Tag technology coming to cell phones at Lakewood Ranch

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Imagine a technology that would allow anyone using a web-enabled cell phone equipped with a camera to scan Microsoft Tags on buildings, businesses or even people, to tap into an instant information source.

When the cell phone scans a Microsoft Tag — a sort of bar code — it can open a web link, dial a phone number or launch a video.

A home buyer could scan the tag on a model home and receive a virtual tour and watch a video from the builder.

A diner standing outside a restaurant could scan and study the menu on a cell phone.

Or scan a tag at the cinema and play a movie trailer.

Using the new technology, Lakewood Ranch is preparing to become one of the first communities in the country to be tagged from top to bottom, said Candice McElyea, director of marketing and public relations for Schroeder-Manatee Ranch.

First introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January 2009, more than one billion Microsoft Tags have been created by people and businesses all over the world. In April, more than 20 million magazines with tags were in the hands of U.S. consumers, Microsoft’s Anna Kim-Williams said in an e-mail Monday.

Lakewood Ranch is the first to widely deploy tags throughout its community in a variety of scenarios, Kim-Williams said.

Known for its green building standards and embrace of anything hi-tech, SMR plans to have the first phase of the new technology in place for the tour of homes that starts Nov. 6.

Builder models on the tour and businesses on Lakewood Ranch Main Street would be included in the first phase.

Phase two, tentatively set for January would add tags to wayfarer signs and amenities at Lakewood Ranch, everything from parks to polo.

In the third phase, SMR would launch a line of clothing to be sold on line and at the Lakewood Ranch Information Center, allowing a person to be tagged as well. The tagging process would be completed by April, McElyea said.

The first group to be introduced to the new technology were local Realtors, who received a presentation Friday.

“The technology has a wow factor. It’s very cool and edgy,” McElyea said.

Gail Shane, a Realtor liaison with Neal Communities, said she has already downloaded the application on her iPhone and tested it.

“People do want information at their fingertips. It literally allows that,” Shane said. “I am looking forward to when it will be everywhere. It’s excellent, quick information.”

The software is available for iPhones free at the App Store. For other types of phones, it can be downloaded at Microsoft’s web site www.getTag.mobi. The site has the software for Android, Blackberry, Palm OS and other types of phones.

Basic use of the tag is free — meaning customers can download the reader and scan tags, as well as create their own tags to perform basic functions at no charge, Kim-Williams said.

Staff at the Lakewood Ranch Information Center are trained on how to add the software to visitor’s phones, McElyea said.

The software uses the cell phone’s data plan, and based on the plan, the consumer may incur an additional charge.

“My phone has unlimited data so it doesn’t cost me anything additional,” McElyea said.

Monday afternoon the Starbucks at Lakewood Ranch was packed with coffee lovers, most of them working on laptop computers or texting on cell phones.

Bill Amarel had a cell phone in one hand and a computer on his lap.

“It’s way up there,” the tech-savvy Amarel said, when he heard that tags were coming to Lakewood Ranch in a big way.

For more information, visit www.lakewoodranch.com or http://Tag.microsoft.com

James A. Jones Jr., East Manatee Editor, can be contacted at (941) 745-7021.