We’ve been experimenting with Augmented Reality and Virtuality, we posted about that earlier here. We found Layar really interesting and wanted to develop a layer just to see how it works and to understand what the user experience is like. Additionally, we also wanted to investigate and understand what learning applications are possible using such technology.

Let’s take a quick look at how it works – use your Android Smartphone or iPhone to download and install the Layar application free. Launch Layar, and choose the ‘Pune Layar’ in the local layers tab. Layar switches to the view from the device camera, and retrieves Upside’s Pune layar. You first get a filter to let you choose a radius for your search and limit it to specific categories. This is useful when you are looking for a specific landmark.

As your phone retrieves data over the internet, you’ll be able to see various points of interest appear on the radar in the upper right corner of the screen. Point your phone camera in the direction of the points and you’ll see them pop-up as icons. Touch a point that interests you and it’ll bring up information about that location. You can then easily find more information about the landmark by looking it up on Wikipedia. Pune Layar also allows you to rate a POI depending on your liking or just view the ratings given by others.

Like what you see? Want to visit that location? If you have the Google maps application installed on the phone, a simple click of a button will find it on a map, and another click can get you accurate directions to the location. Looking for a landmark you couldn’t find? You can add landmarks by visiting Add POI page, either using your smart-phone or a desktop computer.

Go fire up Layar on your smart-phone – explore Pune and its significant landmarks.

The post Augmented Reality – Upside Pune Layar first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.