This is a key distinction from, say, GPS coordinates: Beacons aren't about sending location coordinates but about self-identifying. It's up to you what your app does once it knows you're near a specific beacon. You decide the context you assign to that beacon.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/2608498/mobile-apps/what-you-need-to-know-about-using-bluetooth-beacons.html
What is a beacon? It’s like a lighthouse: it repeatedly transmits a single signal that other devices can see. Instead of emitting visible light though, it broadcasts a radio signal that’s made up of a combination of letters and numbers transmitted on a regular interval of approximately 1/10th of a second.
https://kontakt.io/beacon-basics/what-is-a-beacon/
What are iBeacons? The term iBeacon and Beacon are often used interchangeably. iBeacon is the name for Apple’s technology standard, which allows Mobile Apps (running on both iOS and Android devices) to listen for signals from beacons in the physical world and react accordingly.
http://www.ibeacon.com/what-is-ibeacon-a-guide-to-beacons/
Bluetooth Low Energy, the IoT technology. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is a key building block for the IoT, thanks to its pervasiveness (mobile devices support Bluetooth 4.0), low-power consumption and protocol optimization for low-rate transmission.
http://www.blueupbeacons.com/
What is iBeacon? The term iBeacon and Beacon are often used interchangeably. iBeacon is the name for Apple’s technology standard, which allows Mobile Apps (running on both iOS and Android devices) to listen for signals from beacons in the physical world and react accordingly.
http://www.ibeacon.com/what-is-ibeacon-a-guide-to-beacons/
A Guide to Beacons. The term iBeacon and Beacon are often used interchangeably. iBeacon is the name for Apple’s technology standard, which allows Mobile Apps (running on both iOS and Android devices) to listen for signals from beacons in the physical world and react accordingly.
http://www.ibeacon.com/what-is-ibeacon-a-guide-to-beacons/
Your Galaxy S5 may use a beacon in your car to know it's your vehicle and send an unlock signal to it. Your Nexus 5 may use a beacon to determine what section of a grocery store you're in and see if anything on your shopping list is in that area, so you don't forget it. You can get similar information from GPS, but only in areas that have a clear view of the sky to receive satellite signals.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/2608498/mobile-apps/what-you-need-to-know-about-using-bluetooth-beacons.html
2015 will be the year of the beacon, as companies of all sorts begin deploying these Bluetooth nodes that (at a mininum) tell a smartphone precisely where it is so that an app can act on the specific location.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/2608498/mobile-apps/what-you-need-to-know-about-using-bluetooth-beacons.html
The iPhone or iPad does the heavy lifting. iOS tracks the beacons it encounters and queries Apple's UUID database to see what apps the beacon is associated to, then alerts the app (if installed on the iPhone or iPad) that a relevant beacon has been found.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/2608498/mobile-apps/what-you-need-to-know-about-using-bluetooth-beacons.html
A beacon is a small Bluetooth radio transmitter. It’s like a lighthouse: it repeatedly transmits a single signal that other devices can see. Instead of emitting visible light though, it broadcasts a radio signal that’s made up of a combination of letters and numbers transmitted on a regular interval of approximately 1/10th of a second.
https://kontakt.io/beacon-basics/what-is-a-beacon/
what is a bluetooth beacon
A beacon is a small Bluetooth radio transmitter.