atosascentvisionsportandtechnology2013.pdf

7/29/2019 atosascentvisionsportandtechnology2013.pdf

1/22

Comment:Sebastian Coe

Big Data:better sport

The stadiumgets smart

Tech trendsfor 2020

Sport stars to benefit

rom scientific approach

How will the world

have changed?

Creating a multi-sensory

experience or ans

Social media is going to

transorm the Games

Thought leadership from Atos

A vision forsport andtechnology

innovation in sport


2/22

.02

The business and technology

landscape has neverchanged as quickly as it

is doing now. At Atos, our

responsibility is to stay

one step ahead o this evolution

and help our clients to do the same.Our Ascent initiatives are designed

to share with our partners and

customers advance innovation

and thought leadership on emerging

trends in many areas. This Ascent

magazine explores one specific areain which Atos is proud to have a

unique track record: sport.

Technology is driving excellence

in sport more than ever beore

whether its smart equipment, kit ordata analysis. Its also transorming

the experience or ans who get

an enhanced experience whether

watching live or remotely.It is now more than two decades

since we began working with the

Olympic and Paralympic Games.

In the years since our first Games,

inormation technology has moved

rom being a support unction to

an integral part o the successuldelivery o any event.

London 2012 heralded another

milestone as the world experienced

its most connected Games. We are

proud to have worked with the

In the pages o this magazine,

the Atos Scientiic Community

asks us to imagine a 100m sprint

inal with eight people none owhom are in the same location.

That could actually happen at an

Olympic Games in the orseeable

uture. Each athlete could run in his

or her own city, and yet they couldappear together as holograms in

the same race. You could imagine

a ull house at Londons Olympic

Stadium cheering on the runners

they see in ront o them even

though none o the athletes arephysically in London.

Over the next decade, sport

is going to transorm like this.

The experience o the athlete,

spectator and television viewer(though television may soon

become as outdated a word as

telegram or ax) will change

more than they have perhaps since

the irst Olympic stadium went up

in Greece nearly 3,000 years ago.This Ascentmagazine, drawing

on the insights o the AtosScientiic Community as well as

those o outside experts, tries to

oresee some o those changes.

We talk about the new spectator,

who will become more or less hisor her own TV director, choosing

which slices o the action they

watch and re-watch, and rom

which perspective. Soon, they

will be able to see the tennis ball

through the eyes o Raael Nadal.They can compare Nadals

blood-sugar levels, hydration levels

and heartrate with his opponents.Ater the match, in lieu o the old-

ashioned press conerence, theycan chat virtually to Nadal himsel.

Yet beneath all this technology

something eternal remains.

As Jean-Benoit Gauthier, Chie

Inormation Oicer o theInternational Olympic Committee,

rightly insists: You must leave the

athletes at the centre. The athletes

are magniicent.

Thierry Breton,Chairman and CEO, Atos

Simon Kuper,Guest Editor Contents

ForewordWelcome

International Olympic Committee

(IOC), the International ParalympicCommittee (IPC) and the London

organizers to help them deliver

what was a remarkable success.

But our job is as much to look

orward as it is to deliver in thepresent. Specifically, in this magazine,

we want to examine what sport and

technology might look like in the year

2020 knowing very well that what

we anticipate or sport will also apply

to business in every other field.Our business technologists rom

the Atos Scientific Community have

helped to identiy and have put

their perspective on the key themes

they expect to bring the greatestchanges: Big Data, new media, social

networks, smart stadia and ubiquity.

You can read an in-depth eature on

each as well as find examples o how,where and why they will be applied.

O course, integrated with all ive

o these themes are two trends that

underpin all others: cloud computing

and security. Increasingly, we all

expect 24/7/365 service via the

cloud in every aspect o lie and we expect it to be ully secure.

To help bring all these inter-related

topics to lie, we have contributions

rom those who will be at the

oreront o developments. Among

the many contributors we a

honored to include are IOC P

Jacques Rogge, IPC Chie Ex

Xavier Gonzalez, Chair o th

London 2012 Organizing CoSebastian Coe and Presiden

Sochi 2014 Organizing Com

Dmitry Chernyshenko.

London 2012 was the mos

technologically advanced Gthe world has seen, somethi

is proud to have contributed

its vision on sports and tech

helps to power progress in s

Our job is as much to look orwardas it is to deliver in the present.Specifcally, in this magazine, we wantto glimpse what sport and technologymight look like in the year 2020

Social Networks

04 Infographic

06 Seb Coe (London 2012); Analysis

09 Dmitry Chernyshenko (Sochi 2014)

09 Facebook vs blueKiwi

Big Data10 Analysis

14 Winning by numbers

16 Simon Kuper on football

Smart Stadia (pull-out)

Analysis

Infographic

Rod Sheard (Populous) Q&A

New Media

20 Analysis

22 Owen Slots video vault

23 Steve Crams broadcast view

24 Xavi Gonzalez (IPC)

Ubiquity

26 Analysis

29 Life in 2020

Towards 2020

19 Jargon buster

19 MITs SENSEable City vision

30 Simon Kuper meets Jean-BenoitGauthier (IOC)

32 Elly Resende (Rio 2016)

34 My 2020: Teddy Riner

35 Tech trends to watch


3/22

04

Social networks

20202012

2012

2012

2020

2020

2020

4 billionestimated global audience or London 2012

1 billionpeople shared London 2012 content via social networks

1,000athletes joining the Olympic Athletes Hub at hub.olympic.org

hub.olympic.org

10,500all athletes will be on the hub by 2020

3000%orecast increase in data trafic by 2020

5 billionexpected to rise to at least 5bn by 2020, as two thirds o the worlds

population gain access to mobile broadband

57%o the worlds population

66%o the worlds population

2012

100% estimated by 20202020

proportion o viewers who subscribe to a mobile broadband network25%

Ld 2012 was the st lked

ad hghest-tredg sprtg

evet hstry. But ths s just

the start. By the te f the

2020 Gaes, scal etwrks

wll be tegral t every aspect

f ur lves ad a erus

geeratr f sprtg data

A vision f scal

etwrks w ad the

2012

2012

2012

2012

2012

2012

2012

76 miLLion2020

1.3 billiontotal active users o Facebook, YouTube and Tw

4.3 billionestimated total subscribers to a social interace

80,000 tweets/secondpeak during London 2012 (or the Mens 100m Final)

1.7 million likeso London 2012 on Facebook

Oficial London 2012 pages existed on

FacebookTwitter

YouTube& Flickr

Growth in data trafic rom 2012 to 2020

30x

There will be

OneGameschannelthat you will access through your social network

1.9 ll fllwerso London 2012 on Twitter

6.8 millionlikesestimated or the 2020 Games

660,000 messages/second 7.6 million followersvia single social interace estimate or the 2020 Games

Most ollowed Olympic athlete was Lebron James (Basketball)

Who will be the most ollowed athl

19 ll

2020

2020

2020

2020 2020


4/22

Comment

The challenge aced by any

Organizing Committee

is to essentially host26 simultaneous world

championships in a couple

o weeks, beore doing it all again or

the Paralympic Games. At London

2012, there were more than 15,000athletes, 6,000 oicials, 25,000

accredited media, 11 million tickets

and we served something in the

region o 15 million meals.

But that only tells hal the

story. Many o these igures wouldnot be wildly diferent rom previous

Games. Where London smashed

records into oblivion and changed

the ace o the Olympic and

Paralympic Movements orever wasin terms o social media.

At Sydney 2000, barely anyone

had ast internet connections; in

2004, in Athens hardly anyone had asmart phone; or the summer Gamesin Beijing, not many people had a

social networking account. Facebook

had only just taken of and i you

were on Twitter you werent just

ahead o the trend, you were at

the oreront.People no longer just passively

consume the Games rom their

armchair. They are part o the

action. They can comment on

content, interact with the a thletes,

create and publish their own

content. Where previously they

would watch the television, read the

paper and talk to their amily, riendsor work colleagues about what

they had seen, they can now talk

to thousands o people worldwide,

within seconds o an event inishing.

People ollowing London 2012were able to do so through our

website at www.london2012.com

where they saw real-time results;

they could ollow us on Twitter; they

could ollow each individual sport on

Twitter. They could even ollow ourmascots, Wenlock and Mandeville on

Twitter. You could view our content

on YouTube, or see our photos on

Flickr. Our two smart phone apps

were downloaded by 15 millionpeople worldwide, with 5.8 million

also upgrading to the Paralympic

versions.

Around 4.7 billion people watched

at least part o the Beijing Games

and most o them on television. Aspeople can now watch on their PC,

their tablets and their smart phones,

this number was signiicantly higher

or London 2012.

