iBeacon, the indoor positioning system described by Apple as a “new class of low-powered, low-cost transmitters” that enables push notifications to be sent to iOS devices in close proximity, has found a new advocate.
This week it was announced that iBeacon is being used for the UN’s “International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.”
The event will take place later this Friday at the New York Museum in the Big Apple. And according to 9to5Mac, the event features an exhibit that uses iBeacon.
Visitors will download an app called Sweeper for iOS or Android that will allow them to experience the fear of land mines as they walk through the space.
The Sweeper app detects transmitters hidden throughout the exhibit. When a person comes too close to a transmitter, it acts as a landmine and detonates, filling the user’s headphones with a jarring, visceral explosion followed by an audio testimony of someone’s actual experience.
Users will be encouraged but not required to donate $5 to ensure that “no one ever has to go through what they just did.”
