Some great apps to help you navigate through the concrete jungle –

#1 – A developers dream

Investing in property or just buying a home? Blockbrief is a must have for anyone interested in real estate, urban planning or property. If you see a house, but don’t know its development worth, enter the property details into Blockbrief and find out what the experts have to say. A comprehensive report will be created outlining the sites development potential in a user friendly and informative summary. This app, created by Matthew Player, will be one of the biggest property trends of 2013.

Interested? Register here and be one of the first to be notified when the site and app goes live.

Platform: iPhone and Android
Price: Free (worth a look!)

#2 – Seeing the world digitally

Finding your nearest banksy/cafe/watering hole has never been so easy! Simply select one of the many hundreds, if not thousands of category layers in Layar and a virtual map will appear. The map links to your camera, uses your geographic location, and shows you details of your search plus the travel route of your selected item.

Layar has also been used by Cities to market themselves to visitors. Play Melbourne, a marketing campaign for Melbourne and initiative by the Victorian Government, was successfully launched on Layar in 2011 and builds upon the creative identity of the city, encouraging users to explore the City’s hidden gems.

Layar is perfect for getting to know an old city better or for exploring a new one. It takes some time to familiarise yourself with its settings but is great fun.

Platform: iPhone and Android
Price: Free

#3 – Sharing is caring (and fun?)

We’ve all heard about collaborative consumption, it’s amazing and definitely changing the way we think about lifestyle, but perhaps what’s more amazing is how quickly and savvy new ways of sharing incorporate and develop digitally. Take for example goCarShare launched in 2011 provides music lovers with a way to and from festivals. It’s building community, connecting people of similar interests and having some fun while doing it.

Other apps like PickupPal and Zimride are good but aren’t as cool as a purpose build, festival loving, car sharing app.

Platform: iPhone and Android
Price: Free

#4 – Hungry? There’s an App for that!

In October 2012, the City of Sydney launched Australia’s first food truck app. The app tracks the nine food trucks operating across the city as part of a 12 month food truck trial. It sounds big brother-esque but it’s not. The app is great for finding your closest food truck and keeping in touch with the trucks directly via twitter or the built in news feed roll. A google map shows which trucks are ‘sleeping’ and which are ‘feeding’ and also highlights your location in the city for easy navigation.

It’s a great strategy for Sydney and an even better app!

Platform: iPhone and Android (released same day!)
Price: Free

#5 – Listen/Read/Think

The Monocle app is essentially the perfect urban app. Its comprehensive offer includes a dedicated radio station, daily news bulletin and travel guides to the top 25 cities around the world. Known for its monthly magazine, Monocle delivers news and journalism focused on cities and the people who inhabit them. It’s modern, creative and attractive. Do I need to say more? Check it out here.

Platform: iPhone and Android
Price: $7.49 (money well spent)

What have I missed? Share your favourite urban apps below and leave a comment.