# ShotCode

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Type of polar matrix barcode

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Sample ShotCode linking to this article.

**ShotCode** is a circular [barcode](/source/Barcode) created by High Energy Magic of [Cambridge University](/source/Cambridge_University). It uses a [dartboard](/source/Dartboard)-like circle, with a [bullseye](/source/Bullseye_(target)) in the centre and *datacircles* surrounding it. The technology reads databits from the datacircles by measuring the angle and distance from the bullseye for each point.

ShotCodes are designed to be read with a regular camera (including those found on [mobile phones](/source/Mobile_phone) and [webcams](/source/Webcam)) without the need to purchase other specialised hardware. ShotCodes differ from [matrix barcodes](/source/Matrix_barcode) in that they do not store regular data - rather, they store a look up number consisting of 40 bits of data. This needs to link to a server that holds information regarding a mapped [URL](/source/Uniform_Resource_Locator) which the reading device can connect to in order to download said data.

## History

ShotCode was created in 1999 at the [University of Cambridge](/source/University_of_Cambridge) when researching a low cost vision based method to track locations and developed [TRIPCode](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=TRIPCode&action=edit&redlink=1) as a result. It has been used to track printed TRIPCode paperbadges in realtime with webcams. After that in Cambridge it had another research use; to read barcodes with mobile phone cameras, and they used TRIPCode in a round barcode which was named SpotCode. High Energy Magic was founded in 2003 to commercialise research from the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory and Laboratory for Communications Engineering. Least Bango.net, a mobile company used SpotCode 2004 in their ads. In 2005 High Energy Magic Ltd. sold the entire SpotCode IPR to OP3. Afterwards the name was changed from SpotCode to ShotCode. [Heineken](/source/Heineken) was the first company to officially use the ShotCode technology.

## ShotCode software

The software used to read a ShotCode captured by a mobile camera is called ‘ShotReader’. It is lightweight and is only around 17kB. It ‘reads’ the camera’s picture of a ShotCode in real time and prompts [browsers](/source/Web_browser) to navigate to a particular site.

No official software meant to be used on [Android](/source/Android_(operating_system)) or [iOS](/source/IOS) smartphones exists.

## See also

- [QR Code](/source/QR_Code)

- [Semacode](/source/Semacode)

- [SPARQCode](/source/SPARQCode)

## External links

- [Official Shotcode website](https://web.archive.org/web/20130501092223/http://www.shotcode.com/) at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) (archived May 1, 2013)

- [Using visual tags to bypass Bluetooth device discovery, Mobile Computing and Communications Review, Volume 9, Number 1, 2005](http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1055959.1055965) (by SpotCode people)

- [SpotCode in action videos from University of Cambridge](http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/SRG/netos/uid/spotcode.html)

- RoBCode Generator [https://github.com/rbur004/svg_rob_code](https://github.com/rbur004/svg_rob_code)

v t e Barcodes Linear barcodes Automatic Car Identification Code 11 Code 39 Code 93 Code 128 Codabar European Article Number GS1 DataBar Industrial 2 of 5 Interleaved 2 of 5 ITF-14 Matrix 2 of 5 MSI Barcode Patch Code Pharmacode Plessey Telepen UPC UPC-A MaxiCode Post office barcodes CPC Binary Barcode Facing Identification Mark PostBar POSTNET RM4SCC Intelligent Mail barcode PLANET 2D barcodes (stacked) Codablock GS1 DataBar MicroPDF417 PDF417 2D barcodes (matrix) Aztec Code Data Matrix (Semacode) DotCode Han Xin code JAB Code MaxiCode QR code rMQR Code Boxing Polar coordinate barcodes MaxiCode ShotCode Other High Capacity Color Barcode (Microsoft Tag) Technological issues Barcode printer Barcode reader Other data tags RFID Bokode Related topics Supply chain management Object hyperlinking Matrix Mobile tagging CueCat Category Commons

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [ShotCode](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ShotCode) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ShotCode?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.