Distinguish between different beacon types

[kvaghas]

Hi

I am using https://github.com/Estimote/Android-SDK for ranging, and I would like to know if there is any property/method available to distinguish between Proximity beacons and Location beacons?

Thank you.

[heypiotr]

Not with ranging, no => ranging operates on the iBeacon packets, and since iBeacon standard is vendor-agnostic, there’s no way to tell by the iBeacon packet alone what device this is, and even if it is from Estimote or not.

How to tell Proximity Beacons from Location Beacons then?

• scan for Estimote Connectivity packets to detect full Estimote device identifiers of the beacons nearby:

  https://github.com/Estimote/Android-SDK/blob/master/Docs/DOC_deviceConnection.md#discovering-configurable-devices

• and then: (2 options)

  • call Estimote Cloud API to obtain full details of the device:

    http://estimote.github.io/Android-SDK/JavaDocs/com/estimote/coresdk/cloud/api/EstimoteCloud.html#fetchBeaconDetails-com.estimote.coresdk.recognition.utils.DeviceId-com.estimote.coresdk.cloud.api.CloudCallback-

  • or, proceed to connect to the beacon:

    https://github.com/Estimote/Android-SDK/blob/master/Docs/DOC_deviceConnection.md

    … and read the hardware revision directly from the beacon:

    https://github.com/Estimote/Android-SDK/blob/master/Docs/DOC_deviceConnection.md#basic-operations-on-connected-device

    connection.settings.deviceInfo.hardware().get(new SettingCallback<String>() { // ...`
    

In both cases, your apps need to be authorized to access the beacon via an appropriate App ID and App Token. There’s currently no way to do that for beacons you’re not the owner of/not authorized to access.

What do you need this for?