androideddystonegoogle-beacon-platform

How to share beacons with other developers


I read the following statement in the Proximity Beacon API docs (https://developers.google.com/beacons/proximity/sharing):

Additionally, you can share your beacon network with another developer to allow them to add their own attachments to your beacons in their own namespace.

Actually I'm not sure how to achieve this. How can I add the namespace of another developer to my beacons? I registered my beacons with the Beacon Tool iOS App and assigned them to a Google API Project. The ID of this Google API Project is the only namespace which is currently available when I add attachments to my beacons using the Google Beacons Dashboard.

Are there any recommendations for a good project setup to be able to allow multiple developers from different parties to use my beacons in there apps?

Thanks in advance and best regards!


Solution

  • I found a solution that works for me at the moment, but I'm not sure if it is a good or elegant solution. Please feel free to give me feedback or comments.

    Let's assume we have a developer A that owns beacons and that A wants to share his beacons to a 3rd party developer B. A registered his beacons with the Beacon Tool iOS App and assigned them to his Google API Project. To let B use A's beacons proceed the following steps:

    (1) B has to create a new Google API Project (https://console.developers.google.com/apis). B has to activate the "Google Proximity Beacon API" for his project. If B uses the Google Nearby Messages API to receive messages from beacons in his iOS/Android app, B needs to create 2 API keys (iOS key and Android key) in the credentials section of the API Manager.

    (2) A needs to grant permissions to B using "IAM & Admin" (https://console.developers.google.com/iam-admin/iam). B should have a least the role "Beacon Attachment Publisher" (B can create attachments in B’s namespace on A’s beacons. A cannot use or alter B’s attachments. B’s attachments are removed in case A decommissions the beacon they’re associated with.).

    Now B is able to login to the Google Beacon Dashboard and to select A's project. Within this project B can see all of A's beacons and B is able to add attachments to A's beacons using his own namespace (ID of B's Google API Project). B cannot see or use A's namespace or attachments.