Or would a native app be required?

—Name withheld

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Passive radio frequency identification systems are, first and foremost, data-collection tools. Collected data is exported from a reader in XML or another format, and can be stored in a database that is used by Web applications or any back-end system that a company already uses. Usually, you must create an application programming interface (API) and perhaps reformat the information in a format that can be accessed by these other applications.

If you are employing an active RFID-based real-time location system (RTLS), the data is entered into the RTLS application for plotting the tagged object's location on a map of the facility. Location data is often displayed via a Web interface, but the raw tag data would not be accessible to a Web application without writing a custom API.

—Mark Roberti, Founder and Editor, RFID Journal