The biggest advance in the last 24 months is that our phones

were once “blind” to the world around them

But now they see

Kew and Wakehurst in figures

How iBeacon and proximity works

How Kew Gardens is delivering content and experiences using iBeacons

Kew Gardens

In 1759 Kew was a nine acre site. Today there is over 300 acres to see and enjoy.

Kew is recognised as a world class scientific institution, holds botanical collections of global significance, and has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Kew Gardens has the largest living plant collection in the world with over 30,000 species referred to as the living collection.

Many species grown at Kew are endangered in their natural habitats and Kew is increasingly involved in their conservation as threats to the world’s vegetation escalate. Specimens of such plants are cultivated and propagated for distribution to other botanic gardens and, wherever possible, returned to their natural habitats.

Kew’s Herbarium has over 7.5 million dried specimens of plants and fungi, this is the most comprehensive collection in the world.

Kew and Wakehurst in figures

Wakehurst Place

Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank, at Wakehurst Place, plays a key role in this aspect of Kew’s work, preserving seeds of species from around the world that are endangered and potentially threatened to aid in their protection.

Working with our network of partners across 80 countries, we have successfully banked over 13% of the world's wild plant species. With your help, we are going to save 25% of those species with bankable seeds by 2020 (75,000 species). We target plants and regions most at risk from the ever-increasing impact of human activities, including land use and climate change.

As a result of this work, The Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst Place, is the biggest biodiversity hotspot on the planet. The seeds we conserve are used for research into food, agriculture, forestry, health and ecosystem repair.

Kew and Wakehurst in figures

How it works –Bluetooth LE

How it works

How it works - proximity

How it works - ranging

How it works

GPS is a LOCATION technology

Bluetooth LE is a PROXIMITY technology

Which means that even if the beacon MOVES you’ll still be able to find it

Understanding the difference between location and proximity

You can think of Bluetooth LE as an ‘extension’ of location technology: •It’s a lot like GPS but also uses a LOT less battery •GPS doesn’t work very well once you get inside. Bluetooth LE does.

Delivering context

Just think of all the things you’re “near” in a dayWe can now deliver content and experiences based on people’s precise proximity to things in the physical world using iBeacon.

Impediments to adoption

1. User needs your app

2. User must have app-on (does not need to be “open”)

3. User needs Bluetooth BLE enabled device

4. User needs Bluetooth on

5. User must allow you to push messages

DISCOVER KEW goals

• Test the Bluetooth technology in our buildings and gardens, constantly learning what works and what needs improvement

• Test if visitors are prepared to use their own phones for interpretation in the gardens

• Increase awareness of Kew science, history and horticulture through onsite engagement

• Make a discover experience for today’s “always mobile” audience

Search “DISCOVER KEW” in the app store and download it today

• Beacons create a huge opportunity for the digital community, software and user experience designers to create user stories and ultimately experiences that help solve peoples real world problems and issues (TfLbeacon network for the blind)

• Marketing teams, interpretation teams, retail teams have a great opportunity to collect both offline and online data about their users and create predictable models, which allow them to deliver compelling, relevant content to the audience at the right place and time

The challenge