Many more chose to experiencethe Games urther through any

number o the above channels. They

engaged diferently and shared

millions o hours o content, more

oten than not, their own.For me, the next challenge is to

make the most o the opportunities

social media presents. Never beorehas there been such a channel to

interact with the world, especially

with young people. What we needto try to crack next is how do we use

it efectively? How can we use it to

get them out and about and active,

using the very devices they live on to

challenge and inspire them.I have no doubt that the next Games

and the Games ater that will only

continue this rapid advancement.

By Sebastian Coe,Chair of London 2012

Social media use in London will

transform the Movement forever

.06

Working the crowd

Atos social media

expert Jan Krans tells

Chris Maillard about a

near future in which

every aspect of a major

sports event will be fully

integrated with social

networks

Do you use social media? Are you

on Facebook or LinkedIn? Or

Instagram? Twitter, possibly?Foursquare? MySpace? Pinterest?

Google+?

You probably answered no to some o

those. But do you use email? The answer is

almost certainly yes.At the moment, email seems to be

an immovable, essential eature o the

communication landscape. But the rapid rise

o social networks has seen young people

start to turn their back on the medium.

And, increasingly, businesscommunication, collaboration and

knowledge sharing is also taking place over

social platorms, as the so-called Enterprise

2.0 model takes hold.

By 2020, email will be dead. All onlinecommunication will be conducted over a

single interace, no matter whether youre

a skateboarding teen or a Government

minister. And i that sounds like a big change,its just the start.

When network capacity and mobile

technology catch up with the always

on generations heavy use o rich social

media such as video and audio, there will

be many ar-reaching shits in the way we

communicate, do business, create brands,meet riends, even watch television.

Right at the ront o the starting grid or

this massive social media-led change is

sport. With its relatively young, international

anbase and its world-beating use o

Social networks

the event in a very dierent way.

It will ofer a rich user experienc

the channels (video and so on) will bto deliver. Just like you choose a ch

your TV, you will choose a social ch

By 2020, all inormation will be

across all screens. And a much gre

percentage o text communicationvoice-generated rather than typed

will make it much easier to update

status or message your riends on

perhaps while youre driving or, i y

an athlete, even while taking part i

This transormation will be enabledaccessibility o cloud technology.

Ater an event, ans will be a ble t

some o the moments; you cant rew

live sports event, so you mark some

events or later analysis or playbackwill create a community where ans

speciic moments in the game.

As a an, you can make your own

summary o the game and share it wother ans and riends. Spectators awill be able to get ar more involved

the experience will run beore, durin

ater the event.

The question is oten asked as to

role old media traditional broadca

and news outlets will play in a utueveryone can gain access to rich co

instantly via social sources. But Kran

many ways or these organizations

Broadcasters have the chance to

with social media: analyze the audie

By 2020, emailwill be dead.And if thatsounds like a

big change, itsjust the start

technology or multi-channel broadcasts andinteractive global events, its already strong

social element and its ready supply o data,

expect to see sport leading the charge.Social media has so ar revolved around

people, explains Jan Krans o the Atos

Scientiic Community, but in the uture itwill increasingly revolve around events.

As a supporter, you will use your existing

social credentials to log on, but then youll

join the event network. My eeling is that

you wont need Facebook to do that by then.In 2020, I expect social media to behave

almost like a TV channel. You become a

member and log in and what you will get

rom that is the opportunity to experience


5/22

Sochi: allnetworks

.08

sell subscriptions, like buying an app.

They have a lot to ofer in this world; inside

tories and studio recordings that they canmake available exclusively because o their

ontacts and access.

The beginnings o this phenomenon are

lready being thought about. At his recent

peech at the Cannes Lions awards orreative communication, Twitters chie

executive Dick Costolo was keen to push the

dea o Twitter becoming the second screen

o television.

Though when integration becomes more

widespread, o course, your main screenwill be a mobile one that is always with you,

nd youll use it or social media, video, TV,

messaging, and audio.

Not surprisingly, much o Costolos angle

was commercially driven; social networksre still working through the process o how

o efectively monetize their members and

orporate users.

Atos uturist Krans has a ew ideashere too, particularly in the ield o sport.Commercially, there are ascinating

possibilities, he says. Supporters are

becoming much more brand-aware. They are

eager to know all about their avourite sports.

Sponsors will be able to analyze

upporterss behavior via social media, whichgenerates large amounts o detailed data, to

ee i their brand works in that market.

They will get good marketing statistics

nd know all the background to purchasing

decisions, which will enable better targeting.

The real questionis around privacyand getting the

balance right

Social networks

For athletes, more sharing and,

thereore, more efectively attracting an

audience is very attractive to potentialsponsors: it gives their sponsorship ar

more impact.

Also, there are other potential beneits.

I the athlete has a list o ans, they could

ofer discount on sponsors products to thoseans. This could become a new advertising

and marketing model.

Social networks could use sport as a way o

monetizing themselves and selling products.

They could act as brokers. Thats certainly a

potential business model or them.The efect o social media wont only be

elt of the ield o play. Krans oresees

numerous ways in which it will become

integrated into perormance.

Athletes will be able to exchange

inormation more easily between themselvesand clubs or coaches. Training dates can be

distributed to team members and they can

record and share training regimes with their

club or team too although, o course, top

athletes will still keep secrets.Social media will be a normal part o

being an athlete, but it wont replace itness

and talent. The most popular athletes will

still be the ones who perorm best on the

ield o play.

The scouting process will change though.By 2020 clubs and teams will be able to tap

into their anbase to ind talent. As in the

phrase the wisdom o crowds, you will go to

the social networks to ind out who is being

talked about and who is being recommendedas an up-and-coming talent.

O course, you can choose to listen to it or

not, but currently talent spotting is a major

expense in sport. Social media, assuming it

is used well, could make the process much

more eicient.Its an interesting thought, and prompts

consideration o the many other ways data

rom social networks can be used to optimize

aspects o sport and event management.

Take security, or example. There aretwo sides to this question, says Krans. On

the one hand, people are always concerned

that social networks make it easier or

criminal groups to mobilize. But it is clear

and we are already seeing examples o this that social networks can also be a great

source o intelligence or government and

security agencies.

For me, the real question here is around

privacy and getting the balance right

between protecting peoples social data andensuring the security o the public at events.

That will be one o the major challenges

between now and 2020.

But i security is a concern, a big

opportunity or event organizers lies in theemergence o social sotware platorms as

a better way o communicating, exchangingassets and transerring knowledge,

both internally and with suppliers and

stakeholders, and indeed rom one

organizing committee to the next.Krans says: Its going to mean events

will become more open and transparent

in their organization, and it will inevitably

optimize business processes across

the board.And thats surely more than enough

to console anyone still mourning the demise

o email.

The Sochi 2014logo (right)

is a statement o intent to

embrace digital technology.Howimportant are digital

andsocial communications?

Extremely important our

logo was designed to relect

this ocus in our overallcommunications or Sochi

2014. The logo is the irst

Olympic Games emblem that

orms a web address and

that puts a clear emphasis

on reaching new audiencesthrough digital platorms.

Inwhat ways willsocial

media bringa new

dimensionto the Games?

Social media is a great way

or us to communicate with

ans beore and during the

Games. Fans will be ableto tweet, tag and blog like

never beore. It will givethem an opportunity to

react to the news and events

taking place in our stadiums.

It will ofer a unique orum

to engage in conversationswith ellow ans, athletes and

partners o the Games.

London2012 is being

describedas the rst social

media Games, but twoyears is a longtime inthat

eld. Howwillit have

movedonor Sochi?

Within the Olympic Family

and Paralympic Family,

digital communicationstools are being explored

continually. Over the next

two years we will see an

increase in the numbers

o people active on socialmedia, with the result that

during the Sochi 2014

Olympic Games there will

be a much larger community

to engage with.

Howdo youplan to harness

socialnetworks to enhance

the Games experience?

We are planning this now.

We want to use our socialplatorms to enhance our

ans experience. We are a

digital brand and understand

the vast beneits digital

platorms and engagementcan add to the consumer

experience at the Games.

Howuseul is the

opportunity to be able to

responddirectly to ans

andmedia usingsocialmedia andwhat are

the parameters?

It is extremely important.

Never beore have we had

a platorm rom which wecan respond to comments

and questions in real time.

Social media provides us

with a unique opportunity

to interact directly with thepeople who will be visiting

and supporting the Games

in Russia.

Youare personally well

knownas anenthusiastictweeter. Howofendo you

check your eed?

I check it throughout theday. Its a great platorm to

not only engage with thedigital community but to

demonstrate Sochi 2014s

Olympic values o excellence,

riendship and respect. With

less than two years to go, it is

great to see the momentumbuilding on our social media

channels. As our digital

community grows, so does

the excitement.

