2-D means 'two dimensional'.
They are different to a 1 dimensional barcodes - which have lines running in vertical strips from left to right like the barcode you may be familiar with on a box of cereal in the supermarket.
2-D barcodes contain more information than conventional one dimensional linear barcodes. Conventional barcodes get wider as more data is encoded. 2-D barcodes make use of the vertical dimension to pack in more data.
The 2-D barcode can store up to a maximum of 7,089 numbers and 4,296 characters. The additional storage capacity accommodates a variety of data beyond numbers. The stored hyperlink presents a myriad of possibilities beyond just loading a web page.
The form 2-D barcode are either square matrix or clusters of colored triangles.
Let’ look at the 2-D code “QR”
QR (Quick Response) codes are the commercial name for a type of 2-D (dimensional) bar code.
A 2-D QR is different in that it has boxes running both left to right on the horizontal axis and also up and down on the vertical axis as well. The 3 “big boxes” in the corners simply tell the camera which way the code is orientated. QR codes can be snapped in any direction but generally are printed with the 2 big boxes in the top and one on the left.
Let’ look at the 2-D code “TAG”
High Capacity Color Barcode (HCCB) is a technology of encoding data in a 2-D "barcode" using clusters of colored triangles.
Data density is increased by using a palette of 4 or 8 colors for the triangles. The TAG can be rendered black and white when necessary.
A Microsoft Tag is essentially a machine readable web link, analogous to a URL shortening link
When read, the Tag application sends the HCCB data to a Microsoft server, which then returns the publisher's intended URL.
The Tag reader then directs the user's mobile browser to the appropriate website.
Smartphone Camera and 2-D Code
The application is then directed to a web page — play a video, download a mobile app, check-in on Foursquare, update a Twitter status, “Like” a Facebook page, display map directions, or other format such as text, vCard, URL, Online Photos, Online Video or contact details for the publisher.
If the smartphone is GPS-equipped the phone sends coordinate data along with the 2-D code data, allowing location-specific information to be returned… at the user's option (e.g. for a restaurant advertisement, a navigational map to the nearest location could be shown).
2-D tags can be used to transform traditional marketing media into gateways for accessing information online. For example, print advertising, billboards, packaging and merchandising in stores or on LCDs.
2-D Barcodes and the Retailer
“2-D barcodes give retailers the power to direct the customer’s experience, sending the customer to where the retailer wants them to go.
· A customer might go to a mobile site and look up product information but not swipe down the screen where a product video lays in wait.
· Why make the customer type in information and possibly miss out on the most valuable assets online when she can just hold her smartphone over a code and be instantly connected with great content?
And just as important, typing and browsing is just not as cool as scanning . . . cool matters. And 2-D bar codes are awfully cool.” – Bill Siwicki, Managing Editor, Mobile Commerce.
