The Datamatrix (or Data matrix) is mostly used for logistics and for labeling small electronic components.
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Example
Generator
Twitter about Datamatrix
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Scanning
Scanning a Datamatrix is easy.
Capacity
In theory a Datamatrix can store up to 2335 alphanumeric characters. For Mobile Tagging 40-45 characters are feasible (depends on the physical size of the Datamatrix). Otherwise average phones will not be able to detect them anymore.
Pitfalls
Using Datamatrix for Mobile Tagging (or other applications) has some pitfalls, that you should definitely avoid.
Most problems arise because the tester has a good phone (like Nokia's N95) with a high quality camera, but the actual user has an average phone with an average camera.
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Whitespace / Quitezone
Make sure you leave an empty space (marked in red) of around 4 modules (or 10% of the code size) on each side.
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Amount of data
You should not encode more than 45 characters in a Datamatrix (1 region). Otherwise detection will be too bad with average phones (see "Capacity").
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Color
You should always use black and white. If contrast is too low code detection will be impossible.
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Design
Some people add logos in the middle or change colors. You should not do that as detectability goes down and people will have difficulties to recognize it as a Datamatrix.
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Size
The code should never be smaller than 2cm (with ~40 characters encoded). The more characters you encode the larger the code has to be. But you should never encode more than 80 characters.
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Blogs about Datamatrix
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