====== Guideline for use of and content to be put into QR-code ======

A QR-code shall be placed on every sign

On address unit plates (building number plates) the QR-code will be visible on the front of the sign and will serve both government, business and public purposes

  - Ordered List Item Sign inspections
  - License inspections
  - Service/maintenance requests (checking a meter, performing a repair, verifying a visited location etc)
  - Conveniently find out where you are and what is around

On other signs, the QR-code will be placed on the backside and be intended primarily for inspection/technical purposes

  * Sign inspections
  * Recording damages, maintenance operations for signs

===== What should be in the QR-code? =====

An option that is supported by all mobile phone QR-code scanners is to read and offer to open a URL in the onboard browser:

The URL should be something like

  * [[https://address.gov.om/au/3e9484e5-462f-4bce-8452-550888d8271a]]

This URL should consist of four parts:

  * "https":
    * allows us to put a certificate that ensures the user that information actually comes from a trusted source).
    * tells the built-in QR-code scanner in smart phones that the content is a URL and will offer to open it in the device browser
  * A domain name
    * e.g. "address.gov.om"
    * It is important to choose a name that does not need to change as it will be impracticable to replace the code on all signs
    * a neutral domain name that can work regardless who //owns// the addressing system should be considered
    * the suffix .gov.om should be considered as it increases trust in the URL.
    * the same domain name for the top level domain .om should also be purchased and secured to avoid scamming
  * A namespace "au" that tells what type of object the id is valid for, allowing lookup into different table.
    * Example values for namespace could include:
      * sn = street name sign
      * au = address unit sign
      * etc
  * Id the object, a universally unique identifier string (UUID)
    * e.g. 3e9484e5-462f-4bce-8452-550888d8271a
    * a UUID is a unique string sequence consisting of 36 characters in 5 groups separated by hyphens

When loading this URL, the user should be presented with a page that shows the location as well as all information about the current address.

For applications like sign management and various inspections and service delivery operations, the QR-code can be scanned and the application can determine if to store the ID part, i.e. the 4th part of the URL above - or whether to load the URL and extract structured metadata from the end-point.

The end-point must implement the Http header "Accept".

  * If nothing or "text/html" is supplied for this header, an end-user web site should be returned.
  * If "application/json" is supplied, a structured JSON document should be returned