LAST CALL FOR IDEAS
OK, this thread is for those of you who cannot attend (as a participant or spectator) the 800km unicycle relay race in Nova Scotia, Canada, next year but want in on the action.
International racing teams will be tracked via GPS and their positions mapped LIVE over the internet. If you were to design a web-page to present this race in progress on your computer what would include?
It’s a 5-day 800km race, raced in Stages. Riders will represent their country in relay teams of 3-4 riders each (though there is talk of a solo component to the event).
Internet web map designers are now busy getting ideas from all interested on-line spectators and media.
I know that the New Zealanders, for example, are busily putting their race teams together and are seeking sponsors to get here. They know that folks back home will want to monitor them in this race on the internet. You can help them out by placing ideas on this forum.
Read this thread for lots of basic info. There is also a detailed article in the latest issue of Uni Magazine which I highly recommend.
We can send a satellite image poster to the best idea presented as judged by the GPS/GIS mapping team, and by members of this forum.
Cheers
Edward Wedler
001-902-765-6116
A counter for number of wheel revolutions would be cool (accompanied by an estimate of the number of pedal revolutions, and the total “foot distance” the rider has moved).
Well, it may not be practical… but send a camera man with each team to film what’s going on and have that video dump to the web site… Make a team selector so I can pick which team I want to watch the camera for. Archive it in full so I can watch it later if I miss a day.
If you could combine this feed with vital statistics like
Team Name
Rider’s Name
Distance for day
Distance for rider (reset at each handoff)
Speed
Place
Time behind leader
Unicycle specs (wheel size, crank length, etc…)
And maybe a small graphic of the course with a dot on it for where they are… complete with topo… And make that small map zoomable… and make it so the other teams are seen as other dots… and make it so I can switch teams by clicking on the other dots…
Also have alerts for important events on other cameras… Like a crash… Or maybe smaller events like reaching a summit or passing…
At the end of each day, create a team and overall highlight reel, with interviews and commentary…
Archive everything so it can be viewed over and over again over the next few months…
Keld
UTube logs for RTL
Some of your ideas are already in the works.
Two professional videographers/filmmakers are planning to work together with a number of camera operators and log a UTube summary at the end of each Stage of the race. They are also planning a documentary film of the race.
i think a small satellite map with a marker for team position that is updated every so often(15-20 min?) by gps
I will be uploading a several minute video clip each night showcasing a summary of the day’s riding with GPS/ranking info at the end of each day.
It would be exciting to see how much closer to real time stats peopel could get, this is not my area
Using the Google Maps API might work well for plotting data.
This isn’t so much for what it should have.
But it should not be a very flashy site.
Personally I have a slow computer and get very irritated when I visit a site that has 25 flash movies or other things going on at once.
Pleas try to make the look perfessional yet simple at the same time so people with ancient computers can easily view it.
