Cardano Beam - GPS based Assets

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Dmitry Shibaev

[GENERAL] Email address of main applicant

dmitry.shibaev@dynamicstrategies.io

Additional applicants

Elcio Chiquinato

Vlad Mikirtumov

Kieran Simkin

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

11

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language.

No

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.” .

No dependencies

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

No

[GENERAL] If NO, please describe which outputs are not going to be open source. If YES, please write “Project will be fully open source.”

The following libraries have been open-sourced when building Cardano Beam

• https://github.com/dynamicstrategies/cardano-wallet-connector
• https://github.com/dynamicstrategies/cardano-wallet-functions 
• https://github.com/dynamicstrategies/cardano-public-graphql
• https://github.com/dynamicstrategies/cardano-nft-minter 

Additionally, the team at Dynamic Strategies has actively contributed to the cardano-serialization-lib for the web and for the mobile and documented how to get started with it on the Developer’s portal

• https://github.com/Emurgo/csl-mobile-bridge/issues/98 
• https://developers.cardano.org/docs/get-started/cardano-serialization-lib/create-react-app 

In this project, we will open-source one more library that has mature enough to be released to the public:

• Smart contract Factory - generates new smart contracts using a NodeJS backend and a compiled Haskell executable. This is a key innovation that allows for smart contracts to be generated very fast, in under 100ms, whilst still relying on the tried and tested Haskell language.

The remaining code of Cardano Beam, which has not been released as open source, is primarily related to the Web2 part of the app - the front-end, the database and the back-end that syncs the state between the different apps.

As a company, we generally open-source Web3-related code that helps advance the knowledge in the community and we do not open-source Web2 code which helps us avoid breading cheap copies.

[METADATA] Category of Proposal

dApp

[METADATA] SDG rating

Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

SDG subgoals:

8.2 Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation, including through a focus on high-value added and labour-intensive sectors

8.3 Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services

8.9 By 2030, devise and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products

Key Performance Indicator (KPI):

8.9.1 Tourism direct GDP as a proportion of total GDP and in growth rate

8.2.1 Annual growth rate of real GDP per employed person

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Cardano Beam is our Catalyst-funded platform that allows anyone to place an Asset on the World map by specifying the GPS coordinates (link: https://cardanobeam.app).

A smart contract locks Assets on the Cardano blockchain; to unlock them, someone must pass at that GPS location. Once the user passes at the location where the Asset was locked, the smart contract unlocks the asset and gets transferred to the user’s wallet.

This platform facilitates value transfer without payment terminals, without prior agreements, so long as the person receiving the payment is physically present at the specified location and conforms to the other conditions of whoever placed the Asset there.

Hundreds of users have already used the Cardano Beam platform, many of them from outside of the Cardano ecosystem, where their introduction to Cardano was through our app. The improvements will make the onboarding smoother and improve the user experience.

View of the world map with Assets placed globally using Cardano Beam at over 300 locations

We have also built an Events Marketplace that brings event organizers and Cardano Beam users together. We plan to offer this marketplace to businesses to host their events and advertisement campaigns

We will use the funds from Fund 10 to make five key improvements to the app:

• Rebuild the UX/UI to make the experience intuitive for the average user, especially those not familiar with crypto. This will drive adoption and bring unique users to the Cardano ecosystem.

• Business development. The team needs to be expanded to deal with the flow of enquiries and create actionable proposals for business owners.

• Enhance ticket validation for the same ticket to be used only once. The existing ticket approach is to confirm the ownership of a ticket without consuming it. We will extend this with an option to consume the ticket to accommodate high-value use cases where the same ticket should not be used more than once. 

• Snap & Mint functionality where a user takes a photo at their location, the app turns the photo into an NFT and locks the NFT in a smart contract at that location for others to pick up.

