This year’s SXSW Festival in Austin, TX will make use of over 1,000 iBeacon transmitters, designed to work with the SXSW Go app to deliver timely, location-specific notifications, in addition to offering meet-up capabilities.
iBeacons debuted at SXSW 2014 in a limited fashion, but for this year’s event the festival is ramping up their use. Relying on Bluetooth Low Energy, the Gimbal-built iBeacons will provide attendees with a view of others in the vicinity, making it easier for people to make connections.
A new “around Me” feature will allow users to introduce themselves to others via the official SXSW Go app. The iBeacon support in the app is cross-platform, and will work with the iPhone 4S or newer, recent iPads, and Nexus 5 and 6, and Galaxy S4 and S5 Android powered devices.
Users will receive location-based notifications telling them what’s going on around them, and who else is there.
iBeacons are Bluetooth LE transmitters that can communicate with iPhones and other devices when they are in close proximity. A user must have a specific app installed, and must have Bluetooth and notifications for the app turned on.
A number of retailers have enabled iBeacon capabilities in their apps, allowing stores to notify customers of specials and sale items in specific areas of the store.
The SXSW Go 2015 app is available FREE for the iPhone and iPad, in the App Store. [DIRECT LINK]
