Layar Mobile Augmented Reality Browser

Layar is a free application on your mobile phone which shows what is around you by displaying real time digital information on top of reality through the camera of your mobile phone.

Layar is available for the T-Mobile G1, HTC Magic and other Android phones in all Android Markets. It comes pre-installed on the Samsung Galaxy in the Netherlands.



How do you use Layar?

By holding the phone in front of you like a camera, information is displayed on top of the camera display view.

For all points of interest which are displayed on the screen, information is shown at the bottom of the screen.

What do you see in the screen?

On top of the camera image (displaying reality) Layar adds content layers. Layers are the equivalent of webpages in normal browsers. Just like there are thousands of websites there will be thousands of layers. One can easily switch between layers by selecting another via the menu button, pressing the logobar or by swiping your finger across the screen.

The Layar Content Catalog includes the following categories:

• Real estate
• Health care
• Transportation
• Tourism: Places to stay
• Tourism / Tours / Guides
• Leisure and entertainment
• Games
• Weather
• Retail
• University / Schools
• Local search & Directory service
• Social networks & communities

What does it take to make a layer

A layer consists of three parts: The layer definition, the list of POIs (Points of Interest) and each individual POI.

The layer definitions are created on the Layar Provisioning website and stored in the Layar database. The web interface will allow developers to set all the attributes that make the look & feel of the layer. It will also allow the developer to manage the publishing process of a layer. Once published, the end-user will be able to view the new layer in the Layer Gallery inside the app.

In summary, a layer developer needs to create a layer definition via the Layer Provisioning Website and expose a web service (REST) that can be called by the Layar Server using the Layar API and optionally expose (made-for-mobile) web pages for further action on each POI.

Augmented Reality Games on Phones

Augmented Reality is going to be coming to your Android phone or iPhone 3GS very shortly. All it takes is a decent processor, a camera, a compass and a GPS. These features enable fun games and useful geo-oriented applications.

The Augmented Environments Lab at Georgia Tech investigating the design and implementation of augmented- and mixed-reality experiences. Their new AR game is called ARhrrrr.



ARhrrrr is an augmented reality shooter for mobile camera-phones. The phone provides a window into a 3D town overrun with zombies. Point the camera at our special game map to mix virtual and real world content. Civilians are trapped in the town, and must escape before the zombies eat them! From your vantage point in a helicopter overhead, you must shoot the zombies to clear the path for the civilians to get out. You can also use Skittles as tangible inputs to the game, placing one on the board and shooting it to trigger an explosion.

This fast-action first-person augmented reality, where the camera controls and movement that would typically require a mouse and keyboard are handled directly by simply moving the device. Advanced tracking technology allows the player to quickly zoom in and out and view the world at steep angles, making this a highly interactive and engaging game.

ARhrrr! was designed for the Nvidia Tegra but similar games and applications will become widely available for the iPhone 3GS and Android phones soon. The virtual world and real world are merging into the Metaverse.

Rovio Wi-Fi Home Security Robot

Ever wanted to be in two places at once? Now you can.

WowWee Rovio Wi-Fi Enabled WebCam Robot is a groundbreaking new Wi-Fi enabled mobile webcam that lets you view and interact with its environment through streaming video and audio, wherever you are! It is a new challenger of the remote control Spykee bot that you have seen on my blog earlier.



The Rovio has an impressive list of features that makes it useful as a home security robot, telepresence device or a just for fun toy gadget:

• Easily remote control from any web-enabled device: PC or Mac, cell phone, smartphone, PDA or even your video game console.


• Head-mounted moveable camera and wide range of vision


• Indoor GPS


• MPEG4 video


• Self-docking capabilities for auto recharge


• Built-in LED headlight


• Wi-Fi connectivity (802.11b and 802.11g)

The Internet of Things is happening as innovations like remote control wifi robots are becoming connected devices. Roveo is a pioneer and it could probably be improved but it shows the possibilities and is fun to play with.

Mobile Broadband Usage Statistics by Nielsen

The mobile consumer spends $350B each year on connectivity, devices, and content.
Nielsen Mobile provides syndicated consumer research to the mobile media markets.

The latest Nielsen Mobile Insight Research Reports feature interesting topics such as

• iPhone 3G and Smartphone Statistics
• U.S. Mobile Advertising Market
• Entertainment Drives Mobile Internet Growth in BRIC Countries
• Mobile Gaming Statistics
• Increased Availability of GPS on Mobile Phones Drives Consumption of Navigation and other Location-Based Services
• Mobile Video Popularity Reaching New Heights with Triple-Digit Growth in Revenues and Subscribers
• Mobile Audio Media Study
• Critical Mass - The Worldwide State of the Mobile Web

Check out Nielsen Mobile's other Research Findings here.

Earthmine is Indexing Reality into 3D Maps

Earthmine is a street-level, 3D mapping company that is focused on indexing reality. Their geospatial data mine of urban environments is an order of magnitude more detailed and accurate than anything before. Earthmine's new kind of map is a geospatially accurate model of the world that is accessed through an intuitive panoramic interface.

Google Maps Street View and Everyscape offers similar immersive visual experience. However every pixel in each high quality Earthmine image has highly accurate latitude, longitude and elevation data. This provides a unique three-dimensional context to existing spatial data not offered by others.

Check out this amazing Earthmine demo video:



Earthmine has vehicles with a calibrated camera array, collecting highly accurate and detailed data at the street level using technology licensed from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This data is processed into a form that is deliverable over the internet as a subscription service to their customer base. Their highly scalable data collection and processing technology is highly scalable allows entire municipalities to be captured in weeks.

Earthmine will offer the first street-level geospatial platform for urban environments in early 2008. Their framework includes

• a pre-collected base data layer of 3D panoramic images tagged with 3D location data
• a set of web-based professional tools to gather, analyze and visualize street-level location-based information

This geo-spatial framework will integrate into any web application, act as the foundation for layers of geo-tagged meta-data, and connect with existing systems and applications.

Can GPS enabled phones deliver?

Google Maps looks stunning in this Apple iPhone Guided Tour Video. However there is no built-in GPS in iPhone. Why?

The Nokia N95 and the Blackberry 8800 Series have embedded GPS support but reviews are saying that they cannot deliver reliable positioning just yet.

Is seems that GPS enabled phones are not up to the challenge of replacing standalone GPS navigation devices. There’s no need to throw away your Garmin or Magellan just yet. If you are looking for a phone with built-in GPS that delivers reliable positioning you might need to wait a bit longer.