More on QR Codes
Already extremely popular in Japan - where most of the population has an internet connection on their phone - a QR Code is a matrix code (or twodimensional bar code), a system created by leading Japanese corporation Denso-Wave in 1994. The term “QR” is derived from “Quick Response”, as the creators - who specialise in the creation of industrial robots, programmable controllers and associated systems - intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at extremely high speeds. QR Codes are currently the most popular type of two dimensional codes used in Japan as most current mobile phones sold in that country can read this code with their camera, but their use has spread rapidly throughout the rest of the world over the last few years.
Although initially used for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing, QR Codes are now used in a much broader context, including both commercial tracking applications and convenience-oriented applications aimed at mobile phone users (known as mobile tagging) such as the users of the Open2View.com website.
Since QR Code carries information both horizontally and vertically, the new technology is capable of encoding the same amount of data in approximately one-tenth the space of a traditional bar code, making it perfect for advertising usage. QR Codes storing addresses and URLs have started appearing in magazines, on signs, buses, business cards or just about any object that users might need information about.
Users with a camera phone equipped with the correct reader software can scan the image of the QR Code causing the phone’s browser to launch and redirect to the programmed URL (this act of linking from physical world objects is known as a hardlink or physical world hyperlinks) for instant browsing.
So, if you have a barcode reader on your 3G phone, you can use it to scan any property on the Open2View.com website’s QR code to be given an instant link to the property that you’d like to know more about. So fast and so convenient, it means that you can take the search for a new property just about anywhere!
