AXESS BIG IN CHINA – High-tech access to the Shanghai Museum

Technological progress in China does not stop at museums. Axess cooperated with the Shanghai Museum to install one of the most advanced access systems in the world. The contactless, future-proof system was developed especially for the Chinese market.

Part of the “Big 8” in China

The Shanghai Museum is one of the "eight famous museums" in China and is located in the most developed megacity in the country. As a hub for technology that demands the highest standards in the IT industry, Shanghai welcomes progress with open arms. In search of a future-proof access system, the Shanghai Museum team contacted Axess. "We had weekly meetings with the team, where we discussed the current status and were able to share our ticketing expertise directly with them. It was an interesting task, because the visitor flows in the museum are enormous and the pressure to deliver is high," says Xiaochen Zhai from Axess (Beijing) Technology Co., LTD.

Custom Fit Solution

The new access system was to be tailored to the Chinese market, which is very different from Europe or North America. Almost everything that has to do with ticketing is controlled via smartphone in China. "Our HQ in Austria developed a new Dual QR-CODE Reader Module with integrated ID Card Reader for this project. Eight people worked on site to implement the museum's special requirements," Xiaochen Zhai continues. From now on, it’s possible for Chinese guests to:

Enter the museum with their Chinese Resident ID after making an online reservation
Leave the museum and return without a ticket scan thanks to a facial recognition system (prevents ticket fraud)
Print a single QR code for the whole group (the gate will open automatically for the corresponding number of guests)

Online-Only Approach

This reduces the use of paper to a minimum. "Online-only" has been on the rise in China since 2016 and was further accelerated by the pandemic. For this project, the integration of existing IT was particularly challenging and important. "Nevertheless, we managed to ensure flawless contactless operation in just a few months and in time for the 'golden week' in October 2020," says Xiaochen Zhai.

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