They’ve been upgrading the signage in the Tokyo subway system recently. One cool, new feature on the signs are 2D barcodes, known as QR codes here, that you can scan with your cameraphone. After you scan one, you can go to a cellphone-friendly website to view a neighborhood map and get other local information.
These codes have been around for years here, but this is the first really useful (to me, least) application that I’ve seen. Since directions in Japan tend to be landmark-based (go to the convenient store, turn left and then turn right at the third temple), having an easy way to get a map is actually pretty darn useful.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a patrick.com post if there wasn’t some random snarky comment. Prepare yourself, ‘cause here it comes. When they designed these signs, they didn’t take autofocus mechanisms into account. The barcode, along with the rest of the actual sign text, sits under about a half-inch of plexiglass. Unfortunately, this means that ifyour cameraphone has autofocus, it focuses on the plexiglass, instead of the barcode, making it very difficult to successfully scan the code. It took me about 10 tries to get the QR code at the Hiroo station to finally scan.
Pic below.
PS - This entry was done on my cell while waiting for Yukari to show up for dinner. Thanks Flickr!
