The Beacon Südtirol – Alto Adige project (https://beacon.bz.it/project/) developed a hardware and software Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure for the South Tyrol Province. The project deployed 3.500 beacons, small Bluetooth devices that, by providing a unique identifier, enable the development of mobile applications that can offer localized and contextual services. The developed infrastructure, which is available as open source, is used to develop added value services for the region.
Suggesto is developing a new mobile app for the Centro Trevi that exploits beacons to support visitors to access and use the services of the center. One of the implemented tool is to precisely drive visitors searching for a specific publications, to the floor, room, and shelf where the sought book is located using Augmented Reality techniques. Beacons enable the application to localize the user within the center. Augmented Reality markers are used to precisely locate the user and the smartphone in the space. Indications over impressed on the camera view indicate the correct path to follow. During the talk, we will demonstrate the App and discuss the major technical issues we had to solve; finally we will present the first user evaluation results.