Dmitry Chernyshenko, Presidentand CEO of Sochi 2014, explains

how social media is central to

his vision for the Games

Whats next

Sporting events are some o the mo

about things on Facebook. Fans, ath

and teams come together to share stories with an audience o more th

million people. We work with partne

across the industry to help them bu

experiences or ans, whether throu

websites, on mobile or via the Facenews eed. The integrations were se

rom broadcasters around the Gam

the sort o thing wed expect to bec

part o the everyday viewing exper

For example, the new BBC Sport ap

simultaneously show up to 24 streathe Games or people to pick what t

watch and NBC Olympics will integr

social data into its live broadcasts.

Were used to the idea o social netwo

a great way to connect people, and it

its way into the proessional world main issues or organizations are a

o security and privacy. It could be a

team, or example, discussing sched

the techniques and strategies they w

There is so much inormation you wkeep within a dedicated group o peo

platorms like blueKiwi will build this

while enabling sharing. Then, suppo

athlete has been preparing or the O

Games or 18 months. What happensideas, conversations, meetings, phon

suggestions aterwards? With an en

social-media platorm, these will be

and turned into assets data that ca

improved upon in the uture. Some o

be shared with the public, but the resdistilled as the secret sauce or utur

Acquired by Atos in April 2012, blue

enterprise social software makes it

companies to create uniquely produ

collaborative working environment

Christian HernandezDirector of PlatformPartnerships, Facebo

For sport? We ask b

leader Facebook an

the emergent blueK

Jean-Luc VaCEO, blueKi


6/22

.10

20,000BC

1086

2AD 19641912

5700BC 19601896

1837

1972

The reeree clears the

penalty area and

a hush alls over

the stadium. The

goalkeeper stares intohe eyes o the oppositions

triker, then walks slowly back

o his line. In the dugout, a

glance at his monitor tells the

oach that his strikers heart

ate has soared to 180bpm. Hehecks the rest o the team and

his young winger is as cool as a

ucumber, his heartbeat barely

opping 90bpm.

He also sees that the wingerhas a 95% success rate at

penalties and the sentiment

rom the social network is all

bout the kids conidence on

he big stage. The coach makesn instant decision and relays it

nto his microphone. Fity yards

way, the striker tosses the ball

o his young teammate.

The winger runs up. He shoots.

The goalkeeper dives and theball lies into the opposite corner

o the net. The crowd erupts. Its

nother victory or Big Data.

Whether or not this picture

o uture ootball becomeseality, the act is that the data

will be available to make it so.

The term Big Data describes

volumes o data so large,

omplex and dynamic that

hey cannot be processed usingraditional data-management

echnologies and techniques.

It is already making a

igniicant contribution to

port and by 2020 it will be thedriving orce that takes it to a

new level: better perormance,

mproved spectator experience,

Tally stickcore marks on animal

bones are the oldest knownemnants o mans need totore data

Domesday BookThe public record isintroduced to England byWilliam the Conqueror

CensusThe oldest survivingpopulation census isconducted under ChinasHan dynasty

Results mainrameThe Olympic Games movesits results database rompaper to computer

Photo finishStockholm 1912 sees theirst use o automatictimekeeping and the photoinish at the Olympic Games

AbacusThe irst abaci emerge inAsia and the Middle East,allowing data to be storedand calculated

Punch cardsOlympic Games results aretallied using computer punchcards or the irst time atthe Winter Games in SquawValley, Caliornia

StopwatchAt the irst modern OlympicGames, times are recordedmechanically and loggedon paper

Analytical engineA hundred years ahead o itstime, Charles Babbage inventsthe worlds irst generalpurpose computer

PCThe home computlaunched with the programmable despersonal compute

A brief history of data storage and its use in sport

Big Data

Imagineseeing aspeedometeron Usain Bolt

Why Big Datawill lead tobetter sport

By 2020, sports success and IT will

be linked inextricably. Celestino

Gemes, Atos Big Data expert, talksto Ascent about the connections

between athletes and analysts

Byteson the benchCoaches will becomebig users of Big Datafor tactical decisions

and better business.

Athletes are used to checking

stats, whether its reps in the

gym, pass completion or batting

averages, but the next decadewill see them adopting ar

more sophisticated orms o

data analysis. So says Celestino

Gemes, Head o Solutions R&D,

Atos Worldgrid Spain.

Historically, data has comerom relatively simple, one-

dimensional sources, but well

be able to aggregate input

rom a much broader ield; or

example social data, as wellas automatic video analysis

and smart biometric clothes

and equipment. It means that

athletes and their coaches will

be able to get a much morerounded, qualitative view o

their perormance, both in

training and during play.

Not only will this enable them

to hone their perormance and

conduct more comprehensiveanalysis o their opponents, it

will also help them to stay it,

by using historical data to

see the patterns that lead to

potential injury, or even lie-threatening medical problems,

such as the tragic heart attack

sufered in April 2012 by Livorno

midielder Piermario Morosini,

only a month ater Bolton

Wanderers Fabrice Muambasnear atal collapse.

For the spectator, these high

volumes o data will enable a

ar richer watching experience,

in both the live arena and viabroadcast. The way the data

is analyzed and presented

what Gemes calls the

instead o his shirt numsee a speedometer sho

how ast hes running. T

o in-light data visualiz

already within our capa

Watch the Olympic Swiand the national lags y

appear on screen in the

each swimmer touches

result o data being cap

beautiul visualization o

statistics will be key. The

skill will lie in extracting the

meaningul picture rom this

vast aggregation o data

through clever analysis andpresenting it in a way that is

easy to comprehend: with

striking graphics, perhaps

layered onto live video pictures

known as augmented reality.

A simple example, and one

that viewers are already amiliar

with, is the on-screen graphic

showing distance rom a ree-kick to the goal. Augmented

reality will develop this into ar

more sophisticated and exciting

visuals. Imagine watching Usain

Bolt in the 100 Metres, but


7/22

.12

2000 2006 2012

2004 2011Smart phone

The launch o the irstommercial smart phone

CloudGoogle and Amazon takecloud computing to theoreront o the IT agenda

Social GamesThe IOCs Olympic AthletesHub aggregates social mediaposts rom 1,000 athletes

CommentatorInormation SystemAtos CIS data systemdelivers Athens 2004Olympic Games resultsin less than 0.3 seconds

Foot podsAdidas utilises oot podtechnology in its adizero50 smart boot, with achip that records motion

analyzed and visualized within

0.3 seconds o each touch.

Fans will be able to play

with the data, adds Gemes,

selecting diferent views ashey desire, and even using

t to create their own visual

epresentations, rather as

YouTube users create their own

musical montages now. For the

thletes themselves, personaldata will become a commodity,

electively packaged and sold

or sponsorship activation,

education, gaming and

pectator inormation. And thisenhanced viewing experience

wont be limited to television;

pectators at the event will

be able to access and interact

with the data by pointingheir personal device at the

ction and with interactive

nographics on their screen.

The current generation o

young sports ans is well versed

Big Data

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uma

Mus

clepowe

r

Electro

myo

graph

sens

orsitted

to

smartkitwillmeasure

electric

alsigna

lsro

m

themus

cles

,indicatin

g

signs

otiringor

impe

ndinginjury

Anomaliesin datapatterns could

become anearly warningof somethingwrong

in using IT and these interactions

with data in sport will become

second nature. Fans will also play

a signiicant role in the input o

data, via the social network. Andthis brings us on to the role o

managing high volumes o data

or sports organizers.

The value o data in sports

business cannot be overstated.

Soon it will be possible or clubsand administrators to store

valuable inormation securely in

the Cloud and access it instantly

in clear, comprehensible

ormats. This will help them toknow their audience inside out

and tailor their supply much

more accurately to demand.

Dynamic pricing, or

example, has already beenintroduced in America in

baseball, basketball and ice

hockey, says Gemes, with

clubs adjusting their prices in

response to the opposition,

managed through systematic

testing o all competitors over

long periods o time.Using data to point out

reak perormances could

enable more targeted testing.

That, in turn, would help sports

like cycling, or example, to

continue to its battle againstperormance-enhancing drugs

and to restore public conidence

in the integrity o competitors.

O course, this will raise an

ethical debate: would a eatlike Bob Beamons long jump

in 1968, which smashed the

world record by nearly two eet,

mean an athlete becoming the

instant target o suspicion? It willbe interesting to see how the

authorities choose to apply this

particular data strand.

Its one o the big questions

arising rom the use o Big Data.

