To administrators

This is a guide for those who are considering to install beacons and to create channels.

Please refer to this page for the specific application procedure.

What you can and cannot do with MOCHA and, what MOCHA doesn't do

What you CAN do 1: You will be able to check the congestion level without going to the site.

By installing beacons in lecture rooms, conference rooms, and laboratories, you can run reservation systems of the space and show the notification of the congestion level.
The disclosure range of information can be controlled in units called "channels". In a highly public space, real-time display of the congestion level is enabled. In closed spaces such as laboratories and circles, information on current occupants can be displayed. Click here for more information on the features of the channels currently offered.

What you CAN do 2: Users can check their own location history.

By installing beacons, faculty members and students will be able to record and check their own location history in detail. It is especially effective to install beacons in a space where many people use, such as lecture rooms or cafeterias.

What you CAN do 3: If a user is reported to be infected with COVID-19, the location history of the patient can be traced.

If a member of the faculty/department is infected with COVID-19, it is necessary to list the candidates for close contact on campus. Members who test positive of COVID-19 can submit their past location history on campus through MOCHA. The location history recorded by MOCHA can be used to the interviews of close contacts on campus. MOCHA will not provide any information about who the member has contacted without the permission of the person. MOCHA can notify users who have locationed in the space / time where it is determined that close contact has occurred, but MOCHA will NOT provide any information about the user who received the notification.

What you CANNOT do 1: The channel administrators cannot keep track of the users' location history.

Only the congestion information of the space associated with the channel is published on the public channel. In private channels, ONLY the current occupancy information of the space is available even to the administrators. Unless an infection with COVID-19 is reported, other location information and past location history cannot be viewed by the channel administrators.

What you CANNOT do 2: You cannot trace the route of the users outside the university.

The MOCHA system does not acquire location information via GPS or Wi-Fi, so it is not possible to record location information outside the university. Since the function that processes location information is used inside the app, it is necessary to allow the use of location information, but location information is acquired only via radio waves from the beacons.

What you CANNOT do 3: You cannot know the distance between users.

Currently, it is not possible to measure the exact distance between users using only the signal strength of Bluetooth used in MOCHA and COCOA. Since the signal strength greatly depends on the local environment of beacons and the performance of the smartphones, it is almost impossible to measure the distance in principle.

About Beacons

The beacon used in MOCHA is called iBeacon, and emits Bluetooth-compatible 2.4GHz band radio waves every second. There is no radio frequency interference with Wi-Fi. The radio wave may propagate from several meters to a maximum of 100 meters or above. Beacons transmit the signal with weaker power than permitted to prevent the interference.

Beacons are attached to the wall or ceiling of the room with double-sided tape. On average, one beacon is enough for a laboratory or a lecture room which holds dozens of people, while 2-3 beacons are required for larger lecture rooms.

Beacons are battery-powered. Small coin-sized beacons last for one year, and those with a diameter of 6 cm last for five years.

The price of each beacon is about 1000 yen, but currently up to 1000 beacons are provided free of charge.

About Channels

You can create "channels" for each controlled area such as lecture rooms and laboratories.

Currently, four functions are provided as follows: "Congestion statistics", "Resident display", "Record of the number of people in the room", and "Management of location reservations". For details on each function, please check the following.

Function details

  • Congestion statistics
    The congestion status of the space under the control of the public channel is shown as three levels of congestion in consideration of privacy.
    You can check it from the congestion map.

  • Resident display
    You can see who is currently in the space with more detail than the congestion statistics. It will be available on closed channels such as laboratories. It is not possible to check the past location history.

  • History of the number of people in the room You can check the history of the number of people in the space under channel management. It will be available on closed channels such as laboratories. Only the history of the number of people can be confirmed.

  • Management of location reservations You can review and approve requests for reservations in channel-controlled spaces. Only the channel administrators can review and approve applications. You can choose to approve the reservation either automatically or manually. Please note that past reservations cannot be confirmed.

Frequently Asked Questions

If the MOCHA beacon is installed, will the usage status of the room be completely visible from the outside via the congestion status map?

NO.

As for the spaces where the congestion status is displayed on the congestion status map on the Web, the following conditions are required: 1. the manager of the space (department facility staff, laboratory professor, etc.) applied for the installation of a beacon, and 2. the manager of the space explicitly asked to set the beacon to be included in "Spatial Statistics Visualization" so that the anonymized congestion status of the space is accessible to everyone.

For more details, please refer to the following sentences in the beacon application procedure: "If you allow this item, the anonymized congestion level will be disclosed when there are 3 or more people in the room. The lecture rooms and libraries are recommended to set this item to "allow," so that the congestion level is open to public. For laboratories where only specific members enter and leave, this item may be set to "NOT allow.""

Please inform the UTokyo MOCHA project team if there is any places that are not suitable for publicizing the congestion status.

When the congestion status or the number of users in the room are displayed in MOCHA, if the number of occupants is 3 or less (0 to 3), only "3 or less" is displayed instead of the actual number, in regard to the privacy protection.。

If a beacon is installed in the laboratory, will it be possible for other people (channels) to obtain congestion information from the beacon?

There is a review for opening a channel, and for channels that have passed the review, information will be disclosed according to the terms of use of that channel.

You can freely link channels and beacons. The following measures are taken from the viewpoint of privacy protection.

  • Validity check of channel applicants Each application will be checked and the UTokyo MOCHA project team administrator will review whether the beacon monitoring is likely to be valid. Channel applicants will be displayed on the channel so that the channels which are considered not legitimate can be reported by other users of MOCHA.

  • About display of channel followers and occupants information There are public and private channels. Anyone can follow the public channels. Only the information that does not include personal information such as the number of occupants in the space is disclosed. Private channels are channels where information is available if the channel administrators approve the follow request from the users. What the members can see in the private channels are "the names of the current occupants" and "the persons who made reservation on the space". A history of who locationed when in the space will not be displayed. If one space is included in multiple channels, personal information can only be seen by an authenticated relationship. (If multiple laboratories share a space, you can only see the names of members in your laboratory on each laboratory channel. The number of total occupants in the space can be diclosed if there are 3 or more people in the room, regardless of whether you are following or not following the channel.)

Contact Us

If you have any questions or inquiries regarding requests for additional functions, please contact us using the inquiry form