I believe that there is a lot of money paid by supermarkets to understand the movements of people inside of supermarkets and malls. This info is used to place products and charge rents to tenants, and to ensure that the most amount of money can be extracted from consumers while they are there. I'd guess that this is what is behind it.
What a worthwhile cause to put so much effort and technology into....
R
On Fri, 7 Nov 2003 19:03:03 -0000, GIS Coordinated Ltd <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
The list might be interested to hear of RFID being used here in the UK.
I am not fully aware of the technology used but my understanding is that by
using a tiny transmitter, items purchased from shops can be tracked a small
distance (i think around 2km?) via radio frequency. The idea (the retailers
say) is that they can a) more effectively monitor stock and b) combat
theft. Perhaps there are other reasons I am not aware of. My thoughts are
a) so whats wrong with the sales till? Need new stock control software?? and
b) whats wrong with existing tags that are removed from items after the sale
at the sales point?!
Gillette (razors, shaving equipment etc) has admitted that in some of their
packages at Tesco and ASDA (big superstores here in the UK - ASDA is owned
by Walmart), RFID devices have been inserted into the packaging without
clearly notifying the public. Of course, if you bought something for your
car then surely you can be tracked (albeit not accurate to GPS) for quite
some time!
I'm afraid i dont know all the details about this technology eg. how long can it transmit and over what distance but I was wondering if anyone had come across this before and indeed can fill in the blanks.
The real link to this list is....they use a GIS to show where the items are
on a local area map.... even when they have left the store. Presumably when
the customer has thrown the packaging in the bin, the refuse truck can then
tracked ;)
Although would the radio signal be blocked in the back of the truck?
Heres the link to the info I found: http://www.silicon.com/networks/mobile/0,39024665,10005065,00.htm
Conspiracy thoughts for the weekend!!
Cheers
Doug
-----Original Message----- From: Eric Gagnon [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 07 November 2003 11:22 To: Simmonds, Ashley (PTB); 'Mapinfo List (E-mail)' Subject: Re: MI-L Coke GPS contest
I could be possible.. Because we have this contest here "up in Canada" but
it's with a beer company "Molson"
As soon as you open your winning bottle, the Molson crew will appear in an
helicopter to deliver a complete satellite, tv, dvd surround sound system.
Eric
At 23:36 06/11/2003, Simmonds, Ashley (PTB) wrote:has anyone here been involved in or heard much about any of the coca-cola1
GPS promotion? i don't listen to radio, so never heard of it until today.
if you're not sure what i'm on about, coke in australia (not sure if
anywhere else) has 20 specially made bottles which have a GPS and ID
transmitter inside them, designed so that when you purchase the winning
bottle (which doesn't have coke in it), you activate it and within a couple
minutes it transmits your position to coca cola and they come and find you
to give you your prize.
here's the promotion site... http://www.coke.com.au/thrillseeker/
and here's an interesting article about it (copy paste together) http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,7758184%5e15321%5e%5enbv%5e5306,00.html
who's got some thoughts on the issue?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ashley simmonds disclaimer: the views expressed in this email may be a health hazard ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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