Another is how it will afect thecompetitive ield as a whole. Will

the clever application o data

enable less wealthy clubs to

steal a march on wealthier but

less orward-thinking rivals, as itdid or the Oakland As baseball

team? Or will such advantages

be leeting, beore the giants

cotton on and take the use o

data to a new level. Time will tell.Traditionalists may worry that

so much statistical analysis will

take the emotion out o sport,

yet Gemes argues there are

aspects o sport where emotion

undoubtedly gets in the way.Big Data will enable a more

scientiic approach to sports

management, which in turn will

enhance perormance. And thats

where emotion takes over.

ThequantifableathleteBy 2020, almost every part

of an athletes biometrywill be measurable,

allowing coaches to make

adjustments in real time

Brainwaves measured b

electroencephalograph

via skullcaps or tiny adh

sensors will give a read-

o an athletes mental st

in real time. Aspects suc

relaxation, concentratio

agitation can be identii

a coach in crucial pressu

situations. In training, a can identiy situations w

athlete switches of an

the training regime unt

desired level o concent

achieved. And beore a p

shoot-out, instead o loo

into the players eyes an

to gauge which ones ha

courage to hold their ne

coach could pick his pe

takers according to EEG

Mind game

players on show and even the

weather. Add in data rom the

social network and organizers

will be able to see directly the

level o appeal any given gamehas or their audience.

This sentiment analysis will

also enable them to gauge

reaction to their players, the

teams perormance and PR

issues in real time: the vocalreaction o the live crowd being

augmented by the tweets and

posts o the broadcast audience.

Coaches and management

will be able to respond asthey see it.

Assuming that patterns o

data will provide the majority

o insights, anomalies in those

patterns could become an earlywarning o something amiss.

Athlete integrity is currently


8/22

.14

When Atos Big Data

expert Celestino

Gemes looks to

the uture o sports

perormance, he sees

stage upon which the best players

re able to perorm to the best o their

bility more requently, thanks to the

pplication o Big Data.

Gemes, the Head o Solutions

R&D at Atos Worldgrid Spain, says:

More inormation will come rom

thletes. It will be gathered much

aster too, using biometric sensors

n clothing and equipment, plus

video-motion analysis, that will

elay data showing how an athlete

s perorming in real time.

We will add data rom other

ources too, or example social data

rom Twitter eeds, weather data and

o on, and you will be able to assessperormance rom dierent angles,

ombining all these views.

In training, athletes will be able to

gather their own perormance data,

upload it to a biometrically secured

pace in the cloud, and perorm their

own analysis. This will give coaches ar

greater flexibility, even allowing them

o train their athletes remotely.

The data gathered can be used in

wo ways: to spot patterns and identiy

igns o improvement, weakness or

Big Data

A measuredperformance

Boom timesDutch sailor Marit Bouwmeesterrelies increasingly on Big Data

even potential injury; and real time

data providing in-flight analysis so

the coach can adjust the training as

it happens in order to meet precisely

calculated targets.

Real-time analysis will play a much

bigger role in competition too. Smart

shoes and boots are already available,

clocking running speed, distance

covered, turning and more; a smart

tennis racket is being live tested;

and as smart clothing becomes

ubiquitous, the dug-outs o the

worlds stadia will come to resemble

You cancombine pureanalytics withcrowdsourcing,where fansare activelyinvolved

SailingWhether its GPS or the us

high-definition video oot

to assess how maneuvers

carried out at sea, data pla

huge role. Weather oreca

tools are also being adapt

rom military systems to p

detailed knowledge o co

beore a race.

AthleticsImagine a team o more th

20 scientists and technicia

assessing every aspect o

you run the 100m; while a

zooms along beside you ta

pictures at 1,500 rames a

At the top end o athletics,

a normal day at training.

RugbyThe sport o rugby has pio

the use o GPS to capture p

data. Elite players wear GP

monitors in matches, gene

data that is used to measu

perormance, track injury

identiy positional demand

CyclingThe high-perorming Britis

Cycling team deploys a tim

system based on military

technology that uses laser

and bar codes on riders to

exact identification, split ti

and velocity data. Bikes ca

orce measurements, velo

and accelera

and the dis all logg

real time

video str

direct

coa

t

The sportsleading thedata revolut

the pits in Formula One, with laptops

relaying a constant flow o data.

Therell be much more o an

interace between the coaches and

the athletes, says Gemes. They

will be able to change tact ics in-flight

because o that inormation.

One interesting aspect will be

the addition o social data into

the mix. Increasingly, social media

will come to be considered part o

watching a sporting event with the

ability to gauge the social pulse

o the event being integral to the

overall experience. Aggregating social

data with all the other perormance

data will provide an added dimension

that could well see coaches

responding to spectator sentiment.

Pass completion, or example, can

be a misleading statistic, but it will be

possible, with pattern recognition, totrace each pass urther down t he line

so you can gauge the eectiveness o

that pass with the emphasis moving

more to pass appreciation.

I think there is an important role

or the human part in Big Data, says

Gemes. You can combine pure

analytics with crowdsourcing, where

ans are actively involved in analysing

data. I done properly it could lead to

better decisions and a more engaged

an base.

Ascent learns that in the futu re, even the fans will

have a say as data drives sports performance


9/22

.16

Roberto Mancini, Manchester Citys

manager, knew in his gut that the

most dangerous corner was the

outswinger. His many years o

playing ootball had taught him so.It took a while or Citys large team o data

analysts to persuade him otherwise. They

had analyzed more than 400 corners, rom

dierent leagues, over several seasons, and

concluded that the most dangerous corner

was actually the inswinger.The beauty o the inswinger was that it

sent the ball straight into the danger zone

around goal. One touch rom a striker, or an

accidental delection o a deender, and it

was in the net. All in all, the stats showed,inswingers produced more goals.

Gradually, the analysts persuaded Mancini

to go with numbers over gut. Over the course

o last season, City began hitting more and

more inswinging corners. By the seasons end

they had scored 15 goals rom corners, more

than any other team in Englands PremierLeague. Ten o those goals had come rom

inswingers, including Vincent Kompanys

header at home against Manchester United

that eectively won City the league title. You

could argue that data analysis decided thePremier League.

Yet the data revolution in ootball has only

just got started. When it comes to statistics,

the worlds biggest sport is one o the most

backward. Too many senior people in ootball

are still traditionalists driven by their gut and less willing to accept the evidence o

data. To understand where ootball will be

10 years rom now, we need to look at

possibly the worlds most statistically

advanced ballgame, which is baseb

Billy Beane, general manager o thOakland As baseball team, the man

portrayed in the ilm Moneyball by

spends a lot o time thinking about t

o data in ootball . Its not simply tha

in the 1990s more or less started the

revolution in all sports. Its also that hmany Americans over the past ew y

become a ootball nut. He ell or the

a romantic vacation in London with

and now spends many hours on a ba

soa in the As dilapidated clubhouseootball on TV, while his bemused ba

players watch him wondering why h

wasting his time on a sissy European

Some critics argue that the data a

that revolutionized baseball cant w

ootball. Baseball, they point out, is start game. The pitcher pitches, the

hits, and that isolated event produc

o data or the statisticians to crunc

the conservatives say, ootball is too

game to allow that kind o analysis?Well, or a start, about a third o g

ootball dont come rom luid play

rom deadball situations: reekicks

throwins and penalties. Those are s

plays that rather resemble a pitch inIndeed, ootballs leading teams are

applying data analysis to dead balls

Beore the HollandSpain World C

o 2010, I contacted Ignacio Palacio

proessor at the London School o Ec

He is a game theoretician and possiworlds leading expert on penalties

in the Netherlands, support Holland

a good contact inside the Dutch cam

Ignacio be interested in writing a re

Holland on Spains penaltytakers, ti the inal went to a penalty shooto

said Ignacio.

But wouldnt he as a Spaniard min

Spain lose the inal? Im a Basque. I

mind at all, he replied. Then I conta

Dutch camp and oered them his reThe Dutch decided they wanted i

spent several nights researching it.

morning o the inal, we got an emathe Dutch keepers trainer saying,

report we can use perectly. Ten mrom the end o extra time, up in the

in Johannesburgs Soccer City, I was

longer watching the game but rerea

pd o Ignacios report on my laptop

predicted how players like FernandoXavi and Andres Iniesta were likely t

their penalties. He had also ound th

keeper, Iker Casillas, was weaker on

hit to his let. I thought, I this repo

I could be about to help Holland win

More sports are using data toinform strategy and the trend

is set to accelerate as huge

new quantities and types of

data become available. But

when will football catch up,

asks Simon Kuper

Big Data

Footballsdata withdestiny

Aintgotthatswing?Data analysis showsthat inswinging cornerslead to more goals


10/22

.18

World Cup. At the same time I thought, But

its wrong, I could be about to help them lose

t. Then Iniesta scored and thankully or my

ardiac health, the shootout never happened.

