I don't want to do anything invasive like actually track visitors, I just want to be able to offer helpful "You're near X exhibit" type notifications. Obviously if there's a group close together than it may just become annoying/unnecessary - I'll have to figure that out as I talk to the curators.
QR codes are a good backup and would mean that they wouldn't need an app at all (although I would love to build them one!)
Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I'm thinking less about mapping (at least, not 'live' mapping) and more about proximity to key exhibits (ie the app says 'hey, you're near X painting' and jumps to the info on that piece. Some of the technical solutions you outline are really interesting (background music!). It may all come to nothing but I'm enjoying investigating and talking to other museum people :)
Cool! I think that becomes more doable then, when the app just has to be able to distinguish between one of several possibilities (one out of X exhibits) instead of anywhere on the museum campus.
I think the ultrasonic beacons might work better than Bluetooth for this, and have less issues with wall/floor penetration. It's probably easier to ask visitors "our exhibits play a special sound signal to let the app know when you're close. Will you allow mic access?" than to try to explain how BT beacons work. Whatever you choose though, it's probably best to back it up with a QR code or just a printed number ("Which exhibit are you at?" 27) etc.
