Magnicity, four cities from above

The Magnicity group operates observation decks in four cities: the Montparnasse tower in Paris, the Fernsehturm in Berlin, the Euromast in Rotterdam and 360 Chicago. How do you turn these sites into essential gateways to discovering their cities? By starting from a universal reflex: when you are up high, you try to get your bearings.

We built Magnicity an augmented-reality app. Held up to the view, it calibrates on the user’s position and highlights the panorama’s points of interest: at a glance, every monument is identified and put in context, with around 200 sites narrated through text, video and 3D reconstructions.

Filters, quizzes and 3D interactions let everyone dig deeper at their own pace: in night mode, or in history mode to see the same panorama in another era. From the top of Montparnasse, visitors watch Lutetia, medieval Paris or the Paris of 1889 overlay today’s city.

Launched in Paris on 30 April 2021, the app was included with every ticket across the four decks, usable on site or beyond. A web app followed in 2023 for download-free access. It earned the group the 2021 Tiqets Award in the "Most innovative venue" category.