Dear Engineering Community ...
An extremely exciting new technology is emerging which could really bring our POC's bang up to date (and open lots of other possibilities as well). If a "QR code" (a small flat square of 2D barcode) were attached to each POC post, it would be possible for people with smartphones to record their performances round POCs - getting times, splits and comparisons with other people recorded on a national database. (Think of it as the QR code is the SI box, and your phone is your dibber.)
I'm in contact with some software developers who appear to be close to getting this kind of thing up and running, and I intend to pro-actively support all the prototyping and testing that they need.
What I'd like to kick off with this email is a discussion of what the physical QR code would look like and how it would be put together. I'm initially thinking of a 3 or 4cm square "plate" with a single screw through the middle, which would be positioned in the middle of the sloping top of the post. At 50-odd courses and around 30 posts each, we'd be eventually looking at around 1500 unique and regeneratable items, starting from someting we can print on from a computer. Some kind of plastic sandwich you could screw through, maybe ?
All ideas very welcome. I think this could be HUGE.
John