Venue-specific wi-fi connectivity notifications

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a backend computing device, a connection request from an access point located at a venue, the connection request comprising a user identifier corresponding to a user device requesting a wireless connection to a network through the access point;

validating, by the backend computing device, the user identifier;

when the user identifier is valid, transmitting a connection authorization command from the backend computing device to the access point, the connection authorization command permitting the access point to connect the user device to the network;

determining, by the backend computing device, whether the user device establishes a wireless connection with the access point; and

in response to the user device establishing the wireless connection with the access point, transmitting a venue-specific notification from the backend computing device to the user device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the venue-specific notification is the first notification received by the user device from the backend computing device.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving the connection request, at the backend computing device, from the user device through the access point when the user device is within a wireless coverage area of the access point.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising, after receiving the connection request from the user device, identifying, at the backend computing device, that the user device is located within a wireless coverage area of the access point.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, at the backend computing device, a registration request from the user device; and

in response to the registration request:

generating a user record comprising the user identifier;

storing the user record in non-transitory memory in communication with the backend computing device; and

transmitting the user identifier from the backend computing device to the user device.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the user record comprises a media access control address associated with the user device.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the user record comprises application information associated with one or more applications executing on the user device.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

retrieving, using the backend computing device, venue-specific information from non-transitory memory in communication with the backend computing device using an access point identifier included in the connection request, the venue-specific information related to the venue; and

generating the venue-specific notification based upon the retrieved venue-specific information.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising, after retrieving the venue-specific information, determining, by the backend computing device, that the venue-specific information comprises a venue application identifier; and

in response to the venue application identifier:

querying a user record stored in the non-transitory memory to determine if the user record comprises the venue application identifier associated with the venue; and

generating the venue-specific notification based upon the retrieved venue-specific information comprising the venue application identifier when the user record comprises the venue application identifier.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

retrieving, using the backend computing device, application information from non-transitory memory in communication with the backend computing device using the user identifier included in the connection request, the application information related to one or more applications executing on the user device and initiating the connection request; and

generating the venue-specific notification based upon the retrieved application information.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying, at the backend computing device, when the user device connects to the network; and

in response to identifying when the user device connects to the network, transmitting the venue-specific notification as a push notification to the user device.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, at the backend computing device, a notification request from the user device to fetch any pending venue-specific notifications available for the user device, the user device executing one or more applications initiating the notification request when the user device connects to the network; and

in response to the notification request:

retrieving the venue-specific notification from non-transitory memory in communication with the backend computing device; and

transmitting the venue-specific notification from the backend computing device to the user device.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

publishing, using the backend computing device, the venue-specific notification for the user device to look-up when the user device connects to the network;

receiving, at the backend computing device, a notification request from the user device to get the published venue-specific notification, the user device executing one or more applications initiating the notification request when the user device connects to the network; and

in response to the notification request:

retrieving the published venue-specific notification from non-transitory memory in communication with the backend computing device; and

transmitting the venue-specific notification from the backend computing device to the user device.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the venue-specific notification transmitted from the backend computing device prompts an application executing on the user device to render the venue-specific notification for display upon a graphical user interface executing on the user device, the venue-specific notification indicating to a user that the user device has connected to the network.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the venue-specific notification displayed upon the graphical user interface prompts the user to initiate at least one of the following actions:

open a uniform resource locator associated with the venue;

open a venue-specific application associated with the venue executing on the user device;

dismiss the venue-specific notification;

expand the venue-specific notification; or

initiate an explicit intent of the venue-specific application when the venue-specific application is executing on the user device.

16. A system comprising:

data processing hardware; and

memory hardware in communication with the data processing hardware, the memory hardware storing instructions that when executed on the data processing hardware cause the data processing hardware to perform operations comprising:

receiving a connection request from an access point located at a venue, the connection request comprising a user identifier corresponding to a user device requesting a wireless connection to a network through the access point;

validating the user identifier;

when the user identifier is valid, transmitting a connection authorization command to the access point, the connection authorization command permitting the access point to connect the user device to the network; and

determining whether the user device establishes a wireless connection with the access point; and

in response to the user device establishing the wireless connection with the access point, transmitting a venue-specific notification to the user device.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the venue-specific notification is the first notification received by the user device from the data processing hardware.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise receiving the connection request from the user device through the access point when the user device is within a wireless coverage area of the access point.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the operations further comprise, after receiving the connection request from the user device, identifying that the user device is located within a wireless coverage area of the access point.

20. The system of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a registration request from the user device; and

in response to the registration request:

generating a user record comprising the user identifier;

storing the user record in the memory hardware; and

transmitting the user identifier to the user device.

21. The system of claim 20 , wherein the user record comprises a media access control address associated with the user device.

22. The system of claim 21 , wherein the user record comprises application information associated with one or more applications executing on the user device and initiating the registration request.

23. The system of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise:

retrieving venue-specific information from the memory hardware using an access point identifier included in the connection request, the venue-specific information related to the venue; and

generating the venue-specific notification based upon the retrieved venue-specific information.

24. The system of claim 23 , wherein the operations further comprise, after retrieving the venue-specific information, determining that the venue-specific information comprises a venue application identifier; and

in response to the venue application identifier:

querying a user record stored in the memory hardware to determine if the user record comprises the venue application identifier associated with the venue; and

generating the venue-specific notification based upon the retrieved venue-specific information comprising the venue application identifier when the user record comprises the venue application identifier.

25. The system of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise:

retrieving application information from the memory hardware using the user identifier included in the connection request, the application information related to one or more applications executing on the user device and initiating the connection request; and

generating the venue-specific notification based upon the retrieved application information.

26. The system of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise:

identifying when the user device connects to the network; and

in response to identifying when the user device connects to the network, transmitting the venue-specific notification as a push notification to the user device.

27. The system of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a notification request from the user device to fetch any pending venue-specific notifications available for the user device, the user device executing one or more applications initiating the notification request when the user device connects to the network; and

in response to the notification request:

retrieving the venue-specific notification from the memory hardware; and

transmitting the venue-specific notification to the user device.

28. The system of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise:

publishing the venue-specific notification for the user device to look-up when the user device connects to the network;

receiving a notification request from the user device to get the published venue-specific notification, the user device executing one or more applications initiating the notification request when the user device connects to the network; and

in response to the notification request:

retrieving the published venue-specific notification from the memory hardware; and

transmitting the venue-specific notification to the user device.

29. The system of claim 16 , wherein the transmitted venue-specific notification prompts an application executing on the user device to render the venue-specific notification for display upon a graphical user interface executing on the user device, the venue-specific notification indicating to a user that the user device has connected to the network.

30. The system of claim 29 , wherein the venue-specific notification displayed upon the graphical user interface prompts the user to initiate at least one of the following actions:

open a uniform resource locator associated with the venue;

open a venue-specific application associated with the venue executing on the user device;

dismiss the venue-specific notification;

expand the venue-specific notification; or

initiate an explicit intent of the venue-specific application when the venue-specific application is executing on the user device.