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There's something new in store for all the Mumbai travellers flying out from the GVK Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA). In order to up the ante of passenger experience, the airport has recently launched a new smartphone application that includes a number of advanced features. Among these, the attractive use of augmented reality technology, which provides passengers with information on nearby facilities as they walk through the terminal, is the one that stands out.

Using the app, passengers can select their flight on the app and opt to receive push notifications relating to their specific flight. A combination of Indoor Atlas and iBeacon technologies provides the platform for the magnetically modelled indoor maps. Interestingly, this is the very first time that iBeacons have been installed in an Indian airport.

For the unaware, iBeacon, as the name suggests is a protocol developed by Apple, which makes use of bluetooth low energy proximity sensing in order to transmit a unique identifier picked by an operating system or a compatible app. The identifier and several bytes sent with it is then used to determine the device's physical location, track customers, or carry out a location based action on the device such as a push notification or a check-in on social media.

With beacons, airlines can easily provide passengers with indoor directions, walk times to gates, lounge access and alerts about boarding. Knowing where a passenger is before sending information enables more effective communication.

Currently available for free on iOS (here) and Android (here) platforms, the CSIA plans to continue to develop and better the current application. For example, it plans on adding a taxi booking service and a virtual walkthrough feature in order to allow passengers to experience various sections of the airport on their smartphones.

[caption id="attachment_102522" align="aligncenter" width="600"]The new Mumbai T2 App features augmented reality, push notifications, airport maps and retail guides. The new Mumbai T2 App features augmented reality, push notifications, airport maps and retail guides.[/caption]

Called Mumbai T2, the app is India's first-ever indoor navigation app with augmented reality feature to guide a passenger through the terminal building. In the coming months, the app would get more ambitious as it will coordinate information from multiple sources to tell you what time to leave for the airport.

After the flight number is keyed in, the app will give constant information on the relevant flight, including details such as delays, change in boarding gates and boarding time. "The app uses technology that creates magnetically modelled maps and provides location-based information to the passenger using their 3G connections or free Wi-Fi services available at the airport

"We constantly endeavour to provide world-class facilities at T2, and always strive to make it as easy as possible for air travellers to discover them. With the Mumbai T2 app, travellers can design their own customised experiential tour with a single click," said Rajeev Jain, Chief Executive Officer, Mumbai International Airport Limited, in a statement.

"Moreover, we being a ‘silent’ terminal, cutting down on public announcements, the app will be a very handy tool for passengers to keep track of their flight schedule through constant notifications," he further added.
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