It's O-Week at university campuses around Australia, and new students will find it easier to get to the right locations with the aid of Lost on Campus, an iOS app developed by a University of New South Wales student.

The free app maps 27 Australian university campuses, with custom map tiles to augment those delivered by Google Maps in order to improve detail and accuracy. "We tried to catalogue every room on campus where you might have a lab, lecture or tutorial," said designer Nicholas Cellini, a fourth-year engineering student doing a joint degree in computer science and digital media at UNSW. "Using the app, you can easily search the room number. This brings up a map, telling users how far they are from their destination and how long it will take to get there."

Mr Cellini originally created the app as the Unofficial UNSW Map App.

The app is backed by Student Services Australia, and is expected to assist staff and visitors as well as students.  It features more than 20,000 individual locations, including lecture halls, tutorial rooms, cafes, bars, toilets, carparks and vending machines.

Photos of buildings and landmarks are provided to augment the maps.

"Eventually we're probably going to make this a community-based app so users can upload points of interest and we can moderate this," said Mr Cellini.