But this is the way data analysis in ootball ismoving. Beane says: I dont buy the idea that

trust my eyes more than the stats, because

ve seen magicians pull rabbits out o hats

nd I just know that rabbits not in there.

The complexity o data in ootball just

keeps increasing. In a decade, big clubswill probably have something like chie

normation oficers (though they wont

be called CIOs), who manage teams o

tatisticians. Beore a match, or beore a

decision on who to buy or sell, the coachnd the clubs CIO and a ew other senior

people will get together and work out what

o do. The CIO will be listened to in a way

hat statisticians simply arent now (except

perhaps inside the German national team).Ten years rom now, the complexity o

data in ootball will be such that the oldstyle

utocratic total manager who ruled a club

alone, an Arsne Wenger or an Alex Ferguson,

will no longer be thinkable. Clubs will

increasingly be run by the wisdom o crowds.By then, not just dead balls but even

the luid parts o a ootball game will be

mapped. Germany which uses data

analysis better than any other national team

is already working on that. Beore every

game Germanys Team Cologne, basedat Colognes Sporthochschule, perorms

data analysis on how the opposing side

builds and deends. The search is always or

weaknesses. For instance, beore Euro 2012

Team Cologne established that Hollandsdeenders tended to position themselves

more than the ideal eight to 10 metres apart.

When Germany met Holland in Kharkiv,

the Germans ound the gaps in the Dutch

deence and won 2-1.Someone who has thought harder than

most about what shape data analysis o

ootball might take in the uture is Beanes

righthand man at Oakland, Farhan Zaidi.

The director o baseball operations at the

As is an MIT economics graduate with asense o humour. Hes the sort o guy youd

expect to meet late one night in a bar in a

college town ater a gig, not at a proessional

sports club. For work, Zaidi crunches baseball

stats. But he and Beane spend much o their

time arguing about their other loves: theBritish band Oasis, and ootball .

In 2006, in the middle o the baseball

season, he and Beane traveled to the World

Cup in Germany together. We spend so

much time together, chuckles Zaidi, thati all we ever talked about was the numbers

on these spreadsheets, we would have killed

each other a long time ago.

Because Zaidi knows where the data

revolution in baseball has gone, he can make

predictions or ootball . Footballs holy grail,he thinks, is a stat he calls Goal Probability

Added. That stat would capture how much

each players actions over his career increased

the chance o his team scoring, or decreased

it. Zaidi explains: With some o the tools thatare being created now to track everything

thats happening on the ootball ield, I really

eel like this is the next rontier: having enough

data so that whenever a player advances

the ball rom point A to point B on the ield,you know that play has happened 100 times

beore, and you know exactly how valuable

it is. So i a ball is in grid one o the ield,

you know that over the next ive minutes the

team scores a goal 0.5 per cent o the time.

Now that player advances it to grid six, say.You know that the team scores a goal in the

next ive minutes with a probability o 2 per

cent rom there. Hes raised the probability

o scoring by 1.5 per cent.

Does this mean that one day punditsmight say things like: Luis Suarez has a

Goal Probability Added o 0.60, but Andy

Carrolls GPA is only 0.56?

Zaidi replied, I think that will happen,

because thats what happened in baseball.

We talk now about players in ways that wewouldnt have dreamed o 10 or 15 years

ago. Even in ootball, brain will eventually

supersede gut.

We talk aboutplayers in waysthat we wouldnthave dreamed of10 or 15 years ago

Big Data


11/22

Eric Baczuk of MITs SENSEable City Lab oratory tells

Max Leonard how the data we generate with our smart

phoneswillhelptodesign OlympicHostCitiesof thefuture

A sense-ablevision of 2020

ne o the more unusual

contributions to the London2012 Cultural Olympiad

was the Emoto project. It

measured the worldwide

audiences emotional response to the

London 2012 Games, siting Tweets orGames-related themes, then divining the

sentiment o each one. The result was an

evolving, real-time online visualization o

the global mood, and eventually a data

sculpture a testament to the worldseelings about the Games. On paper,

Emoto sounds intriguing; in practise, it

is potentially one o the most exciting

contributions to London 2012, one that has

huge ramiications on how we organize,deliver and enjoy uture Games.

How might human emotions do that?

Thats where the MIT SENSEable City

Laboratory, one o Emotos creators,

comes in. It combines data analysison a city-wide scale with an interest in

urban inrastructure and in how humanactivity aects speciic places. Unlike some

visions o the smart city o the uture, the

SENSEable City Labs work doesnt require

vast new inrastructure or electronics: it

takes the ever-increasing wealth o dataout there, adds some processing power

to crunch the numbers, and correlates

seemingly unrelated data sources to provide

powerul and unexpected insights. It joins

the dots, makes patterns comprehensibleand uses this inormation to create better

places to live.

Wedoa lotowork withsmartphones,

becausetheyreubiquitous,andtheyhave

enormouscomputing potential,Eric Baczuk,GE ResearchFellow atSENSEableCity Lab,

says.Thecityisa multiacetedplace,with

complex interrelationshipsand dynamics.

Aneasyexamplemightbecombining

mapsoprecipitationpatterns,taxipick-upsandcellphoneusage.Iwelook at the

intersectionoallthree,whatarethetrends

thatcomeoutothedata,whatcanwe

learn?When it rains, people take more taxis.

But what does that have to do with sport?The Olympic Games are a once-in-a-lietime

event or most cities: when it comes to

getting it right, there are no second chances.

And social media sites are essentially huge

resources o hard data on those most

unpredictable o things: human eelings.

As such, they are incredibly valuable.It might be obvious to speculate that i

Usain Bolt breaks the record in the 100m

there will be celebrations and good eeling

in Jamaica; but what i you could, say,

measure in real-time the British nationsreaction to an unexpected star perormance

by TeamGB in Handball? Perhaps youd

lay on more trains and buses to open-air

screens, adjust the TV schedules, or even

Towards 2020

Attendinga sports eventin 2020will be a safer,smoother,richer

experience,Atos majorevents expert

Jordi Cuarterotells Luke Ponsford

These days, an

excursion to a major

outdoor event is astraightorward aair.

You buy tickets online,

make your way to the stadium

and enjoy the spectacle. You

might buy some ood and drink,even a souvenir or two. This

may involve a little pushing

and shoving, and a degree o

queuing. But thats what we

expect o the modern stadiumexperience; a degree o hassle

thats usually just about worth it.

However,bytheendo this

decade,theexperiencewill

changetobeinga ar moreinteractivepursuit .Forget about

thosequeues,youllbeabletopre-order andpayoryourood

whileyouwatchandhaveit

deliveredtoyour seat.Youllgetupdateswithalternativeviews

otheeventandthelatestdata

inrealtime.Youllbeableto

shootyourownvideoothe

actionandshareitwithother ans,bothinthe

stadiumand elsewhere

throughsocial networks.

Smart stadia

Thestadium

gets smart

Allthroughyoursmartphone.

Andthatsonlythestart.

Thechangeromsimplespectator toull-blown

interactivecast member will

bedowntoprogressivebuilt-in

technologyand increased

network capacityvia thecloud,ensuringthatratherthanbeing

merearenasinwhicheventsare

staged,thestadia otheuture

becomeactive devices.

JordiCuarteroisChieTechnologyOficeratAtos Major

Events,andan expertonsmart

stadia.Hesays thatthisprocess is

alreadyunderwayandincreased

connectivityis currentlybeingbuiltintotheplansonew

stadia inorder toenableahosto innovative,inte ractive

servicesthatwillultimately

cover thethousandsopeoplesittingina modernstadium.

Allthe major manuacturers

oconnectivitydevicesarenow

buildingsolutions or covering

high-densitywirele ssnetworks,andtechnology providers

arepreparingthemselvesto

implementthesekindso

Smart stadia

solutions,hesays.So,whatexactlydothe

plannersand connectivity

manuacturershaveinstoreor

theviewingpublic?Letstackle

thesimplestu irst.Entrancetoyoureverydaystadiumpresently

requiresa paper ticket,which

allowsaccesstotheevent,and

nota lotelse.Issuingticketsto

smartphonesisnothingnew,butbytheendo thedecademobile

deviceswillplayanalmost

essentialroleinday-to-daylie.

Byissuingspectatorswithanelectronicticket sentdirectly

totheirpersonaldevicetheyll

beabletoconsumeallthe

servicesonoerromthe

stadiumautomat ically.Intelligentt icketingwill mean

ar greaterdierentiation in

thepricecategoriesonoer,

withdozensolevelsbetween

generalentryandVIPeachoeringconsumers dierent

accessrightsandbeneits.