Integrate proof of presence by leveraging the technology built by Kieran Smith. The proof of presence is an additional physical device that sends a message through a decentralized network such as Helium of World Mobile and records the location of the physical tower transmitting the message - making it possible to prove the location from where the message was sent. https://iwozear.art/device

Events Market Place

Cardano Beam lets event organisers publish their events and sell tickets to them. All in one place, thereby simplifying the user experience. Users can see the events around them in our Cardano Beam Mobile App and purchase tickets with ADA or Credit cards.

At the Event, the user shows the ticket as a QR code, and the event organiser scans it to let them in. The event organized can also leave POAP certificates in a GPS-enabled Smart Contract, which the user collects when at the event.

Each event organizer curates their event to their liking. Some create Treasure Hunts, others Sports events. Some have multiple checkpoints from where ticket holders can redeem prizes; others check the ticket at one location to grant you access.

Events are listed on our Events page https://cardanobeam.app/events and in our Mobile app.

[IMPACT] How does your proposed solution address the challenge and what benefits will this bring to the Cardano ecosystem?

Cardano Beam is an innovation that helps the ecosystem reach its potential and helps improve the systems we use across the world for organizing and managing IRL events and for any application where rewarding for being at the right place at the right time is important. It will bring a sizable new user base to Cardano, as shown by the number of events successfully used over the last 12 months and the growing user base.

Cardano Beam is a new use case for the blockchain. It targets a specific area where blockchain can improve logistics and change how a part of the industry operates. The uptake of this innovation can attract a new and untapped user base to the Cardano ecosystem. Millions of small businesses worldwide are looking for an edge that allows them to reach customers in engaging, innovative ways. Therefore, a slight uptake of these use cases would increase the transaction volume on Cardano by a substantial amount.

It increases the number of products and integrations that offer new solutions for people to interact with and benefit from using Cardano.

The proposal directly addresses the challenge’s focus areas of “Creation or improvement of different products that provide value to the Cardano community and wider ecosystem.” by being a unique product on Cardano and other blockchains that creates GPS-enabled smart contracts with a ticket system for event managers.

It also offers Integrations with other existing services as has been used by several event organizers on Cardano and there are also several proposals in Catalyst Fund 10 that plan to use the Cardano Beam platform in their project:

• dSafari in Zambia - https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/106185
• Cardano GPS Adventures - https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/103120
• Cardano Cycling Tour - https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/103586

This shows the adoption and familiarity with the platform by the Cardano Community

This product is suitable for execution right now and the Cardano ecosystem has the right technical requirements. Smart contracts and the eUTXO model are very convenient for location-based events as guarantee 1 person per 1 UTXO - so queues can be managed effectively. A fiat on-ramp to bring non-crypto users has been implemented in Cardano Beam, making it accessible for the general public.

We received our funding from Catalyst Fund 8 and developed the platform to its current state over the second half of 2022 and the first half of 2023.

A list of events that used Cardano Beam since its roll-out in 2022 and 2023

• A bike ride from Lisbon to the Algarve in October 2022, where 6 participants completed a 220km journey and collected prizes along the way dropped by the community. Viewers saw live where the participants were at all times and dropped additional rewards for them to pick up

• An Easter egg hunt organized by Web3 User Group and Directed in April 2023 where tens of participants purchased an Easter ticket which then gave them access to easter egg prizes hidden in the real word https://twitter.com/Web3UserGroup/status/1642945517385646086 

• NY NFT conference where tickets were sold through Cardano Beam and users collected prizes at the location and around New York https://twitter.com/dynamic_io/status/1645111383686512642 

• GPS Adventure pass, organized by the Web3 User Group who organize IRL adventures https://www.jpg.store/collection/web3gpsadventure?tab=items 

• NFT Adventure Pass, a business created to run adventures on Cardano Beam https://www.xplore-nft.com. The adventure pass encourages outdoor activities and is geared toward tourists looking for a curated hiking route and have placed unique NFTs at the top of the 5 tallest mountains for participants to pick up https://twitter.com/xplore_nft/status/1647010552722358273 

• Finding Octo, an educational project and augmented education experience for the young ones where the completing online tasks is complemented with outdoor activities https://www.slfdrvn.io/findingocto 

• Yoga events were organized, and tickets sold for events in Lisbon through the Cardano Beam platform.

