RFID Journal announced today that it has launched a new graphical, interactive map of RFID deployments. The purpose of the wiki-like tool is to enable visitors around the globe to share information regarding RFID projects, and to provide a means for showing how RFID adoption is growing.
“Many people think that RFID is an unproven technology, but it has been deployed successfully by thousands of companies worldwide,” says Mark Roberti, founder and editor of RFID Journal. “Our goal in creating this tool is to illustrate just how much the technology has spread, and to provide visitors with a way to see—via a graphical interface—where adoption is happening.”
The map, located at www.rfidjournalevents.com/map, displays a dot for each deployment entered. The dots are color-coded according to industry, such as retail, manufacturing, pharmaceutical or aerospace.
When a user rolls his or her computer’s cursor over one of the dots, a popup displays brief information pertaining to that deployment. If a user clicks on that dot, a small window then opens containing a summary of the deployment, including the company or organization that implemented the solution, the systems integrator or technology provider that helped deploy it, and a link to find additional information. Users can click and drag the cursor to zoom in on a particular region, or click on a country to zoom in on that specific nation.
Visitors to the site are encouraged to enter information regarding their own RFID deployments, or other companies’ implementations about which they have read. The editors of RFID Journal will then confirm that the deployment is legitimate, and enter the proper coordinates to add that information to the map.
“My hope is that RFID Journal readers around the world will help us put RFID on the map,” Roberti says. “I think that if we can show the many deployments occurring in every corner of the Earth, that will encourage more people to take a serious look at how radio frequency identification could help them reduce costs and improve their long-term competitiveness.”