New Free Travel App Launched

AUGMENTED REALITY APP ‘WAM’ REVOLUTIONISES THE WAY YOU NAVIGATE THE WORLD

A new, free augmented reality iOS and Android app ‘World Around Me’ (WAM) aims to bring Google Maps to life. The app allows visitors in an unfamiliar city to quickly and easily find the facilities they need.

WAM is the creation of Lancaster based start-up WT InfoTech and gives business tourists, holiday makers and other travellers the opportunity to quickly and easily overlay their physical surroundings with digitally generated information about near-by facilities.

All the user has to do is input their own search term or select one of 14 pre-defined categories, hold up their smartphone and watch as the world around them populates with digitally generated signposts. Searchable categories include restaurants, bars and pubs, doctor’s surgeries, gas stations, hotels and museums.

Each signpost updates in real time, highlighting the direction of the location, how far it is away and what other visitors have thought of it, giving the user an in-depth, yet intuitive understanding of their surrounding area. If the user wants more information all they need to do is click on the signpost and they get full contact details, user reviews and full directions.

The application sources its information from Google Places so users are guaranteed that the range of options WAM offers is comprehensive and that there will be a substantial pool of user reviews wherever they are in the world.

Co-founder and CEO Tarun Sainani said: “WAM is designed to help everyone; not just globe-trotting travellers. Whether you’re adrift in a strange city on the other side of the world or visiting friends on the other side of a familiar city, WAMMING can help you feel at home in your surroundings and makes finding the facilities you need easy.

“The world is changing and the amount of data at our fingertips can be confusing. WAM is designed with the user at its heart – what could be easier than holding up your phone and seeing the streets in front of you spring to life with the information you need? So next time you need a helping hand making sense of a strange city, why not WAM it?”

WAM is already being used by thousands of users across 140 different countries.

Tarun Sainani co-founded WT InfoTech a year after he completed his masters in E-Business and Innovation at the University of Lancaster. He is dedicated to the idea of the augmented city and has been working hard to involve the community in Lancaster to develop clever ways of enhancing members of the public’s experience of the urban landscape.

WT InfoTech is constantly innovating and developing ideas to further enhance WAM. A new component of WAM will be announced at a later date in 2014.

The full version of WAM is available for iOS via the Apple App Store at £0.69. The Google play version for Android is currently being sold at a discounted price of £0.99 rather than the original £2.49. A free ‘lite’ version is also available for iOS and Android users who want to try before they buy.



To find out more about WAM and WT InfoTech you can visit www.worldaroundmeapp.com you can also watch an introductory video here.

For more information contact Daniel Kennedy, Kirsten Pettigrew or Laurence Laidler at firstname.secondname@skvcommunications.co.uk or call 0161 838 7770.
-ENDS-

Notes for editors
WAM includes 14 searchable categories, these are:
o Restaurants
o Banks
o Bars and Pubs
o Cafes
o Clothing Stores
o Doctors
o Gas Stations
o Groceries
o Hotels / Lodging
o Movie Theatres
o Museums
o Parks
o Pharmacies
o Subway / Metro

WT InfoTech was founded in 2012. The team consists of co-founder and CEO Tarun Sainani, co-founder and CTO Rahul Sainani & UX Designer Ankit Dembla.

As well as developing WAM WT InfoTech have developed mobile augmented reality apps for Brantwood museum in Coniston and University of Warwick.

WAM has been rated by the”National Geographic Traveller” as “one of the best local guide apps”.

The idea to build WAM came in May 2012 from co-founder Rahul Sainani, who was then a 3rd year Engineering Undergraduate. WAM’s inventor Rahul Sainani, is one of IBM’s Students for a Smarter Planet. To know the story behind WAM check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg596GUST_U

Tarun Sainani has over 8 years of IT consulting experience with MNC’s in India and the US. He spent the summer of 2011 at IBM’s Almaden Research Centre in Silicon Valley as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar in the Services Research Group and he has a double master’s degree in E-Business & Innovation (09-10) and Digital Innovation (10-11) from Lancaster University.

He is the Vice Chairman for the User Experience Special Interest Group at the International Society of Service Innovation Professionals.

He tweets at www.twitter.com/tarunsainani his LinkedIn profile is http://uk.linkedin.com/in/sainanitarun.

You can visit WT InfoTech’s website at www.wtinfotech.co.uk.