Layar introduction
for developers
Creating augmented reality experiences on the world’s leading platform
October 2011

Contents
• What is Layar?
• Why choose Layar?
• How does it work?
• Creating layers
• Getting started
• Developer support
© Layar 2011

What is Layar?
© Layar 2011

What is Layar?
• Layar is a mobile platform for discovering digital information
about the physical world around you
• Using Augmented Reality (AR) technology, Layar displays
“layers” of digital information to the users’ mobile phones
• These layers can contain digital information related to both
geolocation as well as objects (images)
© Layar 2011

Open platform
• Layar offers an open platform to publish, discover and search
for augmented reality layers
• Layar provides the mobile application and infrastructure
• Third party developers create the layers
© Layar 2011

The Layar ecosystem
Generic view
End user
Content Layers Distribution
Brands, Layar
Developers
publishers platform
Search &
Discovery
Creativity,
High quality Impactful AR
+ passion, + Layar features =
content experiences
dedication
© Layar 2011

Why choose Layar?
© Layar 2011

Why choose Layar?
• Create augmented reality experiences in an easy and
affordable way
• Publish your content for an audience of more than 1.5M active
users worldwide - by far the biggest reach of all mobile AR
browsers (see next slide)
• Benefit from the shared knowledge in the Layar developer
community of more than 9,000 developers
© Layar 2011

Download figures from Android market
July 2011
# of downloads Rating
Layar 1M - 5M
Wikitude 500k - 1M
Junaio 100k - 500k
© Layar 2011

Layar USP’s for developers
• Largest reach in mobile AR
• Open platform, flexible API
• Healthy ecosystem
• Active developer community
• Available for iOS & Android
• AR for your own app (with Layar Player)
• Testing environment
• Extensive list of features (see next slide)
© Layar 2011

Layar features
• Layar Vision image recognition
• Support for 3D models
• Support for animated augments
• Sharing to Facebook & Twitter
• Layer actions: call, email, share, web page
• Support for audio/video
• Gaming elements: autotriggers, relative POIs, point-to-point
• Layar Player (adding AR to your own app)
• Payment platform (with PayPal)
© Layar 2011

Layar key figures
July 2011
• Number of active users: 1.5M
• Number of published layers: 2,500
• Number of supported languages: 15 (Dutch, Spanish, French, Italian, Cantonese, Simplified
Chinese, German, Greek, Russian, Portuguese, Turkish, Japanese, Swedish, Korean, Slovakian)
© Layar 2011

How does it work?
© Layar 2011

A bit of history
Layar 1.0 Layar 2.0 Layar 3.0 Layar 3.1
May 2009 August 2009 December 2009 April 2010
Netherlands only Worldwide 3D OpenGL AR view Paid layers
5 layers developed release with Paypal
in-house Open API
© Layar 2011

A bit of history (cont’d)
Layar 3.5 Layar 4.0 Layar 5.0 Layar 6.0
June 2010 September 2010 February 2011 (beta) October 2011
Stream local search More interactive API Sharing to social media Layar Vision
across layers Improved UX Animation Real-time, client-side
Improved UX image recognition
© Layar 2011

AR smartphone requirements
GPS Accelerometer
Where am I? How is my phone oriented in the world?
Compass Gyroscope (optional)
In which direction am I looking? To provide a smoother experience
Camera Internet connectivity
What do I see in the real world? To connect to the digital world
© Layar 2011

Terminology
• Layer: a layer of digital information (a group of augments) in the Layar
Browser or Player
• GeoPOI: A point of interest with a specific latitude and longitude associated
with it. GeoPOIs are rendered in the Layar Browser and Player. The GeoPOI
can be a real location or a relative location around the user.
• Target object: the thing on your desk, the picture in the magazine, the street
art outside. You can augment a wide range of physical items with ease.*
• Augment: the digital interpretation of a target object or a geoPOI. It’s
attached to a target object or geoPOI as seen through the lens of a mobile
phone.
* Target objects with many visual details, angles, and contrast work best. Simple, rounded,
© Layar 2011 low contrast targets and highly repetitive patterns are more difficult to recognize.

