Describe the ways in which Dimension uses Big Data in the Tour de France?

Chapter Closing Case Data Enhances Fans' Experience of the Tour de France MIS MKT Many sports, such as football,cricket, tennis, and baseball, provide huge amounts of data to fans in addition to the video feeds them. selves. These data increase their enjoyment and improve their under standing of various sporting events. Significantly, the data can become overwhelming Some tans still prefer to simply watch sporting events. In 1903, the French sports newspaper l'Auto established the Tour de France as a marketing tool to increase sales Although the Tour de France is world famous, it is also a challenge to watch. Television view ers can see the racers from numerous camera angles, but it is difficult to understand the subtleties and tactics of elite prolessional bicyclists In addition, the race lasts for three weeks. Compounding these issues, the Tour's followers are more digitally engaged on social media than ever before, and they want a live and compelling experience during the Tour. This improved experience requires data. Today, the Tour is deploying technology to capture data and per- form analyties in near real time to help engage a new generation of digital fans. The 2018 Tour de France provided more data to fans than ever before, explaining and analyzing the performance of the racers in detail for the duration of the race. Untike other sports, which typically occur in a single venue, the Tour de France presents a unique set of challenges for using tech nology to capture and distribute data about the race and its cyclists Information technology services firm Dimension Data (Dimension www.dimensiondata.com) has provided and managed the technol ogy behind the Tour since the 2015 race Dimension has to gather and transmit data as the cyclists travel over difficult terrain such as up and down mountain roads in the Pyrenees and the Alps, where wireless Signals can be intermittent and weak. The manner in which Dimension handles these conditions provides an excellent example of how to deal with high-volume, real-time data from Internet of Things (lot, see Chapter 8) sensors in often harsh conditions Each of the 176 riders who began the 2018 race had a custom, 100-gram (3.5-ounce) sensor on his bicycle. The sensor contained a global positioning system (GPS) chip, a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip, and a rechargeable battery with enough power to last for the longest of the Tour's 21 stages. Each sensor transmitted its GPS data every second, producing a total of more than 3 billion data points during the course of the race, a vast increase in data from the 128 mil. lion data points generated in the 2016 Tour de France. Dimension also collected data from other sources such as weather services and road gradients (steepness of climbs). The data were entered into new machine learning algorithms (see Technology Guide 4), which predicted breakaway speeds, time gaps among riders, and even the winner of each stage. Dimension achieved approximately a 75 percent success rate on all its predictions for the 2018 Tour The bicycles' sensors transmitted data over a mesh network (see Chapter 8) via antennas placed on race cars that followed the cyclists, up to television helicopters overhead. The helicopters then sent the data to an aircraft at higher altitude, which in turn transmitted the data to the television trucks at the finish line of each stage of the race. There, the data were gathered by Dimension's Big Data truck" which was also located at the finish line of each stage. Dimension notes that the transmission distances and latency (lag time) associated with sat- ellites are too slow for the Tour Dimension's cloud computing service (see Technology Guide 3), based in data centers in London and Amsterdam, collected data from each stage of the race. At the data centers, Dimension produced the near-real-time information that was transmitted to broadcasters, 170 CHAPTER 5 Data and Knowledge Management social media, and the race app. The entire process from bike to viewer took a total of two seconds. Dimension integrated and analyzed these data. As a result, race organizers, teams, broadcasters, commentators, television viewers, and fans using the Tour de France mobile app had access to in-depth statistics on the progress of the race and their favorite riders. As recently as 2014, the only way for riders to obtain real-time information (eg, road and weather conditions ahead, accidents that may have occurred, positions of other riders and teams during the Tour de France was from a chalkboard that was held up by race officials who sat as passengers on motorcycles driving just ahead of the cyclists. Today, the riders wear earpiece radios so their teams can relay real-time data (often from Dimension to them while they cycle. In that way, riders do not have to take their eyes off the road-and other riders-to look for chalkboards containing nformation for them. Fans have enjoyed the insights that they have gained. For example, Dimension displayed