Prospective engagement

• In discussion with a large cycling event in the Netherlands with 1000s of participants to distribute prizes to participants with discounts to collaborating stores

• A carnival organizer in San Diego planning to user the app to sell tickets and distribute POAPs to participants. Over 300 news users are expected to use it during the event.

• Digital Safari in Zambia, a local entrepreneur in Zambia is organizing artists to create unique art pieces of wildlife and distribute them at GPS locations for a curated safari tour. This is done in collaboration with NMKR to support the minting of art pieces and Dynamic Strategies providing guidance on the ground.

• Chicago auto tour, a member of the local community of auto enthusiasts, is in touch to distribute minted assets from their community on Cardano Beam for members to collect.

• Dead Rabbit Society, a Cardano NFT community https://deadrabbits.io are in talks to organize a treasure hunt.

• Discussion with NMKR and Web3 User Group to bring Cardano to large German charities by demonstrating practical use cases of the blockchain through Cardano Beam.

• An influential member of the surfing movement on the West coast of Lisbon, Portugal is pushing for creating a surfing collection to be collected by holders of a particular surfboard at most iconic surfing spots in Portugal.

• The local municipality is exploring the possibility of creating a digital twin of its geocaching route by using Cardano beam as well as selling tickets to its farmer's market with our ticketing solution.

• A gaming company in Finland, focusing on Minecraft gaming is planning to extend the game to real-world locations. They have shown a preference for having multiple locations, but are very sensitive to the costs - we are investigating a possible use case for Hydra given the need for fast and cheap transactions and where there is tolerance for lower security guarantees. https://www.sog.gg/ 

In addition to events, the team has rolled out unique features that advanced the platform and the Cardano ecosystem

• A new ticketing solution was built where ownership of an NFT is verified in 5 steps by independently verifying the ownership of the NFT on chain and time bound with a short time interval by generating and scanning a QR code in the Cardano Beam app.

• An events marketplace that lets event organizers create an event and advertise it on the Cardano Beam website. Participants can buy a ticket to the event, which is delivered as an NFT to their Cardano Beam mobile app, which they use to gain physical access to the event and collect rewards at the location.

• Fiat on-ramp was built that allows non-crypto native users to participate in events by buying tickets with a credit card. This uses a cross-chain bridge (which the team also built) where payments made with a credit card are converted on-chain on the Polygon network, and the ticket is delivered on the Cardano network. Very few other projects on Cardano accept fiat payments which is necessary to drive adoption across non-crypto users.

We received positive feedback about the capabilities of our technology and how it helps to solve real-world problems. Decision-makers from most walks of life understand its use cases. The platform was featured in the Portugues business journal as the up-and-coming start-up solving real-world problems https://www.jornaldenegocios.pt/negocios-em-rede/detalhe/queremos-atrair-fixar-e-desenvolver-talento-em-cascais

[IMPACT] How do you intend to measure the success of your project?

Cardano Beam is a new solution for people to interact with and benefit from using Cardano.

We expect to Increase the number of users and events hosted on the Cardano Beam app. We are looking for a 5 to 10x growth in active users and several events hosted on the platform at the end of the project. And significantly more in the long term.

Because Cardano Beam supports Credit Card payments, it creates a seamless onboarding for non-crypto users into the Cardano Ecosystem. During onboarding, each user receives a Cardano Wallet that they can use to interact with other apps in the Cardano ecosystem.

App statistics to date and target on project completion

• Increase the number of live Events from 7 to 30+
• Increase the number of Mobile app users from 300 to 1,000+
• Increase the number of New Cardano Wallets from 300 to 1,000+
• Increase the number of GPS locations from 387 to 1,500+
• Increase the number of Assets locked from 700 to 3,000+

[IMPACT] Please describe your plans to share the outputs and results of your project?

