XPRO focuses on the technology-based future of travel

Virtual Reality as a supplementary and exclusive travel experience

March 10, 2022

Travel that expands space and time, creating advertising and marketing possibilities, and discovering new customer bases: all this can be accomplished with technology-based and digital solutions, thereby ensuring a seamless, exciting, sustainable and barrier-free travel experience. This convincing presentation was made by Robert Eysoldt, Creative & Strategy Consultant at XPRO Berlin, and Laura Hirvi, Managing Director for the Virtual Reality Association Berlin Brandenburg (VRBB). XPRO is a new European B2B market place for experience technologies, products and services. The ARapp MauAR, for example, offers impressions along the former Berlin Wall, depicting them on a screen at the actual sites. Travellers experience the destination interactively, augmented by a spatial and temporal component.

XRPO, together with VRBB, a publically financed association for promoting the virtual, augmented and mixed reality sector, presented a number of other projects and implementation possibilities. “We want to create a network of European agencies, production and service companies, and manufacturers who design and produce immersive experiences and interactive media formats in museums, visitor centres, brand environments, showrooms and event venues as well as in public spaces”, explained Robert Eysoldt. Using the market place created jointly with the industry, XPRO facilitates exchanges between experts and promotes links with potential customers and cooperation partners, in order to develop the business internationally, according to Eysoldt.

Laura Hirvi from VRBB presented some of the projects: “Our mission is to develop an expanding and sustainable XR industry by bringing our members into contact with other experts in Berlin and beyond”, Hirvi said.

According to Hirvi the four current technologies are: VR: Virtual Reality completely replaces the user’s view and immerses them in a computer-generated environment. AR: Augmented Reality extends their view of the real world, with computer-generated information superimposed on what the user sees. MR: Mixed Reality merges the real and virtual world. XR: Extended Reality is a collective term for technologies that expand or replace our view of the world.

On their mobile phone screens, travellers can use MauAR.berlin to experience what the area at the Brandenburg Gate looked like when the Wall was still standing. “Additional information can be accessed by clicking on the phone, eliminating the need for a travel guide”, explained Hirvi. Another example that she gave was ZaubAR, which provides interactive visits to museums without the need for a guide, and VR4content, an XR portal that provides for targeted marketing. For example, hotel rooms can be inspected and, if found satisfactory, a reservation can be made directly. And anyone who wants to travel through time to the “Roaring Twenties” can do so with the timetravel.berlin project. This enables travellers to experience Berlin in the 1920s, lifelike and in close-up, using VR glasses.