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Soon We Will All Be QR Coded
By
Garth Johnston
Published Sep 25, 2012
Modified Sep 25, 2012
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Sep 25, 2012
Modified Sep 25, 2012
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Last year Mayor Bloomberg promised that QR codes on all construction site signs was "just the beginning" and he meant it. Yesterday the City Council passed legislation that requires any city agency that has more information online than on a permit, license or registration to also have a "quick response code or a near field communication tag" on it. So maybe time to download a QR reader onto your smartphone. Otherwise how can you tell what your banana is advertising?
The legislation, introduced by Council member Daniel Garodnick, won't kick in until a year after Bloomberg signs it—but it could make finding out information about our busy city just that much easier when it does. Still, there is already one catch! You won't be able to just walk up to a restaurant's letter grade and find out what they did to deserve that C. For that you'll have to go inside the restaurant to find their permits.
That's because putting individual restaurant QR codes on each letter grade sign would require them to be printed individually—which costs money. But maybe someday.
Right now the city agencies that will be first to get cozy with QR codes are the Department of Buildings (think building sites), the Department of Health (think restaurants, day care centers) and the Parks Department (which regulates food trucks). But as more agencies put their records online, they too will have to get hip to those weird looking boxes.
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