The Dutch Railways is experimenting with Beacons. The NS test app sends a smartphone notification if the user forgets to check out. 75 people are participating in the NS Beacon Proof-of-Concept, who only receive the warnings at Utrecht Central Station and Schiphol Airport. If the beacons can be detected consistently enough, the NS may want to integrate the functionality into its standard app.

A test app from the NS sends a smartphone notification if the user forgets to check out.
The smartphone app BeacoNS is currently being tested by the Dutch Railways, reports Numrush.

75 people are participating in this test, who will only receive the warnings at Utrecht Central Station and Schiphol Airport.

The NS uses special beacons that connect wirelessly to the smartphone via Bluetooth. This allows the app to see whether a user is near a check-out post.

The app tries to determine based on location whether someone passes the check-out post without checking out. At present, this would not happen without errors: the beacon is detected in only 60 to 80 percent of the cases.

If the beacons can be detected consistently enough, the NS may want to integrate the functionality into its standard app. The check-out reminder would then be used at stations without gates, where only posts are present.

Van Ons has already set up Beacon Proof of Concepts for casinos, Province of North Holland and at the Top 2.000. We also give regularly Beacon presentations. Are you ready for a Beacon experiment in your industry? Contact us for beacon concept and app development in iOS and Android!

Source: NU.nl