

Investigation description:

Beacons are a low cost, low power, location positioning system. Reliant on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), a Beacon continuously transmits a Universal Unique Identifier (UUID) allowing Bluetooth ready devices to trigger an action specific to the UUID upon receiving the transmission. This project aims to explore opportunities for Beacon integration in an entertainment venue context; with the primary focus on festivals. Over the coming years I believe we will see an influx of Beacon technology integrated into festivals; offering immersive, contextual and beneficial services to the vast amount of smart phone users attending these events. I aim to investigate to what extent off the shelf equipment can support the following example services:

+ Heat maps to display high and low densities of users within a venue allowing informed and precise crowd control
+ Live queue times, able to calculate volume of customers and estimate dynamic
waiting times
+ I wish to acquire primary statistical and subjective data for researching user interactions with Beacon powered applications.

I plan to do this in conjunction with a UCAS Open Day, offering visiting students and parents the option to download an Android app as a secondary guide for the Computer Science and Informatics Department. I will measure and evaluate user interaction, assessing benefits and hindrances regarding the technology.

I will produce a questionnaire for comparing subjective reviews to statistical data acquired. This research will drive my primary objective: “Explore Beacon integration opportunities for entertainment venues...”

From a personal standpoint, I wish to further my experience and knowledge in Android, experiment with advanced Java features and explore Server-Client architecture. I want to release an Android application to the Google Play store intended for controlled testing and user analysis. The Play store will aid widespread distribution, testing and reviews. Though this process I hope to gain knowledge in end-to-end Android development with 3rd party hardware.