Editing Barcode (section)

==Use==
[[File:Snack vendor on the Shinkansen. 2005 (26321781190).jpg|thumb|right|Snack vendor on the [[Shinkansen]] train scans a barcode.]]
[[File:EAN-13-ISBN-13.svg|thumb|right|[[International Article Number (EAN)|EAN-13 ISBN barcode]]]]
[[File:LB2-ADULT-L3 Assembled.jpg|thumb|right|Barcode on a patient identification wristband]]
[[File:Barcodedmail.JPG|thumb|right|Barcoded parcel]]

Barcodes are widely used around the world in many contexts. In stores, UPC barcodes are pre-printed on most items other than fresh produce from a grocery store. This speeds up processing at check-outs and helps track items and also reduces instances of shoplifting involving price tag swapping, although shoplifters can now print their own barcodes.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://iwatchsystems.com/technical/2011/05/02/barcode/ |title=Barcode |website=iWatch Systems |date=2 May 2011 |access-date=28 November 2011 |archive-date=9 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120109011439/http://iwatchsystems.com/technical/2011/05/02/barcode/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Barcodes that encode a book's [[International Standard Book Number|ISBN]] are also widely pre-printed on books, journals and other printed materials. In addition, retail chain membership cards use barcodes to identify customers, allowing for customized marketing and greater understanding of individual consumer shopping patterns. At the point of sale, shoppers can get product discounts or special marketing offers through the address or e-mail address provided at registration.

Barcodes are widely [[Barcode technology in healthcare|used in healthcare and hospital settings]], ranging from patient identification (to access patient data, including medical history, drug allergies, etc.) to creating [[SOAP note]]s<ref>{{cite web|last=Oberfield|first=Craig|title=QNotes Barcode System|url=http://www.qnotes.com/quix/|work=US Patented #5296688|publisher=Quick Notes Inc.|access-date=15 December 2012|archive-date=31 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121231170857/http://qnotes.com/quix/|url-status=live}}</ref> with barcodes to medication management. They are also used to facilitate the separation and indexing of documents that have been imaged in batch scanning applications, track the organization of species in biology,<ref>National Geographic, May 2010, page 30</ref> and integrate with in-motion [[checkweigher]]s to identify the item being weighed in a conveyor line for data collection.

They can also be used to keep track of objects and people; they are used to keep track of rental cars, airline luggage, nuclear waste, express mail, and parcels. Barcoded tickets (which may be printed by the customer on their home printer, or stored on their mobile device) allow the holder to enter sports arenas, cinemas, theatres, fairgrounds, and transportation, and are used to record the arrival and departure of vehicles from rental facilities etc. This can allow proprietors to identify duplicate or fraudulent tickets more easily. Barcodes are widely used in shop floor control applications software where employees can scan work orders and track the time spent on a job.

Barcodes are also used in some kinds of non-contact 1D and 2D [[position sensor]]s. A series of barcodes are used in some kinds of absolute 1D [[linear encoder]]. The barcodes are packed close enough together that the reader always has one or two barcodes in its field of view. As a kind of [[fiducial marker]], the relative position of the barcode in the field of view of the reader gives incremental precise positioning, in some cases with [[sub-pixel resolution]]. The data decoded from the barcode gives the absolute coarse position. An "address carpet", used in [[digital paper]], such as Howell's binary pattern and the [[Anoto]] dot pattern, is a 2D barcode designed so that a reader, even though only a tiny portion of the complete carpet is in the field of view of the reader, can find its absolute X, Y position and rotation in the carpet.<ref>{{cite journal |first=David L. |last=Hecht |url=http://jupiter.plymouth.edu/~wjt/HCI/ui2.pdf |title=Printed Embedded Data Graphical User Interfaces |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603223227/http://turing.plymouth.edu/~wjt/HCI/ui2.pdf |archive-date=3 June 2013| publisher=Xerox Palo Alto Research Center |journal=[[IEEE Computer]] |date=March 2001|volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=47–55 |doi=10.1109/2.910893 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first1=Jon |last1=Howell |first2=Keith |last2=Kotay |url=http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/reports/abstracts/TR2000-364/ |title=Landmarks for absolute localization |website=Dartmouth Computer Science Technical Report TR2000-364 |date=March 2000
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001131924/http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/reports/TR2000-364.pdf
|archive-date=2020-10-01
}}</ref>

Matrix codes can embed a [[hyperlink]] to a web page. A mobile device with a built-in camera might be used to read the pattern and browse the linked website, which can help a shopper find the best price for an item in the vicinity. Since 2005, airlines use an IATA-standard 2D barcode on boarding passes ([[Bar Coded Boarding Pass|Bar Coded Boarding Pass (BCBP)]]), and since 2008 2D barcodes sent to mobile phones enable electronic boarding passes.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iata.org/ |title=IATA.org |publisher=IATA.org |date=21 November 2011 |access-date=28 November 2011 |archive-date=4 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120104081606/http://www1.iata.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Some applications for barcodes have fallen out of use. In the 1970s and 1980s, software source code was occasionally encoded in a barcode and printed on paper ([[Cauzin Softstrip]] and Paperbyte<ref>{{cite news |url=http://primepuzzle.com/waduzitdo/waduzitdo.html |title=Paperbyte Bar Codes for Waduzitdo |work=[[Byte (magazine)|Byte magazine]] |date=September 1978 |page=172 |access-date=6 February 2009 |archive-date=4 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170704113826/http://primepuzzle.com/waduzitdo/waduzitdo.html |url-status=live }}</ref> are barcode symbologies specifically designed for this application), and the 1991 ''[[Barcode Battler]]'' computer game system used any standard barcode to generate combat statistics.

Artists have used barcodes in art, such as [[Scott Blake]]'s Barcode Jesus, as part of the [[post-modernism]] movement.