Whatsmore,ticketholders

willbeabletoalter theirchoices

dynamicallyinthemiddleotheevent suchasupgradingtheir

seatsor accessingpremium

matchdata.Thistypeoticketing

approachalsoworkstothe

advantageothe stadiumbyoptimizingrevenue streams or

example,ticketpricescanrise

asavailabilityreduces.By2020

stadia willbear moreconnected

totheiraudience,withmanypossibleapplications or

customer loyaltyprograms.

Theaccreditation process

or athletesandthestadium

workorcewill becomemorestraightorwardand easier

tomanagetoo.Identity

authentication, basedonbiometricmeasurement s

ingerprint,irisor acerecognition willbemade

throughan electronicID or smart

phone.Oneimplicationorthe

presswillbejournalistshaving

their accessrights extended or rescinded dynamically

andautomatically. Indeed,

media numberscouldbemuch

reduced.Real-time data and

multipleviewsotheieldwillallow journalistsoutside the

stadiumtohavetheperception

obeinginsideit.Commentators

willbeabletocommentromtheirown media headquarters

withthesameleveloeelingas

thoughtheywereactuallythere.Aswellasreeingupspace,this

movecouldreducethecostoconstructingand maintaining

expensivemedia acilities.

Additionally,predictive

analyticswillbeabletocontrol

crowdlow,assesswherepeopleareandmovethemtoalternative

seatsirequired.Itwillalso

monitor theavailability o

additionalspace andcheck the

statusoemergencyexits.Thiscloud-hostedtechnology willalso

Ticket-holderswill be able to

upgradetheir seatsin the middleof the event

erythingsbiggerxas: the Palacellas is considered

the worlds most

ncedst adium

becomecloser

experience,

ewingon-

omemorelike

ce.

umevolution will

capture this

s Cuartero.

llow theerstand more

ing in the

ugh real-time

opic, 3D or

ing. It willr to watch

most any

their mobile

ome.

Augmentedrealityissetto

takethatexperienceurther

still .Initsinancynow,injust

a ew yearsitwillprovide

comprehensiveinormationbasedonyour view otheieldo

play.For instance,lets sayyoure

watchingthehighjumproma

seatattheback othe stadium.

Togeta close-upotheactionallyoullneedtodoispoint

your smartphonecamera atthe

athleteanditwillshow youhow

hightheyvejumpedoverthebar

astheyleapromtheground.Yourphonewill augmentthe

datathatscomingromthe

actionandplaceitontopothe

videoimage thatyoure seeing

tocreate amore interactiveanddata-enabledviewothe

event.Youllalsobeableto

replaykeymomentsromthe

action.Increasingly,over thenext

ewyears, thistechnology willbecomethe norm.

Butitwillnotcomewithout

complications.Therewillbea

revolutioninthewayimages

arecaptured,withspectatorsmuchmoreinvolvedintaking

photographsandsharingthem

onsocialnetworks.Lawsrelating

tobroadcastandimagerights

willinevitably demanda rethink.Rights managers and

broadcast right managers will

need to decide how to deal

with people creating their

own content, says Cuartero.The challenge will be how

to embrace this rather than

prevent it. By 2020, the

traditional mode o selling

broadcast rights or majorevents will inevitably be

challenged by the explosion o

mobility and social networking.Whilethisalongwiththe

privacyissues thatwill emergeareallupordebate,onething

remainscertain.Smart stadiaare

ontheway,andthetechnologyis

unlikelytodisappoint.

Iyoureat theeventyoullgetamuchbetterenriched

data-enabled experiencethan

youwouldtoday,andiyoure

viewingon-screen youllalso

geta muchricher experience,concludesCuartero.

What is the mostfuturistic stadium inthe world today andwhat can it tell us?

Itsstatisticsareasimpressiveasthoseoanyothe players

whoperormonitsstate-o-

the-artart iicialtur. Cowboys

Stadium,hometothe NFLs

DallasCowboys,isthelargestdomedstadiumintheworld,

witha capacityo110,000.

Ithastheworldslargest

column-reeinterior andone

otheworldslargesthigh-deinitionvideoscreens

which,at2,100inches,isbigger

thana basketballcourt.

And,asyoumightexpect,

itis ata costomorethan$1 billion oneothemost

expensivesportsvenuesthat

hasyetbeenbuilt.

Thestadium,whichopened

in2009inArlington,Texas,isotenquotedasbeing

theworldsmostadvanced

stadium.Renowned stadium

architectRodSheard,o

Populous,praisestheworkotheTexas-basedirmHKS,

whichdesignedtheso-called

Palacein Dallas.

Theyvedonea loto

thingsright,hesays.Theenormousscreensmaynot

betoeverybodystaste,butitdoesdependonwhatthe

clientwantsandwhat,asan

individual,youwantromyourdayoutata sportingevent.

However,Sheards choiceas

hisavouritesportingvenue,

onethathasembracedthe

latesttechnologyandgotitright,highlightsthatsuccess

isnotjustabouthavingthe

latestequipme nt.

For me,its Wimbledonthat

doesmostthingsreallywell,

hesays.Ithasaninteresting

mixtureoengagingyouas

a spectator andalso oeringyousomethingthatisjusta

bitdierent.

Theresthis Englishgarden

party,strawberries-and- cream

thing,andtheydothatreallywell.Butthentheyalsothink

abouttheview spectatorsget

oncourtandtheatmosphere.

Thentheyembrace

technologylike augmentedrealityandtheyhaveuse the

latestmaterialswhenbuilding

therooover CentreCourt.

Thekeytosuccessis

tounderstandwhatyouvegotandhow technology

canhelpyoutoenhancethe

spectator experience.

Itsnotjusta caseo

installingthelatestgearoritsownsake.

$1.15billion

110,000

Total cost of build ofthe Cowboys stadium

Capacity of the venue


12/22

s willshape the

uture?

talsustainabilitywill

havemoreemphasis.tstadia dont

hegeneralruleso

y,becausetheydont

uch asother

theconsequenceis,n environmentally

stadium,youbuild

dthat,stadia are

more.Notbecauseocauseomusic.

tmakingmoneyout

ords,because

ownloadingthem.

makingmoneyoutenor15 yearsago,

adium,orexample,

beenluckytoget

musiceventsa year,

w itmightdomoreat.But,i youplanit

nholda concertone

ballmatchthenext

nobigdeal.

specifc

aladvances?

ne.Werestartingto

ge,long-lasting

houses,andthatseepintosport.

hing,though,is

echnology,which

hangedsport

lyandwillcontinueeStadiumAustralia,

or theSydney

ewireditso that

yseatcouldgeta

bleconnection.Buter usedmorethan10

ecapacitybecause,

utthesametime,

nologystartedtoechnologychangess reallydificultto

ger onwhereitsall

up.Not thatitever

keepsmoving

hat meanor

a?

oseparate

everyvenuethesestheliveaudience

Venueperspective

What else might change

or the ans?

Smart-cardticketingwillbecome

commonplace.Onceyouvegotthere,thendependingonwhat

sortosmart cardtechnology

youhave,itcouldactuallybe

usedasan automaticdebitcard,

soyoucanjust order upoodanddrink andyoudonthavetopay

orit.

Butprobablythesinglemost

importantthingthesmartcard

doesisntreallyusedvery muchyet,butI think in20yearsit will

be,andthatstheeedback.It

willcompileyour proile;your

age;your sex;whereyoulive;

thesorto thingsthatdeineyouasa humanbeing.Thequestion

ishow muchshouldwelet

someoneelseknow that?

A smartcardcanrecognise

thatyouarea regular attendeeata certainevent;thatyou

regularlybuya certainproduct;

evenwhereyougobecauseit

tracesyour movements.Iyou

canhaveallthatinormationonallyour potentialcustomers,it

makesyou,asan operator,so

muchincontrol.Iweregoing

tobook thisactup,whoshould

wecontact?Itmightpushtheticketpricesupbecauseyou

know youregoingtohavea very

muchmoretargetedaudience.

Howhas the London2012

stadium movedthings orward?

Itstakena really important

step.Everyoneboughtintothe

conceptthatSebCoeandhis

teamcameupwith whichwastosay:Look,its justdatto

buildallthesebig,ixed acilities

everyour years,andhavethem

sittingthere.Sowehada wonderul

opportunityoan enlightened

client,whowantedtothink

dierently.Whenyouvehad

theopportunitytomovesport

orwarda littlebit,makeita littlebitmoreaccessibletoa ew

morebiddingcities;andyoudo

thesethingsandtouchtheearth

alla bitmorelightly,thatsthe

kindoprojectthatsticks inyour memory.

