Flughafen Zürich AG has been a Unic customer since 2019 – and is a true pioneer in the field of digital experience, with the awards to prove it. With that in mind, it is not surprising that this was the first team to implement a spatial computing project with us:
An app to help future tenants at the airport or in the Circle get a better feel for their new environment.
- Customer
- Flughafen Zürich AG
- Customer since
- 2019
- Go-Live
- July 2024
How can we use Spatial to benefit our customers?
When Apple presented Vision Pro in June 2023, our app inventors and developers were exhilarated: They saw enormous potential, and not just in an abstract way, but very tangibly, for Unic customers.
Within a short time, they put together a structured workshop to develop business ideas with customers, evaluate opportunities and risks and plan the next steps.
As early as September 2023, Unic and airport staff had a reunion in the airport ‘Atelier’, where they had planned and developed the award-winning multisite platform back in the day.
Even though VR/AR/XR are nothing new, Apple has managed to raise the bar. For me as the airport’s Client Partner, it was an unmissable opportunity for another pioneering project with the airport in the context of customer experience.
Ivo Bättig, Client Partner, Unic
The starting point was fairly obvious: The airport would harness the strengths of spatial computing to create an immersive experience of their spaces. The team developed three ideas in the full-day workshop. The first one has been implemented already and will go live in summer 2024.
ZRH Real Estate
With its new spatial app, the airport is forging new paths in innovative real estate marketing: The immersive experience enables potential new tenants and their employees to explore their new environment. They can check out points of interest at the airport, in the Circle and the park, depending on their personal interests and preferences.
Experience the Future Today With ZRH Real Estate
With the new spatial app, potential tenants provide their employees not with dry information, but with an immersive experience. To create it, visual and audio material was optimised manually and with the help of AI, so that cylindrical or spherical perception becomes possible. New footage captured with a 360° camera further improves the immersion.
The spatial, immersive experience of content is impossible to recreate with the same effect on two-dimensional screens. Still, we created this simulation to give you an impression of what the app has to offer:
Underlying Technology
The app is designed to be used with the Apple Vision Pro headset and was implemented with Xcode: By using the VisionOS SDK, we ensure that the ‘Apple Vision Pro Real Estate App’ is fully compatible with the latest standards and functions required for an immersive and user-friendly AR/VR experience.
For the design, we adhered strictly to Apple’s human interface guidelines, and in particular the guidelines for VisionOS. These offer comprehensive best practices and recommendations for the design of user interfaces in an immersive, three-dimensional environment. We created an intuitive and accessible experience that takes the visual as well as the ergonomic needs of users into account.
After a quick calibration of the headset, users can start with a brief introduction or skip it and navigate manually:
Personas Offer a More Individual Experience
Users can select a persona of choice, go on one of six predefined tours or navigate the list of points of interest and the map intuitively.
Search for Points of Interest
An overlay screen enables users to explore various points of interest in great detail. Every icon on the map is designed for intuitive navigation and highlights a specific area so that users can travel virtually and get an impression of many different spaces.
For every navigation item, we have combined information, dynamic images and interactive elements to make the destination come alive. Where available, the content includes:
Location on map
Name, description
Immersive images and videos as well as conventional photos
Sound effects
New App is a Valuable Tool for Real Estate Marketing
Potential tenants with a serious interest in real estate at the airport can obtain Apple Vision Pros on loan from the airport with ZRH Real Estate installed on them. Their employees can get a first impression of their potential future workplace without having to drive out to the airport:
What is the best way to get there?
What would my work environment look like?
Where and how can I buy snacks or meals?
Where and how will I spend my breaks?
The immersive experience has a strong emotional component and can support change management for potential tenants.
ZRH Real Estate will most likely also have a positive effect on various service providers and partners at the airport and on the Circle. Their activities and locations are beautifully presented and become almost tangible in the app.
We are delighted to have our airport be a trailblazer yet again. The Apple Vision Pro Real Estate app offers an incredible digital experience. And we are proud to be among the first movers: The Apple Vision Pro is not even officially available yet in Switzerland, but we are ready to roll with our app!
Coralie Klaus-Boecker, Head ZRH Innovation Hub, Zurich Airport
So What’s Next?
ZRH Real Estate 1.0 is already available in the app store. We are already working on version 2.0, enriching the stories with new 360° footage and other content.
We are also considering additional improvements to avatars and themed discovery tours for less experienced users. Ideas include tours based on sports, culinary highlights, etc. Of course, we will incorporate the feedback from the first round of users in the planning.
The Flughafen Zürich AG and Unic teams are already looking forward to their response. Would you like to try out the Unic Spatial Lab? Be inspired:
Areas of Expertise
Spatial discovery workshop
Consulting on customer experience and AR/VR/XR worlds
Content enrichment with images, sound and 360° footage – including experience with special cameras
UX / UI design
Technical concept development
App development and testing
Contact for your Digital Solution with Unic
Book an appointmentAre you keen too discuss your digital tasks with us? We would be happy to exchange ideas with you.
Contact for your Digital Solution
Book an appointmentAre you keen to talk about your next project? We will be happy exchange ideas with you.