The project will result in new features built for the app. This will be visible through the apps:

• Webpage https://cardanobeam.app
• Web-app https://cardanobeam.app/web 
• Android and Apple iOS apps

Projects will be shared on the platform’s Twitter and Discord channel:

• https://twitter.com/cardanobeam
• https://discord.gg/nxXqkEJjwg  

Video tutorials will be created for the new features and added to our youtube channel:

 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ3ih4vRMdMUU71THE4-3bg 

Additionally, we will monitor the following KPIs and report back to the community through the monthly progress reports

Build KPIs

• Number of weekly commits
• Total lines of code for web app, phone app, smart contracts

User engagement KPI

• Number of new wallets created
• Number of transactions
• Number of contract interactions
• Number of phone app downloads
• Number of average daily visitors to web app

Stability KPIs

• Average CPU and RAM utilization on server
• Peak CPU and RAM utilization on server
• Total % server downtime

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability?

The Cardano Beam platform has been operational since the end of 2022 and has been trusted by over 200 users and 10+ event organizers to run their events.

The go-live of the platform was called out in the October 2022 edition of Cardano 360:

https://youtu.be/hZRwLWKNNfQ?t=170

IOG featured it in its series on Marlowe smart contract language showing how it could be used for innovative use cases:

https://youtu.be/9bLINVNJPg4

The team has already delivered 2 out of their 3 previously funded catalyst projects, with the third one progressing at pace.

The same team will be implementing the enhancements in this proposal.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What are the main goals for the project and how will you validate if your approach is feasible?

The project’s goal is to grow the user base for the Cardano Beam app and onboard new users to Cardano. We will simplify the UI and create a user experience familiar to the mass market.

During the first part of the project, to improve the UX and UI, we will work closely with the existing users and event organizers and run focus sessions to test new ideas before releasing them to production.

During the second part of growing the user base we will use the following indicators to validate growth:

• User base & New Cardano wallets
• Number of events running the platform
• Number of GPS locations with smart contracts
• Number of assets locked at GPS locations
• Number of transactions

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed breakdown of your project’s milestones and each of the main tasks or activities to reach the milestone plus the expected timeline for the delivery.

There will be 6 milestones over 11 months. Each milestone is expected to take approximately 2 months to complete

Milestone 1: UX/UI

A new layout for the Web app and the Mobile apps, including colour schemes and a first pass on the changes to the screens for improved UX. This work will be done primarily by the designer and the Web2/Web3 developer. A focus group of users will conduct tests; feedback will be collected and incorporated into the design.

Activities:

• Design wireframe for colour pallet for new design;
• Focus groups with existing users and event organizers;
• Implement changes to the Web app and Mobile apps and release to testnet;
• A trial event and collate feedback from test users;
• Incorporate user feedback and release to Production.

Expected time to completion: 2 months

Resources: 

• One designer 40h per week for 8 weeks;
• One developer 40h per week for 8 weeks.

Milestone 2: Business Development

A slide deck will be prepared, approx 10 slides highlighting Cardano Beam’s capabilities and how it brings value add to different type of businesses. Organize a pilot 90-minute training session on the basics of blockchains for the local business community in Portugal and showcase what Cardano Beam can do for them at the end. Follow up on existing business leads and schedule a trial

Activities:

• Prepare a slide deck with potential use cases and how local businesses can benefit from using Cardano Beam;
• Record an educational session on Youtube on Web3 and showcase how Cardano Beam can be used;
• Schedule 5 live discussions with businesses to pitch how Cardano Beam can help them with their commercial objectives;
• A Cardano Beam stand at the Web Summit in Nov 2023. Discussions with the event organizers have been held. This is an annual web conference in Lisbon, Portugal showcasing promising projects and a great opportunity to connect with businesses.

