Estimote supports both Eddystone and Apple's iBeacon protocol, but to enable physical web on an Estimote beacon, Eddystone is enough. You will require a proximity beacon that broadcasts at least one packet at a time. It can either transmit an iBeacon packet or an Eddystone packet. Make sure to enable only one type before configuring it.
In order to switch your beacon to Eddystone, follow these steps:
- Go to https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.estimote.apps.main to download the Estimote Android application.
- Sign up if you don't already hold an account with Estimote.
- Tap on the beacon you want to switch to Eddystone.
- Choose Packets.
- Enable Eddystone-URL with the URL you want it to broadcast.
The beacon is now transmitting the physical web URL you just configured. In order to receive the physical web broadcasts from the beacon on your Android phone, go to Google Chrome | Settings | Privacy | Enable Physical Web. Provide the location permission if not done already.
Download the Google physical web application from Play Store by following this link:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=physical_web.org.physicalweb
Once the URL is received on the phone, the user will then click on it, which should automatically take it to a website. An example here is a smart parking meter. It is broadcasting a URL to the nearby users, which will take them to a website where the user can pay for space automatically. This is a typical implementation of the physical web as described by Google. I invite you to think of more examples where the concept of physical web is implemented.