Mobile Tag Terminology

2D Barcodes

By linking your traditional media, such as newspaper stories, advertising material and packaging directly to your online presence, you provide a constantly-updated fresh feel to your customer engagement.

Two-dimensional (2D) barcodes are symbols that are easily interpreted by scanner equipment. 2D barcodes contain information in both the vertical and horizontal directions, whereas a 1D barcode contains data in one direction only. This allows 2D barcodes to hold a considerably greater volume of information than a 1D barcode.

2D barcodes are regularly used in conjunction with mobile phones for rapid access to specific sites on the web where the codes can be used to store URLs or addresses, among other things.

A user, having appropriate 2D barcode reader software on a camera phone, can scan the code image, resulting in the phone’s web browser redirecting the user to the relevant URL. The simplicity of linking from the physical world into the electronic world, known as ‘physical world hyperlinks’ or ‘HardLinks’ is the essence of the 2D barcode and explains its enormous popularity.

2D barcodes are a powerful way of getting a company’s product URL easily accepted and used by a potential customer. 2D barcodes allow companies to access potential new customers, including those who are less IT literate, who are disinclined to type in codes or those people who are short on time but who like an idea or a product.