Australian architect Rod Sheard is

Senior Principal atPopulous,the

rmbehind manyo the worldsgreatstadia.Here, helooks athow

newtechnologywill shapethe

stadia o theuture

thatgoestoallthe troubleo

goingthere andthentheresthedigitalaudience;theaudience

thatpicksitup indotsanddashesathome.Since

technologyhasbecomeso

mobile,whatwellindis thattheliveaudiencewillgetmore

inormationthantheremote

audience,becausethelive

audiencealwayshas theadvantagethatitsclose tothe

centreowhatshappening.So

theoperators,theowner,the

club,whoever itmightbe

runningtheevent,caneedthem

stu thattheymaynotnecessarilywanttoputover a

publicnetwork.

Theycouldeedthelocalaudiencea choiceointerviews

comingoutothetunnel,whereasathomeyougeta

productioncompanymakinga

choice.Youmightgetevery

singleplayerinterviewedand

youdecidewhichoneyouwanttolistento.

Or youcanlistentoall othem.

Mobiletechnologyis allowing

theliveaudiencetobecome

moreinvolved.

Accreditationisone o

thebiggestchallengeso

anymajor sportingevenItscomplex andtime-

consuming.And,worst

oall,its re-inventedat

everyevent.

However,by2020,theprocessmayhavebeen

revolutionized,thanksto

cloudcomputing.

Whereasnow weve

startedtoholdemailanddigitalmedia inthecloud

intheutureit couldhol

personaldata too.

And,whiletherewillbe

inevitableconcernsabousuchsensitivedata being

storedonline,thesystem

couldsigniicantly

increasesecuritythroug

improvedmonitoringanintelligence.

MarcGutierrez,o

theAtosScientiic

Community,who

managedtheIT Securityor London2012,saysth

once-onlyaccreditation

wouldbetheultimate

simpliicationowhat,

atpresent,canbeacomplicatedand

repetitiveprocess.

Theirststep or any

athlete,oficialoranyon

elsewhoneededaccreditationwouldbeto

submitbiometricdata

suchasingerprintsas

wellasotheridentitydatThiswouldprovide

a higher levelosecurity

butitsdigitalstorage

inthecloudwouldbe

therealchange,allowing

analysis,manipulationandthetranser to

smartcards.

Inturn,thesecards

wouldbeclearedor

certainareasonly,permcertaindata eedsonlyo

rt stadia

Cloud cotechnologcoming tostadium nThe 2020

stadium

90,000

6 billionSmart devices

Virtual spectators

Cloud controlWithallthedata storedsecurely

inthecloud, therewillbeless need

or expensivephysicalinrastructure

suchas a broadcastcompoundand

operationscenter.Themoneysaved

canbedivertedinto theathlete

andspectator experienceor

investedinother vitalsocialor

inrastructureprojects.

Everyonetrack-sideEveryspectatorwillhaveasecond

screenorwatchingtheaction,

perhapsconnectedtowireless

gogglesoreaseand comort.The

screenwillenhancetheirexperience,

andoertheoption toswitchtheir

vieworexampleromtheback o

thestandstoa pitch-sideseat.This

applicationwillproveespeciallyuseul

orthosewatchingeventssuchas the

marathon,whichleavethestadium.

Faceinthecrowd

Securityandsaetywillbe greatly

enhancedor ans.Facialrecognition

technologyandBigData tools

willbeused todeliver inormation

aboutpeoplein thestadiumin

just0.3 seconds..

Augmented actionPointyour smartphoneor tabletat

anathleteanda rangeorelevant

real-timedata willappearon screen.

For example,youcouldtrack the

speedoa runnerashesprintsor

thelinein the5,000m.

Nomorequeues

Youwontevenneed toleaveyour

seattoget your popcornor event

merchandise.Your smartphone or

tabletwillbeallyou needtoorder

andmakeinstantpayment andyour

e-ticketwillallow servingsta to

deliverdirecttoyour seat.

WinningbynumbersThecoachessection willresemble

a Formula 1 pitwithtrainers

huddledaroundmultiplescreens

assessinga rangeoreal-time

perormancedata.

NopresspleaseWithvastlyincreasedquantities

odata availableremotely,the

demandor on-sitemedia provision

willbegreatlyreduced. Andthe

presspack couldgetevensmaller

icompaniessuch asNarrative

Sciencecontinuetohone their

product.The US irmispioneering

thedevelopmentoautomated

newsreportingin highlydata-

drivensectorssuch asinance

andsport. Theyveevengot

journalistsinvolvedindeveloping

sophisticatedalgorithmswhich

mayyetspellthe endothe wire

reporter bythe2020Games.

Facebook on-the-fy

Socialnetworkswillbeall-pervasive

andmobileandvoice-to-text

technologywillevenenable

athletestoupdatetheir status

whiletheycompete.

Cameras, cameraseverywhere

Tensothousands olenseswill

covertenso thousandsoangles,

generatingthedata thatwill

enableviewersathometo enjoy

3D multiview andin-eventgaming,

andgenerallyeelmuchcloser to

thelivestadiumexperience.

Thestadiumo theuturemaynot

looktoodiferentat rstglance,

butthe technologyinvolved willtransormthe experienceor ans,

athletes and organizers alike


13/22

Eric Baczuk of MITs SENSEable City Laboratory tells

Max Leonard how the data we generate with our smart

phones will help to design Olympic Host Cities of the future

sell advertising targeted at the new handball

ans. And this is just a small-scale example.

By the 2020 Games, this kind o intelligence

on what people are doing and eeling may

help to deliver better transport provision,

energy use, resource allocation and

inrastructure planning. It could also help

organisers and stakeholders react to events

managing the experience in the best way

possible at a time when the city is subject to

new rhythms and unpredictable disruptions.

There is also a commercial dimension.

We like to look at the broader interests, but

there are intrinsic commercial interests that

can come out o this type o inormation,

Baczuk says. People are looking or the

crowds response these days, to understand

how people are reacting to the events that

are happening. Youre investigating crowd

dynamics, youre looking into the make-up

o the crowd, what their interests are, where

theyve been spending money.

More than that, though, the essential

connectedness o the whole Olympic Games

audience means that uture Games will

have to be ever more aware theyre playing

to the global stadium. Now the world at

large is participating, these people are

inally having a voice, which can completely

A sense-ablevision o 2020

ne o the more unusual

contributions to the London

2012 Cultural Olympiad

was the Emoto project. It

measured the worldwide

audiences emotional response to the

London 2012 Games, siting Tweets or

Games-related themes, then divining the

sentiment o each one. The result was an

evolving, real-time online visualization o

the global mood, and eventually a data

sculpture a testament to the worlds

eelings about the Games. On paper,

Emoto sounds intriguing; in practise, it

is potentially one o the most exciting

contributions to London 2012, one that has

huge ramiications on how we organize,

deliver and enjoy uture Games.

How might human emotions do that?

Thats where the MIT SENSEable City

Laboratory, one o Emotos creators,

comes in. It combines data analysis

on a city-wide scale with an interest in

urban inrastructure and in how human

activity aects speciic places. Unlike some

visions o the smart city o the uture, the

SENSEable City Labs work doesnt require

vast new inrastructure or electronics: it

takes the ever-increasing wealth o data

out there, adds some processing power

to crunch the numbers, and correlates

seemingly unrelated data sources to provide

powerul and unexpected insights. It joins

the dots, makes patterns comprehensible

and uses this inormation to create better

places to live.

We do a lot o work with smartphones,

because theyre ubiquitous, and they have

enormous computing potential, Eric Baczuk,

GE Research Fellow at SENSEable City Lab,

says. The city is a multiaceted place, with

complex interrelationships and dynamics.

An easy example might be combining

maps o precipitation patterns, taxi pick-

ups and cellphone usage. I we look at the

intersection o all three, what are the trends

that come out o the data, what can we

learn? When it rains, people take more taxis.

But what does that have to do with sport?

The Olympic Games are a once-in-a-lietime

event or most cities: when it comes to

getting it right, there are no second chances.

And social media sites are essentially huge

resources o hard data on those most

unpredictable o things: human eelings.

As such, they are incredibly valuable.

It might be obvious to speculate that i

Usain Bolt breaks the record in the 100m

there will be celebrations and good eeling

in Jamaica; but what i you could, say,

measure in real-time the British nations

reaction to an unexpected star perormance

by TeamGB in Handball? Perhaps youd

lay on more trains and buses to open-air

screens, adjust the TV schedules, or even

change the dynamics, Baczuk says. You

have to think o your audience as not

being the 60,000 in the stadium, but as

the global stadium, the millions o people

watching and this shits how the events

are organised and communicated. Theres

huge potential or re-thinking who the

audience is and tapping into the people

who arent immediately there.