Layar product portfolio
Layar
Browser
Layar environment
Layar Connect
Third-party
Layar
Content
Server
Layar (augments)
Layar Feature Layar Service
Publishing
Layar Repository Provider
Site
Player
© Layar 2011

Layar product portfolio
• The Layar Browser is the world’s first and leading mobile AR
browser, offering users to see augments for objects and
geoPOIs
• The Layar Player is an SDK to integrate the an AR experience
in your own app in an easy and convenient way
• Layar Connect is an API to the Layar server and offers third
parties to build an end-to-end, one-stop-shop content
management system for layers
© Layar 2011

Creating layers
© Layar 2011

Creating layers
• Layers are built using simple web technology
• You can use programming languages like PHP, MySQL,
Java etc as long as the response is in JSON format
© Layar 2011

Terminology of UI assets
© Layar 2011

Third party tools
• Instead of creating your own layer service, you can use one of
the third party tools developed by the community, e.g.:
• Porpoise
Open source server software
• Hoppala Augmentation
Hosted solution, easy to use
• More tools? Check the Layar website
© Layar 2011

Pricing
© Layar 2011

Pricing model
• With Layar Vision, Layar introduces a pricing model for
developers and publishers based on usage of Layar Vision
layers in the Layar Browser or Layar Player
• The Layar Player SDK is free of charge for application
developers to integrate into a mobile application
• The Layar Browser is free to use for end users
© Layar 2011

Pricing
Layar Vision Geo
Layar Browser + Player
€ 0.01 per match per month
Monthly usage fee first 10,000 matches per month are FREE FREE
max € 1,000 per month
© Layar 2011 Prices valid until May 1, 2012

Pricing explanation
• The Layar Browser and the Layar Player monthly usage fees
are based on the number of object matches using Layar Vision
• An object match is counted for each target object that is
successfully tracked and the associated content displayed to
the user for at least 1 second
• The maximum usage fee per month is capped at € 1,000
• First 10,000 matches per month are free of charge
© Layar 2011

Pricing examples
Number of matches per month Usage fee per month
5,000 €0
10,000 €0
15,000 €50
100,000 €900
110,000 €1000
200,000 €1000
1,000,000 €1000
© Layar 2011

Getting started
© Layar 2011

Getting started
1. Create a developer account
2. Create a layer
3. Create a layer service
© Layar 2011

Step 1: Create a developer account
1. Create Layar account on www.layar.com
2. Create developer account on
www.layar.com/development
(Click here for detailed instructions)
© Layar 2011

Step 2: Create a layer
• Create a layer definition in the Layar publishing environment
(Click here for detailed instructions)
© Layar 2011

Step 2: Create a layer
• http://layar.com/publishing
• Add all the static content and
metadata of a layer
• Listing details
• Look & feel
• Service provider URL
• Layer type (2D, 3D, Layar Vision)
© Layar 2011

Step 3: Create a layer service
• Create a layer service for delivering the augments to the Layar
Browser or Player
• The following elements are needed to set up a layer service:
• A public web server
• A database
• A layer can be written in various programming languages, as long
as the response is in JSON format
(Click here for detailed instructions and sample code)
© Layar 2011

Step 3: Create a layer service
• HTTP request with the following
parameters
• Latitude, longitude, filter settings....
• Response
• JSON data containing geoPOI or
object information
© Layar 2011

Developer support
© Layar 2011

Developer support
• The following support resources provide a wealth of information
for developers:
• Layar developer wiki
• Layar developer support environment
© Layar 2011

Testing environment
• Layar offers developers to test their layers before publishing:
• Through the API test page in the publishing platform
• Via the Layar Browser
• Layers in testing phase of development are only visible to the
developer (when logged in with developer account)
(Click here for detailed instructions)
© Layar 2011

Thank you