Beacons (iBeacon) — how to set them up
Every stop of a tour can have a beacon. Inside the app, the student phone hears it and records the arrival and the departure on its own. Without beacons the tour still works: the student taps the pin on the map or scans the QR glued to the stop.
The three numbers
A beacon always advertises three things, and that is the whole configuration. The UUID is at /mypage → Tours → the tour → «Beacon UUID», with a button to copy it.
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
UUID | The tour UUID: the same in every beacon of that tour, different in every tour. It is what makes a student phone ignore the beacons of the museum next door. |
Major | The stop number — the one inside the pin on the map and in the «No.» column of the stops table. |
Minor | Zero. It is not used, but it has to stay 0. |
Option A — an Android phone as the beacon
Any Android phone whose Bluetooth can advertise (almost all of them since 2016), with the tours app installed. It is how to try a whole tour out without buying anything.
- Open the app and go to /mypage → Tours → the tour.
- In the stops table, on the row of the stop where the phone will sit, press «Use this phone as a beacon».
- Allow Bluetooth when Android asks.
- Leave the phone at the stop, app open and plugged in — the screen stays awake while the beacon is on. Navigating away stops the advertising on purpose: no phone is ever left advertising with nothing on screen saying so.
The button exists only inside the app. It never appears in a browser, because no browser can advertise over Bluetooth.
Option B — a beacon you bought
Program it in the manufacturer app (Kontakt, Estimote, Feasycom and the like): enter the three numbers above and save. Advertising interval of one second or less, normal or high power; slower than that and an arrival takes too long to notice. Any iBeacon beacon will do — this server never talks to the manufacturer and needs none of their cloud.
Where to put them, and tuning
- One beacon per stop. Two beacons carrying the same number are the same stop, exactly as two pins with the same number would be.
- About two metres up, in the open, away from metal and water — a crowd is water and drops the signal. It goes through wood and plaster; it does not go through reinforced concrete or a lift.
- The app keeps the strongest signal above −85 dBm, counts as present whatever it heard in the last 8 seconds, and records the departure after 30 seconds of silence. If two neighbouring stops keep swapping, move the beacons apart or lower their transmit power.
- On arrival the visitor's phone buzzes once and shows «You are at …» with a button for the stop. Standing still does not buzz again; walking away and coming back does. With the screen off there is no alert — the app only listens for beacons while the tour page is open.
When nothing happens
- No proximity banner on the student phone: either Bluetooth is off, or the tour was opened in a browser instead of the app. Only the app hears beacons.
- «This phone cannot advertise over Bluetooth»: it can receive but not transmit. Use another phone, or a bought beacon.
- The beacon is on and the student still has to tap the map: check the three numbers — the UUID is this tour, the number is this stop, and the minor is 0.
- A visit recorded by a tap alone counts as a stay of zero minutes, deliberately: with no beacon there is nothing to show the person stayed.