We continue our series of blog posts profiling the members of the Layar team with our next interviewee: Klasien van de Zandschulp. Layar has welcomed many new fresh faces to the Amsterdam office in the last several weeks (including yours truly) and Klasien, a new addition to the user research and interaction design team, is already helping to make Layar better and easier to use.

Klasien is a native Dutch gal, and seemingly stereotypical being born on a farm in Ede.

“My parents are farmers so I was born and grew up on their farm among the cows,” she says “I have an older brother, older sister and a little brother, and they are all farmers except for my little brother. We used to walk on wooden shoes - “klompen” - but now they replaced them for plastic ones.”

Her older siblings remain farmers, but Klasien sprung free from her home to study Digital Communication and Multimedia Design in Arnhem. Following school she worked for several years at a publisher creating Websites and eBooks, but then moved on to work at Mediamatic Lab as a project manager and interaction designer.

“My previous job was at a television station where I introduced the utilization of social networks and integrated these free services into the concept for the website I was working on,” says Klasien. “Focusing on using the website alongside the TV channel, I optimized the way a user experiences the website channel streams.”

As if her work experience couldn’t get any more new media, Klasien is now improving the experiences of the users of Layar’s Augmented Reality platform. “My main goal is to create a smile on the face of the end user, and keep it there,” she says.

As for the things that keep a smile on her face, Klasien says her three biggest interests outside of technology are music, music and music. She likes DJ’ing music, going to concerts and festivals and her favorite musician is Andrew Bird (at least according to her Last.fm profile).

Klasien and the user experience team have been conducting interviews and sessions with users to discover ways in which Layar can be improved. If you’d like to participate in the user testing group, email Klasien at klasien@layar.com. You can also get in touch with her via her LinkedIn profile!

Anyone who has seen the Pixar movie WALL-E remembers the scene as the lovable robot hero escapes Earth by stowing away on the outside of a spaceship. As the ship leaves the planet’s atmosphere, it bursts through an orbiting junkyard of satellites and space junk which encircle the planet.

This is actually not far from reality. You may be surprised to realize that there are actually thousands of satellites orbiting our planet at the moment. If our eyes were sharp enough, we could see dozens of satellites at any point in time, and thanks to a new layer from Italian developers G-maps, now we can.

With the new layer “Sat Tracker,” you can see where satellites are in the sky above you. Holding your phone up to the sky will reveal the locations of the satellites, which are pulled from the United States Strategic Command (USSSTRATCOM) database and updated every 5 minutes.

By tapping on a satellite you can view a wealth of information, including the identification number, country of origin, launch date, launch location and much more. You can also view detailed information from CelesTrak, as well as a map of the satellite’s trajectory over the planet.

The information provided in the layer is presented in a way that will fascinate the more scientific users while still being accessible to casual users. An experience like this truly works best in Augmented Reality. There is a difference between seeing satellites on a map and viewing them above you in the sky. Perhaps on a clear night, you can spot the satellites themselves hovering above us.

Layer: Sat Tracker
Location: Worldwide
Required: iPhone or Android device
More info: Sat Tracker by G-maps
Developer: G-maps

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday behind us and December in full swing, it’s officially holiday shopping season. With that in mind, Orange España - one of the largest telecom providers in Spain - has decided to use Layar to help its customers find their way to retail locations. This marks the first time a telecom provider in Spain has used Augmented Reality in its marketing and promotions.

The layer is called “Tiendas Orange” (or “Orange Shops”) and is available to view in Spain. When using the layer, iPhone and Android users will be able to find Orange retail locations using Layar’s Augmented Reality view as they hold their phones up and look around.

Using Layar to locate various POIs in the real world is one of the tried and true use cases for Augmented Reality, but Orange - the 7th largest telecom provider in the world - has taken things a step further. When users locate the nearest store, they will also be able to view promotional materials, coupons and enter contests to win prizes like digital cameras, GPS receivers, camcorders, DVD players and more.

“With this launch, Orange, as a company committed to innovation applied to customer satisfaction, offers a new way of relating directly and intuitively through its commitment to augmented reality technology,” says Alicia Calvo, Director of Innovation at Orange España.

If you’re in Spain, be sure to use Layar look up the “Tiendas Orange” layer to find locations and view deals and promotions from Orange España.

Layer: Tiendas Orange
Location: Spain
Required: iPhone or Android device
More info: Orange.es
Developer: Orange

Earlier this week, Amsterdam hosted its very own TEDx event at the Stadsschouwburg (City Theater). TED, for those unfamiliar, is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the spread of ideas. Conferences are held around the world filled with talks from people with “Ideas Worth Spreading,” and this week the event came to Amsterdam.

30 speakers took to the stage to share their ideas, and one group created an online photo book to browse through the speakers. The project is called TEDx Portraits and features sepia Polaroid-style photos of each speaker displayed in a digital flip-book.

The folks over at TAB Worldmedia (makers of the Tweeps Around layer) caught wind of this project and teamed up with the group to bring the TEDx Portraits to Layar! If you open up Layar and search for “TEDx Portraits,” you will be able to browse through the TEDx Amsterdam speakers using Augmented Reality.

“We were totally inspired by this concept because we believe that this is exactly the kind of storytelling idea that needs to be brought to a mobile augmented reality concept,” writes TAB Worldmedia on its blog. The portraits are displayed in a circle around you, and turning in place will display information about each individual.

To see me about this project, head on over to the TEDx Portraits homepage, or check it out yourself in Layar!