When considering the small amount of information a data sensor/beacon is designed to transmit, it makes sense to shift the responsibility of the application to the device. The digital interface (phone/tablet/glasses/etc) assimilates data from the environment (beacons/phones/bluetooth/etc), processes the data, and delivers a digital interface that can augment real-life experience.

Google is getting out in front of this conversation with The Physical Web Project. Google is well positioned to shape the future around mobile, just-in-time interfaces. Interacting with your environment in real-time requires a different way of thinking about data transmission and application management and delivery. I support the effort to share the work in an open way.

And, a quote I enjoyed:

These examples are about little bits of data and very simple interactivity. Sometimes it's the tiny ideas that can change the world.