Modified Smart Phone Application Maps out K-State Campuses for Newcomers

Visiting a Kansas State University campus but unfamiliar with the layout? There’s an app for that.

Launching today is PowerCat Enhanced. The downloadable technology turns a user’s iPhone 3GS and above or Android-based smart phones into an interactive map and GPS, showing both information about and directions to locations on the K-State Manhattan, Salina and Olathe campuses.

While some national and Big 12 schools have phone applications with campus maps, K-State is one of only a handful of universities to use Layar — an open-source, cross-platform, augmented reality application. Of schools using Layar, even fewer have expanded the core program’s functionality to the extent of K-State’s.