Mediapro, Telefónica and TMB to develop the first augmented reality project over 5G on tourist buses

4th March 2020 - BARCELONA, SPAIN: The Mediapro Group, Telefónica and Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) they have developed the first 5G augmented reality project that allows passengers on a tour bus to view immersive content projected onto the front window of the vehicle, superimposed on the landscape or monuments they observe while touring.

The 5G Augmented Tourism project was presented today during a tour of the mountain of Montjuïc (Barcelona) in which users of the Barcelona Bus Turístic (BBT) of TMB were treated to an enhanced tourist experience thanks to augmented reality content with data and information on the places they were encountering on the tour.

The new 5G mobile networks allow the real-time streaming of geolocated content associated to the locations along the tourist route. These augmented contents are visualized onto a transparent interactive screen located on the front window of the vehicle, so that rich and interactive multimedia content is superimposed on the reality seen through the glass.

Thus, users can learn about the origins of Montjuïc, lit up in all its glory, even though it may not be a function time, and obtain information about the buildings, monuments and sites as they pass through on the trip: from the old amusement park and the Olympic area to navigating the exhibitions at the CaixaFòrum and the works of the Teatre Lliure or the Mercat de les Flors, everything in motion.

This pilot, developed within the framework of the 5GBarcelona initiative, demonstrates how the augmented content generation on 5G in mobility offers new of content consumption and entertainment scenarios beyond the devices we now know.

Thanks to connected vehicles and high mobile connectivity, this type of experience can now be offered to public transport passengers, while in the future the autonomous car will open up a wide range of possibilities for the consumption of mobility content within the cars themselves.

Content, networks and mobility

Each of the stakeholders contributed their experience to the pilot. Thus, the Mediapro Group designed the experience, selected and generated all the tourist information of the key points and developed the augmented reality software and content. They were also responsible for the installation of the latest generation transparent screens in the two tourist buses.

Telefónica set up a 5G high-speed network that provides large bandwidths for downloading and uploading, which allows for improved content quality, mass consumption of mobility, hyperlocal content, and real-time retransmissions.

Also, by residing intelligence and content on the edge of the network (Edge Computing capability), the cost for devices that consume content is reduced, becoming a more scalable solution. Recall that Edge Computing is a new capacity of networks that improves latency and allows content, applications, computing and artificial intelligence near the end consumer and user.

Finally, TMB provided two tourist buses to make possible the use of this technology. In this way, new possibilities are explored so that the tourist and cultural experience of the BBT offers new features to tourists. In this case thanks to augmented reality, which provides enriching knowledge of the environment and sites along the way as the visitor travels the city aboard the Barcelona Bus Turístic.