With the rise of smartphone and their ability to provide location-based applications using this information have become widespread. One of the original applications of this information was the Layar application which is available on a variety of Apple, Android and Nokia hand held devices.

Layar Augmented Reality Browser

The Layar application is available in the relevant "app stores" and has 1500 active Layars available. A Layar is a set of interactive points that can be viewed through their Augmented Reality Browser. When the hand held device is held up the points can be clearly seen together with any relevant information such as distance etc.

In the top right-hand corner you can see mini radar that shows all the events and club-meets that are happening within the distance that you specified when the layar was started. If you want to find events in a different range than this can be changed at any point by pressing the menu button and selecting Layar settings.

At Just Customz we are always looking for new ways to bring cutting edge technology to the Hot Rod, Lowrider and Modified car scene and have now published our own interactive Layar. We have added the most popular modified car events that are available in US, UK, Canada and Australia to our events system which instantly make them available through the Layar application.

If you have an iPhone, Android or Nokia smart phone then simply viisit the relevant "app-store" and download the Layar application. Once it has downloaded and has been installed you are ready to go! Next click on the search icon at the top of the screen and type "justcustomz" and click on the magnifying glass button. Next you will see the Just Customz Layar returned and you are ready to use it.

Layar displaying events that are near you

To fire it up click on the arrow button and you will be shown a slider control that allows you to set the distance that you are willing to travel to go to an event. You can just click the "Apply" button here and accept the default value.

So that is it! You can now see the events that are happening new you by scanning the horizon you will see gray and red circle that indicate the direction of the event from where you are standing.

In the top-right corner you can see a mini radar that shows all of the events and club meetings that are happening within your chosen distance. As you turn around you'll see that the radar display changes and as points come into view they are at the top of the radar. If you wish to change the distance that you are willing to travel this can be done at any point by pressing the menu button and selecting "settings".

Layar Application showing extra buttons

The power of the Layar application comes with the contextual features that are available. If you tap on one of the points that appear you will see the menus shown in the image.

If you now tap on the "More Details" button at the bottom of the screen you will be shown a page with all the information for that event such as address, cost, contact numbers etc.

Most phones have Google Maps installed as standard which offers a myriad location-based features such as getting directions etc. If you now tap the take me there button you'll be instantly taken to the location in the Google Maps application on your phone where you can then get directions to the event.

Important: Although we take care to ensure the accuracy of the event information we do urge you to confirm that it is the correct address before setting off though as we cannot accept responsibility for any inaccuracies.

We have taken great care in trying to ensure that we have covered the majority of events around the world but I am sure we have missed some. If you know of a fantastic event that isn't shown then please let us know through the main Just Customz website and we'll add it straight away!

If you have a website and would like access to the event data then we're always looking for ways to serve the modified car community and would love to make the data freely available to third-parties. If you would like to integrate with us then please get in touch!

Layar Augmented Reality Application

Comments

Comment by by xerox on Thu Mar 10, 2011 5:52 am

I just downloaded it and it works great!

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