2 page Case Study - Posted 2/9/2009

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Laser SB3 World Championships Organising Committee

Boat Racing Championship Generates New Interest with Mobile GPS Tracking Technology

The organising committee of the Laser SB3 World Championships sailing event wanted to use a low-cost tracking system to promote the race. It chose a solution based on Microsoft Virtual Earth™ mapping technology, which locates the position of boats on a map in real time, and produces a live video broadcast of the crew. The tool generated new interest in the sport, and saved the committee £15,000 compared to competing solutions.

Business Needs

In September 2008, the Laser SB3 World Championships held its inaugural event at Dublin Bay off the coast of Ireland. Crews from around the world competed over the course of five days in one of the fastest growing sailing divisions, the Laser SB3—a high-speed, three-person sports boat.

Rory Byrne, Chair of the Laser SB3 World Championships Organising Committee, was keen to use Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, combined with live video feeds, to promote the championships. He wanted a solution that could show spectators how the race was unfolding, both during and after the competition. Byrne says: “I was looking to provide a richer and more rewarding experience for people who couldn’t attend the event. To do this, I needed a solution that could not only show where the boats were in real time, but also what the crews were doing.”

The Virtual Earth mapping solution worked flawlessly and it generated a lot of interest from sailing fans, as well as commercial and racing organisations. We will definitely use it again in the future. Rory O’Byrne Chairman Organisation Committee of the SB3 World Championships

The technology deployed by the committee had to be completely unobtrusive. Byrne was not prepared to disturb the crews in any way that could adversely affect their sailing, or the weight distribution of the boats. In addition, the service needed to be robust and reliable enough to work out in the Irish Sea.

Most importantly, the solution had to be cost effective. Byrne says: “The SB3 World Championships is a non-profit event with a limited budget. As a result, the technology needed to be economical to buy and maintain, but also easy to use, requiring minimal user training.”

Solution

Initially, Byrne researched various custom-built hardware and software providers. He was unable to find a simple GPS solution that could support video broadcasts at a low cost, until one of the racing crews introduced him to Microsoft Partner Inca X.

Phil Bishop, Director and Founder of Inca X, has created an innovative application called Live Media GPS. It operates on all handheld devices running Windows Mobile® version 5.0 or 6 software. Based on Virtual Earth, the solution was created using the Microsoft Visual Studio® .NET 2008 development system and can be downloaded to a mobile phone. It integrates streaming video with GPS information and displays both in real time on a Virtual Earth Map.

Bishop says: “I developed Live Media GPS in the Microsoft environment because Virtual Earth—along with the software development kit—is so simple to use, making the development process extremely fast. I could easily apply the key features of Virtual Earth and use Silverlight to create an engaging Web site that had the streaming videos and GPS data embedded.”

The application transmits the position of the boat, and the video taken from the mobile phone’s camera, over the standard mobile phone network to a data centre hosted by Inca X. The information is then broadcast in real time to the event Web site, which was created using the Microsoft Silverlight™ browser plug-in. Spectators can watch the race on their mobile phones or the event Web site, both during and after the competition has finished.

To create the solution for the Laser SB3 World Championships, Bishop downloaded the Live Media GPS application to 20 HTC Touch Diamond mobile phones running Windows Mobile 6 software. The race crews then installed the phones in their boats. Before each race, Bishop activated the devices remotely, so no intervention was required from the crew.

Benefits

During the SB3 World Championships, anyone with a computer or mobile phone and an Internet connection could use Live Media GPS to watch the race unfold in real time. Byrne says: “The Virtual Earth mapping solution worked flawlessly and it generated a lot of interest from sailing fans, as well as commercial and racing organisations. We will definitely use it again in the future.”

• Popular. The profile of the championships has been raised. Thousands of spectators from more than 30 countries and across several continents have visited the event Web site or used their mobile devices to watch the competition.
• Economical. Byrne says: “We saved £15,000 deploying this technology because unlike competing solutions, Live Media GPS works on standard mobile phones and networks, without any proprietary hardware.”
• Reliable. During the event, the solution experienced no technical difficulties despite operating on the Irish Sea. This provided users with a seamless and uninterrupted broadcast for up to seven hours.
• Easy to use. After the mobile phones are attached to the boats no further intervention is necessary from the crews, who can concentrate on sailing.
• Easy to develop. Bishop believes he was able to develop the solution 50 per cent faster using Microsoft technologies, than competing software.
• Potential for wider use. Other organisations have expressed an interest in using the technology. The devices can also be used in other sporting events, such as cycling and rallying, and for commercial ventures such as chartered fleets.

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published February 2009