Comments on: Layar: Augmented Reality Browser For Android

By: Quasim

Quasim — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:58:48 +0000

Well Wikitude has open subscription – so quality of whats there may plumet but “aunt bessiess favourit picnic spot” may well be available to the world should they point a picture at it. They have an undertaking on thier site to a creative commons type content ownership.

Layer however takes corporate feeds so aunt bessies picnic spot “ABPS” might be labeled “Real estate available for sale from British land consortium, contact… ”

Three considerations

User costs…
Its adictive to post to wikitude and both it and Layer could potentially cost you a fortune in data charges both uploading and downloading.

Data maintenance
In twenty five years time what happens when “ABPS” has become world bank HQ, iconic victim of subsidance due to global warming and then a municipal bike park?

Social
If you can interface these AR services with facebook-bebo-blogger-twitter – flickr – myspace -wertago -gmob365 – locle etc ( or supplant them) will they be a killer app or an invasion of privacy, a free social marketing tool or potential business wrecker if you give bad service – Could a dominant consortium lobby to become a public utility ? IN UK will BBC take a share in move to gently preserve “public order and decorum”?

By: nebben

nebben — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 17:55:38 +0000

Awesome technology. Layar can definitely help businesses make money. http://bit.ly/WR3SE

By: Nik

Nik — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:15:02 +0000

“Sky Map and Wikitude are specific to a particular data set”.

And Layar is specific to one country. If you’ve ever used Wikitude, you’ll realise that there is only so much data you can display on the screen. In my mind, this is just a Wikitude copy with a broader data set – one which they will be forced to narrow in order for people to see past the ‘noise’. But then it will just be Wikitude!
Don’t get me wrong, this looks to be an excellent app. Just don’t go toting it as ‘the first of its kind’ as it is not – by a long way. And unless you are Dutch, it is not even one of many, let alone one of a kind!

By: Neil

Neil — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:41:07 +0000

It is already in Market, but maybe only in The Netherlands since that’s the only place it’s got layers for. Although Hyves is worldwide.

The difference between this and the others that people mentioned is that it’s generic and it’s easy to add a layer for any data that has coordinates. Sky Map and Wikitude are specific to a particular data set.

By: str4vag

str4vag — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:15:08 +0000

rob, there is another one about this augmented reality, its called “seer”. apparently its made by IBM for the 2009 Wimbledon Open.

By: str4vag

str4vag — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 01:08:19 +0000

looks really really good. not all we need is more big name players to partner the apps so we can have more layers to use. and make it available in a lot more places.

By: Gav

Gav — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:48:56 +0000

As a concept I’d never actually considered that. That sort of handheld HUD type thing. My mind has literally just been blown by the possibilities.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:11:01 +0000

True, and Wikitude is great, but this one looks so much smoother and more useful. Wikitude is like an AR encyclopedia whereas Layar looks like what it says, an AR browser.

Hell, you can have both apps :)

By: Johnny Awkward

Johnny Awkward — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:20:34 +0000

It’s not the first – Wikitude has been around for quite a while.