English
XR at Augsburg Railway Park
Development of an augmented reality museum application for Augsburg Railway Park
FOCUS: Digital cultural mediation, mixed reality, railroad cultural heritage, European history
AGE GROUPS: All age groups; visitors to the Bahnpark, school classes, international audience
PERIOD OF IMPLEMENTATION: since March 2026 (ongoing)
LOCATION: Bahnpark Augsburg gGmbH, Augsburg
SCOPE: Prototype development 2026, planned full development from 2027
FUNDING PROGRAMME: Horizon Europe in preparation); scientific support by Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences
PROJECT MANAGER: dieKunstBauStelle e. V.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Wolfgang Hauck (idea generator and overall management)
COOPERATION PARTNERS: Bahnpark Augsburg gGmbH; Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences, Department of Expanded Media
TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM: Snap Inc. (Spectacles Gen 5, Developer Program)
CONTENT / BACKGROUND
The Augsburg Railway Park – one of the largest industrial monuments in Bavaria – preserves historic locomotives as material witnesses to European history. RailXR opens up this heritage through a new level of communication: with lightweight, wireless smart glasses, visitors experience the exhibits as living stations on a journey through time – rise and fall, war and peace, connection and separation.
The lead narrative “Time travel: Locomotives tell European history” combines local industrial history with the broad sweep of European history. Historical scenes, maps and contextual information appear directly in the field of vision – without a screen, without cables, without structural interventions in the listed building.
Smart Glasses solve a specific problem at the location: permanently installed monitors and media stations are susceptible to climate fluctuations in the unheated historic buildings of the Bahnpark. The new technology enables flexible, low-maintenance mediation directly on site.
CURRENT PHASE: MASTER WORK AND PROTOTYPE (until August 2026)
At the heart of the ongoing development is Pablo Gonzalo Orce Jimenez’s master’s thesis at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences (Expanded Media department, Expanded Realities course). Under the scientific supervision of Prof. Dr. Jan Barkmann and Prof. Dr. Paul Grimm, he is developing a functional AR prototype directly in the Augsburg railroad park – as a scientifically supported proof-of-concept for RailXR.
Two Snap Spectacles Gen 5 have been in operation since March 2026. The prototype covers several exhibits in the first stage and includes visitor research, qualitative user studies and a documented design rationale. The results will flow directly into the further development of the project.
GOALS
- Development of an innovative museum application based on smartglasses as a new mediation medium for cultural heritage sites
- Immersive, multilingual experience of historical exhibits without prior technical knowledge
- Scientifically sound proof of concept as a basis for scaling up to other museums
- Positioning the Augsburg Railway Park as a pioneer of digital cultural mediation in Germany
- Long-term: Transferability to other European cultural heritage sites within the framework of Horizon Europe
IMPLEMENTATION
The development is being carried out in close cooperation between dieKunstBauStelle e.V. as the project sponsor, the Augsburg Railway Park as the real test environment and Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences as the scientific partner. The technology basis is the Snap Spectacles Developer Program; the app is being developed in Lens Studio 5.0 / Snap OS.
A cooperation with Augsburg University of Applied Sciences is planned for further development after completion of the master’s thesis. At the same time, an application for funding under Horizon Europe is being prepared to further develop RailXR as a European joint project with other cultural heritage sites.
EFFECT
- New accessibility to railroad cultural heritage: multilingual, barrier-reduced, can be used without prior knowledge
- Intergenerational communication of European history at an authentic location
- Transferable model for museums in historic buildings without complex fixed installations
- Augsburg as a pioneering location for smart glasses-supported cultural mediation in Germany
ASSIGNMENT
RailXR is part of a growing family of digital cultural projects by dieKunstBauStelle e.V. at Augsburg Railway Park – following the BayernHistory app and the “Laboratory for European History – Roundhouse Europe” project. The project combines the cultural-historical mission of the Bahnpark with the technological departure into a new generation of museum applications.
The Master’s thesis at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences is not a parallel academic project, but the scientifically supported first step of a long-term project – with a European dimension and Augsburg roots.
STATUS
Status: In active development
Project start: March 2026
Prototype: until August 2026 (Master’s thesis at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences)
Next phase: Cooperation TH Augsburg; Horizon Europe application
