At the RE/MAX R4 Convention last week I was introduced to Layar by Chris Smith at Inman News at one of presentations. I have to say that this is one of the most futuristic and interesting applications I have ever seen. The technology is still in its infancy but seems to work really well and could change the way we consume information. The most practical use I see for it is for apartment and housing searches but I could see it being great for travel and marketing of all kinds. For frame of reference layer has over 3000 layers for the user to choose from at any given time. You can browse and swap out different layers on the fly easily. Eventually there will be glasses that people will wear that will display the augmented reality layers of the users choosing. The technology requires the device you use it on to be gps enabled so it can determine your location within 6 ft. The app works on both apple and android mobile devices.
I downloaded the app on my Android Sprint HTC Evo. Then I chose 2 layers for real estate from the categories menu to test out. Trulia has developed a layer that shows nearby houses for sale. Hotpads.com shows rental nearby. Once I had a layer selected I pointed my phone in different directions to see the results. On the Trulia layer it showed dozens of nearby results and on Hotpads.com results had over 60 results within 1.2 miles. The results are shown as orbs that come across your screen with basic info at the bottom of the screen and the option to see details with just one more click.
This app would be extremely useful when the user is out and about in a neighborhood and wants to see what is available on a whim or if they want a better idea of the feel of the location while they are browsing for houses or apartments.
Here is a video (in French with subtitles) that shows pretty well how the app works with great screen shots of the user interface.