The next radical leap, which is only

now becoming clear, is that the internet

will soon be carrying more machine-

generated than human-generated

communication. The irst practical

applications o this are now being seen

in the networked home, but perhaps, by

the 2020 Games, your geolocated mobile

phone will see your meeting is running

late, check your diary and set your TV

to record the athletics so you can catch

up when you get home. Meanwhile, your

ridge will see youve invited riends

over and order more beers, to make sure

theres enough to go around.

Thats what it could look like on a

human scale. But, as Baczuk says:

As all these things increase their

interoperability, increasing operating

eficiency, there will be a change on an

even larger scale than just people.

For organisers, cities and governments,

the possibilities are yet to be mapped out.

Ater the social media revolution, watch out

or the rise o the machines but it will take

human ingenuity to make it happen.

Towards 2020

This handydemystifercolumn willmake it all cle

Augmented reality is the enhan

o a real-time view by overlaying d

driven inormation about what you

seeing. An example is the ighter p

helmet that projects target inormaonto the visor as the pilot views th

Big Data a general term or the va

quantity o structured and unstruc

data being relentlessly churned ou

a variety o sources, which is too laconventional database systems to

The ability to analyze and ind patt

in this aggregation o data is expec

provide valuable insight.

Cloud efectively an of-site data st

acility or a multitude o diferent en

accessible securely via the internet.

than storing all your computer syst

sotware and iles on your own hard

its in the cloud.

Crowdsourcing using the interne

audience to harvest problem-solvi

or inormation. As an alternative to

speciic service providers, crowdsohas the beneits o being cheap (r

most cases) and tapping into a mu

broader mass o knowledge. Howe

you cant guarantee what youre go

receive and theres no guarantee o

Second screen reers to the prac

o using a device such as a tablet o

smartphone at the same time as w

television, to communicate around

show they are watching, eg by tweposting comments on Facebook.

Smart reers to an item that opera

apparent intelligence that goes bey

normal unction o similar items. A phone will carry out myriad tasks btelephony as smart kit relays inorm

gathered through its own system o

Ubiquity in IT terms this reers to

presence o a single system o conbetween all things. In other words,

that have been separate historicall

be connected and merged as one

internet; or example, your ridge, y

diary and your grocery store.


14/22

20

New media has already

transormed the

way viewers who

arent at the stadium

experience live sport.Where previous generations

gathered around a radio to ind

out who won gold, today we

can stream events live on smart

phones while simultaneously

checking out what results arerending on Twitter.

Advances in media technology

mean that by 2020 the passive

armchair an will be a thing o

he past. Tomorrows remotespectators will be able to interact

directly with events, share

heir passions with a global

audience and get closer to the

action than ever beore. As PaulMoore, new media expert rom

he Atos Scientiic Community,

says: Our ultimate goal is to

expand the collective experience

o the people in the stadium to

everyone around the world. Theperson watching remotely will be

part o the extended crowd.

Fans will even have the power

o step virtually onto the pitch,

as live ootage and gamingmerge into one. Everyones seen

someone udge a penalty, or

rigger a alse start, and thought,

could do better than that. By

2020, viewers will be able to

put their money where theirmouth is as the cloud allows

or almost instant uploading

and downloading o data. This

data will be stored securely and

deliverable to diferent groups.Its really exciting, says

Moore. For instance, you could

ake over a particular player in

he middle o a ootball game

and replay the situation they

aced. You could take over theFormula One car and compete

against the other drivers, or re-

ake a ree kick your team missed.

As he explains, the technology

o achieve seamless live gamingby 2020 already exists. The

eal work will be meshing two

diferent systems into one

mmersive experience.

Some o the replays youveseen during televized ootball

matches work by converting live

Our goal iexpand thexperiencof those inthe stadiuto everyonwatchingaroundthe world

rom real spectators, used

to augment realism o the

virtual world. The actual match

is in multiview 3D and you can

watch rom anywhere, even on

the ield.Moores dream stadium may

be educated speculation, but

its enough to get sports ans

salivating. So, is it achievable by

2020? With the mix o optimism

and pragmatism typical o a

technology expert, Moores

answer is a deinite maybe.But its worth remembering

that, in the world o sport, with

a lot o determination and a

little luck, anything is possible.

Atos new media specialist Paul Moore

tells Matt Chittock that viewers will

soon be able to take on their sporting

heroes while they watch

Be partof theaction

Social media will also take

the place o the commentator,

as smart recommender

systems do the job o lagging

up content based on whatyour riends are watching,

what youve watched beore

and whats popular with people

like you.

This trend towards a more

social experience will have aknock-on eect or the design

o uture stadiums. You know

the big screen they have at

stadiums, with pixels that are

a couple o metres wide?says Moore. We wont need

that anymore. Everyone will

have their own device in the

stadium so they can see the

results and replays instantly.Thats just the start o whats

possible. Wherever they are,

viewers will be able to tap

their screens and bring up

archived video, social media

eeds and relevant news onother events instantly. Data

will literally become part o

the picture, with real-time

measurements superimposed

on the action showing us,or example, how ar a long

jumper is leaping even while

shes still in the air.

Instantly delivering this

amount o on-demand data

involves meeting some trulyglobal challenges. Increased

access to video will mean

developing smarter media

devices backed up by an

inrastructure that wont buckleunder the demand.

But lets assume or a second

that a breakthrough is made

that solves these problems

overnight at the click o a

mouse. What might be possiblethen? Welcome to what Moore

calls virtual stadium world

You watch the match in a

virtual stadium, where you

can sit anywhere and interactwith other spectators, who

may be completely virtual but

may also be there in person,

he says.

There would be real cameraand microphone inputs (via

smart phones or tablets)

New media

action into 3D, he points out.

Video games create a simulated

animation model o virtual sport.

Now were working on merging

those two together seamlessly.Gamers will be able to share

their results through social

media, compete with strangers

or prizes, or even challenge

riends and amily to a replay.

By enhancing reality with thedynamics o an online video

game, players will connect with

athletes on the ield like never

beore and open up a whole

new level o interaction. A newgeneration o sports ans will

discover the real meaning o

perorming under pressure.

However, i competing against

world-class athletes soundstoo tiring, there are plenty o

other ways in which new media

is making the sports viewing

experience even richer. Viewers

today are just part o the crowd,

but in 2020 theyll be able topick a virtual vantage point, rom

high above the stadium to the

ront row o a stand. And its all

possible thanks to multiview 3D.

As Paul explains, multiview 3Dis technologically distinct rom its

close cousin, stereoscopic 3D. The

latter is what you see when you

go to a 3D movie at the cinema,

whereas multiview is like being

inside one o those 3D panoramicphotographs you ind online.

Multiview 3D technology is

already here, says Paul. Its not

great quality in real time yet, but

it will be by 2020. By then youcould conceivably watch a match

rom any angle you want.

One o the great things about

new media is that this drive or

greater interaction with any

sport, on any device, at any timemeans inormation lows both

ways. Spectators at the stadium

can post pictures and videos

online while tweeting about what

theyre seeing.As viewers become

broadcasters, spectators will

have access to amateur eeds

that capture the authenticity o

the live experience, rather thanrelying on what a director and

cameraman want to ocus on.


15/22

Steve Cram is in a

commentary booth,

watching ive views o

Wimbledon on dierent

screens, when Ascent dropsin to meet him. Once the preserve

o commentators, such a wealth o

action is now increasingly available

to ordinary viewers through digital

TV and the internet.

Its not only video where the viewerhas caught up either: he or she now

enjoys the same inormation sources

as the commentator: Sometimes an

athlete walks o the track, tweets,

and the viewer knows instantly,Cram says.

Where we the broadcasters used

to be the only conduit between the

event and the viewer, now, they

dont have to wait or us. Sometimesthe viewer is better inormed than

we are. Our job as this happens

is increasingly to lend something

extra: insight, opinion, background.

Theyve got whats happening,

its about interpretation myinterpretation.

O course, Crams interpretation

is one that has the authority o

experience, and will spark interest

in the millions o socialmediaconversations going on among

ans. But he also provides a human

touch, and is successul thanks to

his discretion.

My role, as a good sports

journalist is us ing my contacts andmy background inormation, he

says. I know lots about athletes

that I wont mention on air, but

it will help me to make that

splitsecond decision aboutwhat to say.

Looking ahead, Cram

sees the media landscape

ragmenting still urther:

Now, at an athletics event

we have separate trackand ield eeds. You might

be a ieldevent an and

take just the ieldevent

eed, he says.

At the Londonmarathon we do the

integrated eed or BBC

One, but you can watch

the womens race all the

way through i you wantto. You might soon be

.22

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