Expected time to completion: 2 months

Resources:

• One senior business developer at 40h per week for 8 weeks
• One junior business developer at 40h per week for 8 weeks

Milestone 3: Ticket Validation Feature

Consumable tickets for physical events. An event organizer should have the option to make their event ticket to be consumed when scanned at the event, to ensure that the ticket can only be used once. For this, the ticket metadata will be extended to include a new field in the NFT 721 standard to specify if an NFT is consumable or a record will be made in the central database if the ticket is consumable. Create a table in the centralized database to track which tickets have been consumed. The throughput needs to be very fast to accommodate use cases where hundreds of people are validating their tickets per minute; therefore, at this stage, this will be recorded in a centralized database with the possibility to migrate to a scaling solution on Cardano once it matures (e.g. Hydra). The new ticketing functionality will be tested on the testnet before releasing to production.

Activities:

• Extend ticket record in db, or metadata to indicate if a ticket is consumable, by default tickets are not consumable.
• Create a table in centralized DB to track if an NFT has been presented at an event
• Test functionality on testnet
• Release to production

Expected time to completion: 2 months

Resources:

• One developer 40h per week for 8 weeks
• One designer 2h per week for 8 weeks

Milestone 4: Snap & Mint Feature

A new screen in the Cardano Beam mobile app that exposes the camera and lets users take a picture with their device. Upload images taken from the mobile app onto IPFS and mint it as an NFT. The mobile app users can lock assets from their wallet in a smart contract at GPS location. This will allow users to take a picture on their device and lock it as an NFT at their location for others to redeem.

Activities:

• Create a mobile screen to take picture;
• Upload image to IPFS;
• Mint an NFT using cardano-serialization-lib;
• Generate smart contract for GPS location;
• Lock the minted NFT in the smart contract.

Expected time to completion: 2 months

Resources:

• One developer 40h per week for 8 weeks;
• One designer 10h per week for 8 weeks.

Milestone 5: Proof of Presence

The proof of presence hardware device is attached to an NFT on the Cardano blockchain. Pressing the button indicates the location of the owner of a particular NFT. We will mount a Helium hotspot which will be used to test transactions from the Proof-of-Presence hardware device. A working Helium hotspot. A test transaction is sent successfully from the hardware device to the HNT network. A Cardano Beam backend service monitors transactions on the HNT network and successfully picks up the transaction sent by the hardware device with the location from where the transaction is sent. This will be extended to the World Mobile Network on Cardano when it launches globally. 

Activities:

• Mount HNT hotspot;
• Send a transaction from the devices to the mounted HNT hotspot;
• Create a daemon running on Cardano Beam server monitoring transactions;
• Adjust the Cardano Beam Mobile app to prompt users to confirm their location with the hardware device;
• Validate user location.

Expected time to completion: 2 months

Resources:

• One developer 40h per week for 8 weeks;
• One hardware technician 10h per week for 8 weeks.

Milestone 6: Release full feature set

The last month will monitor the platform and make final improvements. At this stage, monthly business development cycles will bring additional event organizers and, as a result, require more from the team to focus on supporting new clients. The platform will have been released with a handful of new features, which may cause conflict between the features and unintended behaviour. This will be addressed. The platform documentation will be updated, new video tutorials recorded, and the smart contract factory open-sourced.

Activity:

• Release new features to production;
• Fix any bugs;
• Update documentation and video tutorials;
• Open-source smart contract factory;
• Follow up on business leads.

Expected time to completion: 1 month

Resources:

• One developer 40h per week for 4 weeks;
• One senior business developer 40h per week for 4 weeks.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please describe the deliverables, outputs and intended outcomes of each milestone.

Milestone 1: UX/UI

Deliverables: A professionally designed UI in line with modern trends and an improved UX for the Cardano Beam Web and Mobile apps

Outputs: A simplified and intuitive feel for the platform

Intended Outcomes: Increased adoption by non-crypto users and the business community

Milestone 2: Business Development

Deliverables: A slide deck will be prepared, approx 10 slides highlighting Cardano Beam’s capabilities and how it brings added value to different types of businesses.

Outputs: Release an education session on Youtube showcasing how Cardano Beam can be used

Intended Outcomes: Interest from at least 5 businesses to discuss how Cardano Beam can benefit their commercial targets.

