Engineering Projects/BarCode/Howard Community College/fall2012/p2-503-flq

Problem Statement
The aim is to improve on what the previous team has already accomplished and work on utilizing the information that they came across in order to try to create some sort of working prototype of this project. By prototype I mean a working model of the system in which you scan a bar code and then you are automatically aware of the exact place you are in via GPS or some sort of online website than can contain the database that we will create. We will also look into mapping the insides of the buildings on the Howard Community College campus with an offline application so it doesn't infringe upon any safety or privacy laws, rules, or regulations.

Team Members
Fantano

Li

Qazi

Summary
Week #1

- We researched and found out information regarding the barcode project. For one we can't map out the actually Howard Community College buildings for privacy issues so we will stick to mapping the trail routes around the buildings on campus. We found out the main differences between QR codes and conventional bar codes as well:

- QR Codes can hold information vertically and horizontally and conventional codes can only hold information vertically. So there for QR codes have the potential to hold a lot more information than conventional bar codes

http://www.auburnprinters.com/page_intmark/images/qrcode_vs_barcode.gif

There are also bar code scanning applications available on all major operating systems so there is no issue in that regard. All the bar code processing applications should provide the same functions which is basically Googling the bar code information.

We also found out that we can use Google Earth to assign specific GPS coordinates to exact locations and use those coordinates to use the QR/Bar codes to link to those exact coordinates at the beginning or end of any trail on the Howard Community College campus.

Week #2 & 3

We took screen shots of the maps of each floor in the Duncan Hall, Clark Library, and RCF buildings. Then we proceeded to use paint to put location markers on each indivudual room in order to mark up th epossible locations of the person scanning a barcode so that they can tell where they are when hey scan the barcodes off of their phones.

We furthered the amount of data in our database of mapping the rooms of the main buildings on campus. Also, we uploaded the pictures to photobucket.com to prevent deletion from the website and then sued those links to put into a QR code generating website and downloaded those QR codes to a folder. We labeled each QR code to the specific room it goes to to prevent confusion.

What the mapping will look like once a specific barcode is scanned into the barcode scanner:

Here is an example of how the barcode can be scanned and then go directly to a image that will show the person scanning the barcode exactly where he is:

Week #4

This is the link to download the files from Google Drive:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B313p4TGkvBTQlBHaWlUMGdMM2s

Next Tasks:

- Qazi = Assign specific barcodes to the spicific images. After pairing them up save the barcodes to a file for the indivual rooms

- Fantano = Continue mapping the main campus

- Li = Find out where to mass print out the barcodes in high quality and laminate the barcodes to prevent detereriation

Over week 4 the team managed to do some more work on the offline application, complete the QR code pairing with every single location of the DH building as well as map multiple floors of most of the buildings on the Howard Community College campus. We also made all the data that we created on file dropper.

Story
We started out this project cycle by researching the differences between conventional barcodes and QR codes and found that since QR codes can hold more information that we will continue the project with QR codes rather than conventional bar codes. Weeks 2 and 3 we started mapping the buildings by first getting the maps off of the HCC website and then using paint to make multiple pictures of each floor and the different pictures contained all the different locations a person could possibly be at. Week 3 and 4 we generated QR codes and paired them up with each location on the 3 floors of the DH buildings including rooms, bathrooms, elevators, and stair cases. We also made all of this information available for anyone to download via filedropper.

The following are links to the pages that contain all the direct links to the pictures of the second and third floor of the Duncan Hall building:

/DH second floor/

/DH third floor/

Link to download files from Google Drive

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B313p4TGkvBTQlBHaWlUMGdMM2s

Material List
--> No physical material was used for working on this project

What might need to be purchased for the project in the future:

--> A machine to laminate the barcodes printed to keep them from wearing out too easily once put around the college campus.

Software List
--> Paint - For editing the different floor pictures of the different buildings on the HCC campus and creating the individualized "you are here" locations

Time
80 Hours

Tutorials
Google Drive tutorial:

How to download the HCC Files from Google Drive:

Google Drive Tutorial

How scanning a QR code works tutorial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-ahutWQ6bE&feature=plcp

Next Steps
- Work on creating a functioning offline application for scanning QR codes and receiving your location all without accessing any wifi or phone signals.

- Standardize the QR codes so that the the size of the QR codes won't matter when putting the collection of maps into the offline application and make the app too heavy

- Put the complete database into the offline application

- Print the QR codes and post them around the HCC campus

- Finish mapping the HCC buildings as well as pair up the individualised locations with QR codes