Barcodes are Everywhere
With the recent rapid advances in the technology sector, computers are integrating deeper and deeper in our lives. Their main function is to ease us and to improve our life in all aspects. For that purpose these machines have to be provided with information to manipulate but it has to be understandable from them – the so called binary data, composed of Zeros and Ones. Talking particularly about identification numbers, the one way is to input them is through a keyboard, but when the strings become longer than 15 characters and you have to enter 20 different ones, things become quite sluggish. That’s why barcodes were brought into existence in 1949.
Enough talk – let’s check it out!Since then quite a lot has changed for them. They have become numerous and extremely diversed – from black and white, zebra-stripped to 2-dimensional and smartphone-scannable. Unlike the 70s and 80s when barcodes were mainly used in the industry, trading or shipping, nowadays they can be spotted almost everywhere serving as an identification designator or as a security precaution.
Sometimes in the buildings of companies with large staff, there are sectors/rooms that only certain workers are allowed to enter. In order to gain access they have to type-in their password. This practice is globally adopted, but it has some drawbacks. For example you have to remember all the characters of your identification key and to be careful someone else not to watch you while submitting it. An appropriate solution is the company in question to start using barcode recognizing technique. As a result the privileged employees will be given special badges or cards with barcodes on them and the secured rooms will be fitted with laser readers on the doors. Clerks will no longer enter long strings of symbols – only slide their card through the scanner. Moreover they won’t be afraid of someone to see their password because barcodes represent only machine-readable data. In the end both workers and employers will be satisfied with the new modernized, less demanding and improved work environment. Currently such security barcode methods are actually adopted by many hotels, libraries and university campuses all over the world. Instead of metal key like before, guests or members are given access card with one-of-a-kind authentication set of characters. The most preferred standards for this type of use are code128 or code39 because of their alpha-numeric encoding capabilities. Look at our Code39 generator and Code128 generator now.
Apart from the reliable security, barcodes offer something else as well – better employee control. Each member of the staff is given and employee badge/card with his unique barcode. He has to scan it at the gateway when arriving and leaving his work place. The system gathers the hours in a database and in the end of the month the person in charge of the particular sector can make individual references to the working hours of everyone and include the information in his monthly report to the superior executives.
Airline companies are another public sector where barcodes, in the face of PDF417 code, are commonly used. They provide high security levels and prevent any crooks who want to travel with forged tickets. Furthermore the barcode on your boarding pass might serve you as an information source. It is usually printed in the right side of the board card. A contemporary airport might turn out to be a real maze for you if you are not familiar with it. Finding yourself lost would be very unpleasant situation. Luckily the most essential facts about your flight are encoded in the black and white symbol. Just go the nearest checkpoint, scan it and the computer will simply guide you to the exact terminal and gate. Check out all Mobilio’s barcode generators here and download the from the Mac AppStore now.