QR Code on a mooring buoy

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jdc

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We're away from our home waters for a year or so, but nonetheless the mooring is still my responsibility. To that end I've cleaned it of barnacles and weed and had it professionally inspected and serviced.

However I've also made (i.e. had printed in sticky vinyl) a QR code with points to a web page I control, and intend to stick this on the buoy.

Brilliant or bonkers idea?
Shape of things to come?
Completely OCD?
(Not all these are mutually exclusive: 'shape of things to come' = 'bonkers' happens rather frequently!)

And any suggestions on what I should put on the web-page. So far I've:

- A welcome note
- dates we're away
- max size of boat it's specified for
- depth info
- construction description
- summary of service record
- legal disclaimer
- link to the local harbour authority's web site
 
Not a suggestion for the web site, but put the URL of the website on the bouy as well. That way those who don't have a phone capable of reading a QR code at least have a chance.

Pete
 
malware to pwn the device an unsuspecting yachty points at it? That's what I expect from random QR codes...

(although of course your suggestion is an excellent example of what these things should actually be used for and you seem to have the content nailed)
 
Website for the buoy with the kind of things you suggest seems like a great idea if you're willing to go to the effort - very hospitable of you and on behalf of all cruising sailors I'm grateful :encouragement:

However, the correct way to point to a website is with a URL. QR codes have their place, but it's on courier parcels, stock-keeping labels, and other one-off items with individual data that would be tedious to type in. QR codes as links to the top level of a website are a notoriously silly gimmick that don't actually solve any problem or provide any benefit.

Pete
 
Great idea but a bit too hi tech I think for most yotties. We put our mobile number and weight limit on a board on our mooring inviting "visitors" to call and ask if it will be free, more than happy for it to be used responsibly if we are not around. In three years we had two calls, in the same period we had to "evict" four occupants who hadn't bothered to call. We heard from an adjacent moorer that it was very popular with mobos looking for their usual 10.00 to 17.00 sunbathing spot.
 
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awol said:
Another way is to drop the mooring leaving a light line and small marker buoy. Stops wear and tear on the ground/riser chains and swivel.
Click to expand...

I did that three years ago, but when we came back in the spring the buoy had disappeared and on getting the divers to look for it they couldn't find the riser, the ground chain or any anchors either so I had to have the whole lot renewed. Hence I'm not anxious to do that again.

Besides, I've no objection to people using the mooring - in my view I've obstructed what was a traditional anchorage so it's the least I should do (not that I laid the original one, and there are others all round and besides the Crown Commissioners charge me for the privilege).

The point about a URL rather than the QR code is well made. However so many people (but not me I admit) have smart phones that a machine readable url seems sensible. Edit: it's not to the top level of a website btw, but to hidden page which you can't link to from index.htm. Hence typing in the rather long url might be tedious or error prone.
 
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jdc said:
The point about a URL rather than the QR code is well made. However so many people (but not me I admit) have smart phones that a machine readable url seems sensible.
Click to expand...

Arguing against my previous post, there may be a difference between the effectiveness of using a QR scanning app in a museum (where QR codes are often used to good effect to provide additional information) and from the moving deck of a boat a few metres away from a buoy. Experimentation probably required and as Pete7 and others say, a url too sounds like the safe plan.
 
If I saw a QR code on its own on a buoy, I think I'd probably assume it was part of a commercial mooring contractor's internal record-keeping system. Not an invitation to temporary visitors to find out more about the use of the mooring.

Pete
 
awol said:
Another way is to drop the mooring leaving a light line and small marker buoy. Stops wear and tear on the ground/riser chains and swivel.
Click to expand...

And when it gets caught round someones prop. Its back on this forum & blame 'pikey' type fishermen.....
 
nigelmercier said:
It it possible to zoom in on the QR code from a high deck?
Click to expand...

Don't know, I'll find out I guess. It's 10cm square.

The idea of a short url (TinyURL? Any experiences?) is a good one. Maybe I'd have been better putting more info into the QR code (like max size boat etc) and a conventional, albeit reduced size, url. Thanks for the feedback all.
 
I had to look up "QR code" to find out what on earth it is!

Now i know what those funny little square patterns you see are all about but I am sure my phone is not able to read them ... it makes phone calls , if I am lucky .... !

references to to web sites also useless as far as i am concerned. The best I could do would be to look them up when I get home again.

A brief written message would be useful.
 
VicS said:
I had to look up "QR code" to find out what on earth it is!

Now i know what those funny little square patterns you see are all about but I am sure my phone is not able to read them ... it makes phone calls , if I am lucky .... !

references to to web sites also useless as far as i am concerned. The best I could do would be to look them up when I get home again.

A brief written message would be useful.
Click to expand...

+1
 
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