Semacode

Semacode was a software company based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada,^[1] known for a product with the same trade name – machine-readable ISO/IEC 16022^[2] Data Matrix barcodes, which are used to encode Internet URLs.

Semacodes were primarily aimed at being used with cellular phones which have built-in cameras, to quickly capture a Web site address for use in the phone's web browser. The system was created by Simon Woodside after he was thinking of a followup to the use of CueCat barcode scanners.^[3] When it launched it operated only on Nokia camera phones that use the Symbian Series 60 operating system.^[3]

The Semacode website states that Semacode tags are an "open system" and that tag creation is "completely unrestricted," with the SDK software tools being free of charge for non-commercial use.^[4]

Suggestions for usage from the Semacode.org website^[5] included 2007:

• placing Semacode tags on posters, such as those for concerts and public performances. Those interested could use their mobile phone to take a photo of the tag, which could link them directly to the web page where they could order tickets.
• using Semacode tags and mobile phones to enable multilingual museum exhibits—a tag photographed at the exhibition entrance could set a language cookie in the phone's web browser, and subsequent Semacode tags displayed at each exhibit could then link the phone's browser directly to a web page about the item, displayed in the user's language of choice.
• placing Semacode tags on name tags given to conference attendees. These tags could provide the corporate web address of each attendee's company, or their biography and contact details.