The layer of this week is the first layer that has been published on our Augmented Reality platform which has 3D texture animations. Quiznos, a big fast food restaurant in the United States and Canada, is specialized in toasted sandwiches used the Layar platform for their campaign. The Quiznos layer includes a store locator, several videos, animated 3D and location based coupons. We talked to Mathijs Gajentaan from Winvolve who developed this layer for Quiznos.

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How did you manage to get a brand this big on board? First and foremost: Showing them what’s possible. At the outset of most projects, our clients will have an idea of what they want to achieve. But when we’re given the opportunity to unleash our passion for our technology and really show them what’s possible, that’s typically when great things happen. Ultimately it is those case studies that help us attract new clients.

Was Quinzos familiar with the Layar concept? They were keen on AR, and found Layar to be the perfect solution.

What is the added value of this layer for Quiznos? For this question I asked Quiznos for a quote because they can explain the added value for Quiznos the best

Tim Kraus,  Interactive Marketing Manager Quiznos: “The added value of Layar to Quiznos is keeping our brand relevant. As more people use their smart phones to connect with their world, we need to make sure we have a presence in that world without appearing spammy. Location Based apps like Layar is a great fit for Quiznos. In addition, this app allows us to pull in people from demographics we may not have targeted before.”

Your worlds first with 3D animation within a Layar. Was it hard to realize this? We really saw this as a great opportunity. Our animation specialists worked on Movies, Games and Architecture before and were very excited and motivated to develop something amazing using 3D models and animations for the Layar platform. On the technical implementation side we also recieved help from our partner Hoppala.eu.
What can we expect from Winvolve in the near future? Important for us is helping people develop a better understanding of Augmented Reality technology and its possibilities. You can expect us to play a role in that through projects that educate and inspire.

In time for the United Nations Climate Conference in Copenhagen, ClimateActionMap.org is excited to announce a mobile version of the map using the Layar platform. ClimateActionMap.org is a non-profit online platform that allows cities across the globe to share their best practice climate initiatives. Today more than 40 cities around the world have listed their best practice climate initiatives and more are joining each week.

The Climate Action Layer has been launched just in time for the UN Climate Conference (COP 15) in Copenhagen where government leaders from more than 100 countries are gathering along with 20.000 participants from non-profits to negotiate a global agreement to curb CO2 emissions. ClimateActionMap.org is presenting the map together with its partners from the US National League of Cities, Local Government Denmark and UN Habitat in order to highlight the importance of local government action in reducing CO2 emissions.

ClimateActionMap.org was launched in June 2009 to help communicate local climate initiatives to a global audience. Sharing our local knowledge and expertise globally is fundamental if we want to address climate change in a serious and timely manner. Our mission is to educate, inform and inspire governments, communities and businesses about the innovative local climate action activities around the world. Local Governments and local initiatives are key factors for creating a successful implementation of any Post-Kyoto agreement.

The ClimateActionMap.org platform is free to use for any city administration in the world. It allows cities to easily upload information, images, video and files about climate initatives using a simple and intuitive web interface. It also allows cities to track and manage their climate initiatives across different city departments and helps communicate climate initiatives to a broad range of stakeholders by generating a city scale map of local climate initiatives.

The Climate Action Layer was developed by Winvolve. Winvolve has developed multiple successful Layars and applications and is one the forefront of new technology. They are Layar representing partner in North-America and work closely together with local and international organizations in concept creation and development of Mobile and Application experiences.

You can visit Winvolve’s website at www.winvolve.com.
To read more about the Climate Action Map visit www.climateactionmap.org.

Today, we are very proud to present to you version 3.0, with fantastic new tools to enable the already more than 1000 active independent content developers to create AR experiences that go far beyond answering the simple ‘where is…?’ question. This new version allows everybody with basic web development skills to create rich immersive experiences that cannot be replicated on a map, in a traditional browser or in a mobile location based application.

This blogpost explains the new features on a technical level; read on to see five cases to show you what Layar 3.0 can mean for people, organizations and brands.

Architectural showcase: the new Market Hall in Rotterdam

Rotterdam is the Dutch capital of modern architecture. The latest eyecatching project by Provast is the construction of the ‘Market hall‘, a U-shaped building designed by renowned architects MVRDV. Completion is planned for 2014, but visitors and inhabitants can already see how the Market Hall looks like, simply by pointing their phone at its construction site. The 3D model enables the visitor to walk around the building and look inside - as if it was already there.
Layer developed by the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi) and in cooperation with IN10

Storytelling: Beatles Tour

Abbey Road in London has become famous for housing the studio where the Beatles recorded most of their albums, including their final and most successful one, “Abbey Road“. Now it is possible to see Ringo, Paul, John and George back on Abbey Road, simply by pointing your phone at the zebra crossing. After having taken some screenshots with your friend standing next to the Beatles in 3D, you can proceed to the next location on the Beatles discovery tour, which covers 42 locations. The next destination only appears after the previous location has been visited.
Layer developed by AugmentReality.co.uk

History comes alive

How often did you wonder ‘how would this place have looked like hundreds of years ago?’, while standing in Rome, Paris or New York. Layar enables re-creation of a long past reality, by displaying ancient photos overlaid on their current location or even by re-constructing the original building. Imagine you can experience the Colosseum back in its original state, see the audience sitting on the benches and hear the lions roar - as if you were teleported to a scene 1000 years ago, simply by holding up your phone and looking around you. Many of such layers are now in development and will go live in 2010.

Art, messages & fun objects

Hold up your phone and see new pieces of art, specifically created for Augmented Reality. Various artists are creating new art and new ways for people to interact with their work. Experience existing or old pieces of art in a completely new context: not in the museum but outside on the city’s main square or in a park. Or see fun objects like zeppelins and UFO’s or even messages and graffiti in unexpected locations.
Layers in development by Winvolve,  Superimpose, Hoppala, Muzar.org

B2B & personalization

Layar v3.0 features easy login through cookie support, which enables personalization of your layer. This is useful in various ways. Business-to-Business purposes include a closed fleet tracking layer by Masternaut, only visible for employees. It is also useful for social layers: show only the twitterers you follow, tweet from within the layer, or see check-ins from your friends in Foursquare.
Masternaut own layer, Tweeps around layer developed by Squio

We are extemely proud of what Layar content developers across the globe have already created with Layar v3.0 - in very little time. This sets the stage for a future in which many dreams come true. Where our reality will be enriched with new objects, specifically designed for Augmented Reality. And where completely new worlds will be created.

We are only at the start of a long journey where developers, users and brands can start to explore the possibilities of this new medium - developing engaging experiences with new ways of interaction and service provisioning.

Layar v3.0 can now be downloaded free of charge from the Android Market and is available for all Android 1.5 and 1.6 devices. We will release a compatible version for the Droid as soon as possible. We have almost finished testing for Android 2.0.
A version for the iPhone 3GS is to follow after Apples approval.

See which version 3.0 layers have been launched today