QR Codes Help You Remember Where You Parked

I wish other shopping malls and big buildings will implement QR codes in car parks like how KLCC do it. Forgetful visitors need not snap with a camera or scribble the lot number or floor, just to remember later where they have parked. We finally see QR codes put to good and practical use.

How and what do you do as the driver? The QR codes are on pillars for you to scan with a phone. When you parked your vehicle, look for the nearest pillar with a code displayed. Turn on the code scanning app on your smartphone and scan it. The location can then be stored or shared in several ways. I use the free and efficient Bar Code Scanner App on my Android phone.

Here’s a snapshot of a pillar (left) and my Galaxy phone’s readout (right).

KLCC Car Park provides QR Codes to help you locate your car

Understanding QR Codes

Some of you may have noticed a strange badge appearing on the lower part of the pages at the new MyCen Maps beta. The thingy is a QR (Quick Response) Code. So what can you do with it?

QR Code

Scanning a QR Code

Just like barcodes, the QR codes contain info that can be extracted with a scanner. With an iPhone, Android or Symbian smartphone, you can install a scanning application and the phone’s camera will function as a bar code reader.

For my Android-powered Samsung Galaxy S, I use the free app ‘Barcode Scanner’,  downloaded from the Market. Just point the camera at the code on your PC screen (screenshot 1) and it will convert it to a link almost instantly (screenshot 2). You can then either e-mail, bookmark or open it right away in your mobile browser (provided data, 3g or gprs connection is available).

Why would you want to get a particular MyCen Map page into your mobile phone? When you are on the road and heading for that unfamiliar area. All the integrated info such as map, pictures, nearby hotels, police stations, landmarks, GPS coordinates and other links will come in handy.

Of course, there are other ways to get an address into your phone but this is a quick and dirty method. Incidentally, the codes can be printed and scanned off a t-shirt too, if the wearer is not too voluptuous 🙂