Adding beacons

Any hardware used for positioning, including Eddystone and iBeacon becons, is called  Inputs in the Proximi.io ecosystem. Prerequisite to adding beacons is that you have already added a Place, Floor and Department.

You can add your beacons in 4 different ways:

1. Through typing in the beacon information on the portal
   Part 1. Adding beacons through web portal
2. Through the Proximi.io Management app
   Part 2. Adding beacons through Management app
3. Through an Excel sheet 
   Part 3. Adding beacons through an Excel sheet
4. Through API integration with the most popular vendors
   Move to article on importing Kontakt.io beacons
   Move to article on importing Estimote beacons
   Move to article on importing Sensoro beacons

1. Adding beacons through web portal

Beacons belong to the category of "inputs" on the Proximi.io architecture. Remember while naming the beacons it’s good to add whatever visual recognition methods you have : serial code / name / or even just the colour of it, to keep track of your fleet’s positions. Upon selecting the right department, latitude and longitude will automatically populate.

Required data for adding inputs depends on the input type; iBeacon has it’s own required fields UUID, major and minor, while Eddystone has namespace and instance ID’s. After selecting the type of beacon you can see that other fields will show up accordingly. You can find these info’s from your beacon provider management console / application.

Beacon height is by default 2m, which is the recommended installation height. You can adjust the height here, in case you had to install the beacons higher due to the venue's architecture.

Drag & drop the input to the right real-life location on the map on the right-had side. Make sure beacon's position on the map matches accurately with its actual physical position in the venue. We use this location to calculate the position of the visitor.

2. Adding beacons through Management App

Download the Proximi.io Management App. Due to iOS limitations, it is recommended to use an Android device for this step. Don't worry - the positioning will work for both iOS and Android devices. Proximi.io Management App is available through the Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.proximi.management . Login to the Management App with your username and password.

Select Inputs from the Menu. You will find a Plus sign on the bottom right corner of the view. Click on that, and then select "Get input from scan". This will scan and display all the beacons that are near your mobile device. Say you have 10 beacons near your mobile then all the 10 will be detected and will show up in the order of vicinity. If multiple beacons are about the same distance away from you, you can see the list updating as the phone receives the signal from them and the distance estimation updates. If you know the corresponding device ids for the beacons, then select that. If you are not sure about the id of a beacon, try to step away from other beacons, so your phone can detect the signal from just one beacon more strongly.

When you have clicked the beacon you want to import, enter the name of the beacon and select the correct Place and Department. The latitude and longitude values will populate automatically to the center of that building. To move the beacon to it's correct location, click "Pick location from map". This view allows you to move the beacon to it's correct location. Note: you are actually moving the map behind the beacon.

Remember to specify height (recommended to insert 2) and click Create to save the beacon.

3. Adding beacons through an Excel sheet

If you are switching to Proximi.io from another provider or for some other reason you have the beacon details available in an Excel sheet, you can do a bulk upload through REST API. We are happy to do this step for you. 

Use this Excel sheet as the base to make sure you have all necessary information included: Beacon import Excel sheet.