Milestone 3: Ticket Validation Feature

Deliverables: Enhancement to the Cardano Beam platform that allows event organizers to scan tickets and the tickets to be consumed once scanned. Currently, the ticket does not get consumed and, therefore, can be used more than once.

Outputs: A new feature that lets tickets be consumed once scanned. 

Intended Outcomes: Use of Cardano Beam to control entry to gated events.

Milestone 4: Snap & Mint Feature 

Deliverables: A new Cardano Beam mobile app screen that exposes the camera and lets users take pictures with their device. The picture is turned into an NFT and can be placed at the GPS location from the mobile device.

Outputs: A new feature lets users take a picture and lock it in a smart contract at their current location.

Intended Outcomes: Users take photos of memorable events and place them at the location for others to view and then go there to collect them (e.g a spectacular sunset, northern lights, championship goal …)

Milestone 5: Proof of Presence

Deliverables: A proof of presence hardware device is attached to an NFT on the Cardano blockchain. Pressing the button indicates the location of the owner of a particular NFT.

Outputs: Integrate the device with Cardano Beam mobile app and prompt the user to use the device to validate their location for high-value transactions

Intended Outcomes: Use for high-value transactions where physical presence needs to be guaranteed. Limit GPS-spoofing

Milestone 6: Release full feature set

Deliverables: Release all features to production and monitor for user feedback and bugs. Update documentation and tutorials

Outputs: Updated documentation and tutorials

Intended Outcomes: Fully functional new features on the mainnet

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

The budget is estimated based on 40 hours per week and 4 weeks per month.

Milestone 1: UX/UI (2 months)

• 1 Developer for 40h per week for 8 weeks @ $50/h
• 1 Designer for 40h per week for 8 weeks @ $30/h

Total $28,800

Milestone 2: Business Development (2 months)

• 1 Senior Business Developer for 40h per week for 8 weeks @ $40/h
• 1 Junior Business Developer for 40h per week for 8 weeks @ $20/h

Total $21,600

Milestone 3: Ticket Validation Feature (2 months)

• 1 Developer for 40h per week for 8 weeks @ $50/h
• 1 Designer for 2h per week for 8 weeks @ $30/h

Total $16,480

Milestone 4: Snap & Mint Feature (2 months)

• 1 Developer for 40h per week for 8 weeks @ $50/h
• 1 Designer for 10h per week for 8 weeks @ $30/h

Total $20,400

Milestone 5: Proof of Presence (2 months)

• 1 Developer for 40h per week for 8 weeks @ $50/h
• 1 Hardware technician for 10h per week for 8 weeks @ $40/h

Total $21,200

Milestone 6: Release full feature set (1 month)

• 1 Developer for 40h per week for 8 weeks @ $50/h
• 1 Senior Business Developer for 40h per week for 8 weeks @ $40/h

Total $24,400

Hardware costs:

• HNT hotspot: $1,500
• Proof-of-presence device: $60
• 
  

The total budget $134,440

At a price of 0.3 ADA per USD

Total budget in ADA: 448,133

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

The project will onboard new businesses and users into Cardano. Every new use of the platform gets a Cardano wallet that they can use with other Cardano apps.

Cardano Beam is a unique “value transfer system” for placing Cardano Assets at GPS locations and having people pick them up. Nothing like this exists today, and this is a potentially revolutionary blockchain application.

Similarly, there is currently isn't a ticketing solution on Cardano that lets event organizers sell tickets to end users using a credit card and then track their attendance and give rewards for showing up. Cardano Beam is unique to Cardano and to Web3 as a whole - no similar solution exists on other blockchains.

This is an enhancement to Cardano Beam, which already has more than 200 users, with over 300 locations with smart contracts and well over 500 transactions. The proposal is to make improvement to the platform and take it to the business community for wider adoption.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agreed to Fund10 rules and also that data in the Submission Form and other data provided by the project team during the course of the project will be publicly available.

I Accept