Aug 15, 2017Visitors to the city of Óbidos, Portugal, this summer immersed themselves in medieval history with the help of 21st-century technology in the form of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)-based data on their cell phones. With the SMIITY BLE beacons, from mobinteg, as well as apps on their smartphones, individuals could stroll through 14th-century markets while scrolling through location-based data on their phones. The technology enabled them to view information regarding local stores, taverns and events, based on where they were located.
The Medieval Market of Óbidos is an annual festival that immerses visitors in a medieval-period marketplace. Each year, hundreds of actors clad in medieval costumes take over the streets of the historic district, including noblemen, beggars, muledrivers and street performs, such as musicians, dancers and jugglers. The festival, celebrating the town's Middle Ages era, also includes jousting tournaments on horse and on foot, as well as medieval dinners and the market itself, in which medieval style wares are sold. The event is hosted by a municipal company called Óbidos Criativa E.M., which organizes cultural events and tourist activities, according to Ricardo Pedras Ribeiro, Óbidos Criativa's board chairman.
Óbidos is a small town with a long history. It has approximately 1,000 residents in the town proper, but attracts thousands of tourists annually, who come to see the medieval castle and wall, and historic churches. The annual festival constantly seeks new ways in which to engage with the public, Ribeiro says. The challenge this year (during its 16th such event) was to couple modern-day technology with a full medieval immersive experience. Although Óbidos is a medieval village, he says, "We try to have the tourists have new experiences."
In that effort, Ribeiro says, he considers a wide range of proposals to update each event. However, he was focused on deploying a solution that would not disrupt tourists' normal behavior patterns. Nearly everyone uses their smartphones to enhance their experience, he says, sharing information on social networks, taking pictures, making phone calls and sending messages. So Ribeiro opted for mobinteg's BLE-based solution because it required no additional costs for users, allowed targeted communication only to those who wanted it, and provided a discrete way to provide further services.
The SMIITY beacons were installed on the main streets and squares of the historical center of Óbidos, says Pedro Miguel Geraldes, mobinteg's managing partner. They were deployed at the Terreiro de Armas, where the knights' jousting tournaments took place, and at the Square of Troubadours, where theater, dance and music performances were held.
Users could download the SMIITY medieval market app on their Android- or iOS-based phones. The app, once downloaded, collected and stored data about the market so that a user could operate the technology even if he or she lacked a cellular connection. That's important, Ribeiro says, since cellular coverage can be spotty in the village, and users do not want to pay the cost of their phones roaming for signals.
The beacons were deployed at locations of interest, including taverns, stores and the arenas in which programs were scheduled. The users who downloaded the app could receive push notifications based on their location at any given time, which would indicate where they were and what was scheduled for that site, such as jousting competitions. They could use the app to identify their location and seek out other specific areas, such as monuments, restaurants, hotel accommodations and public services. The app also offered a complete schedule for the market, as well as a map of the festival area, with icons denoting areas of interest.
Those with visual impairments could use a text-speech function in the app, Geraldes says. The app aggregated other information as well, he adds, such as weather, local news and social-media connections for those who want to post information about what they are doing at the event.
As SMIITY deployments continue to other locations, such as other cities in Europe, Geraldes says, "The app is intended for use at any of those places." Users simply launch the app, he adds, which "detects where you are located, and then provides information for that specific city."
About 50 beacons were deployed altogether—installed on walls, on the sides of buildings or in trees—40 of which were dedicated to permanent historic sites, such as the castle or walls. The other 10 were focused more on festival-based locations, such as pubs serving drinks for the event, and were taken down after the festival concluded.
Mobinteg uses its own BLE-enabled beacons, which are powered by batteries with a typical two-year life. The beacons can transmit at a distance of up to 50 meters (164 feet).
