NFC, QR Codes and How To Use Them

The Trail plaques have an NFC chip embedded within them as well as displaying a QR code, both of these linking to a video depicting a part of the building’s history.

NFC, short for Near Field Communication is a method by which information can be transferred to your phone. The information is stored on a chip which is activated when an NFC enabled smartphone comes into close proximity to it. The phone “reads” the chip and then uses the information appropriately, for example by displaying a link to a website. You may have seen the NFC logo and the phrase “Tap to Scan” on street level advertising such as that at bus stops. This is the system that is used by Android and Apple for their contactless payment in shops.

QR Codes, short for Quick Reference, are to much the same as barcodes. Whilst a barcode can only hold a very small amount of information, a QR Code can hold more. This is becoming more popular as a means of marketing in the media as it has been seen to be more accessible than simply printing a web address; scanning a QR Code with a smartphone using a suitable app can take a user directly to the relevant page on the advertiser’s website.

A suitable QR reader for iPhone and Android phones is KASPERSKY    Link

Or just open your camera app and point your camera at the QR Code