an image of a high-speed crash during the 2015 Tour that contained data on the speed and sudden deceleration of the bikes involved. The data suggested that some riders had somehow accelerated after the moment of impact. Fur: ther analysis revealed that the bikes themselves, with their sensors still attached, had greater forward momentum after their riders were thrown off, because the weight on each bike had decreased Some bikes involved in that crash seemingly accelerated to race speeds soon after the crash. In fact, they had been picked up by team cars following the peloton (the main group) of cyclists and were driven away. In the 2018 Tour data suggested that some riders achieved top speeds of over 60 miles per hour. Some fans were doubtful until one rider tweeted a photo of his speedometer showing that his speed peaked at more than 62 miles per hour along one downhill section of the race. However, technology can be wrong. For example, GPS data can be corrupted by signal noise during transmission. As a result, during the 2015 Tour, the GPS data indicated that one cyclist was in Kenya, Today, all data are checked for these types of errors before they are processed Today, the technology is opening up the Tour to new and old fans. For example, in 2014, video clips distributed by race organizers attracted 6 million views. By the 2018 race, that number had grown to more than 70 million. Eurosport (www.eurosport.com) is a European television sports network that is owned and operated by Discovery Communications. The network reported that average viewer numbers for live coverage of the 2018 Tour de France increased by 15 percent over the 2017 Tour. Dimension is developing new services for the 2019 Tour. First is a new predictive cybersecurity protection model because the race is subject to a huge number of online attacks. For instance, Dimension was able to block almost two million suspicious access attempts during the 2017 Tour. Second, Dimension is developing an augment- ed-reality app that would allow viewers to experience, for example, an Alpine climb through a projection on a mobile app. Third, Dimension is developing dedicated chatbots that could provide real-time infor- mation on any specific rider at any point of the race. Sources: Compiled from "Technology, Data, and Connected Cycling Teams at the Tour de France: What Can Businesses Learn from the World's Biggest Race?" TechRodor Pro, July 20, 2018; M. Moore, "Tour de France 2018: Why This Year's Race Will Be the Smartest Yet," TechRadar, July 6, 2018, "How Big Data, IoT, and the Cloud Are Transforming the Tour de France Fan Experience," NTT Innovation Institute, August 10, 2017, M. Smith, "How Sophisticated High-Tech Analytics Transformed the Tour de France," 13.com, July 31, 2017, M. Phillips, "19 Weird Tech Secrets of the 2017 Tour de France." Bicycling, July 21, 2017: B. Glick, "Data Takes to the Road - The Technology Behind the Tour de France." Computer Weekly, July 20, 2017; G. Scott, Six Tech Trends from the 2017 Tour de France." Road Cycling UK, July 18, 2017, R. Guinness, "Bike Development is vital but Technology Alone Won't Win Tour de France," ESPN, July 8, 2017: "From Brakes to Water Bottles: What Technology Is Being used in the 2017 Tour de France?" Future Sport, July 7, 2017, "The Impressive Engineering behind the Tour de France," Match Tech, July 4, 2017, M. Murison, "Tour de France to Use IoT in Digital Race for Spectators' Attention," Internet of Business, June 29, 2017 "Coverage of the 2017 Tour de France: A Technological Challenge that Orange Meets on a Daily Basis," Orange, June 28, 2017: D. Michels, "Adding an lot Dimension to the Tour de France," Network World, May 23, 2017; and www.letour.fr, accessed August 1, 2018 Chapter Closing Case Data Enhances Fans' Experience of the Tour de France MIS MKT Many sports, such as football,cricket, tennis, and baseball, provide huge amounts of data to fans in addition to the video feeds them. selves. These data increase their enjoyment and improve their under standing of various sporting events. Significantly, the data can become overwhelming Some tans still prefer to simply watch sporting events. In 1903, the French sports newspaper l'Auto established the Tour de France as a marketing tool to increase sales Although the Tour de France is world famous, it is also a challenge to watch. Television view ers can see the racers from numerous camera angles, but it is difficult to understand the subtleties and tactics of elite prolessional bicyclists In addition, the race lasts for three weeks. Compounding these issues, the Tour's followers are more digitally engaged on social media than ever before, and they want a live and compelling experience during the Tour. This improved experience requires data. Today, the Tour is deploying technology to capture data and per- form analyties in near real time to help engage a new generation of digital fans. The 2018 Tour de France provided more data to fans than ever before, explaining and analyzing the performance of the racers in detail for the duration of the race. Untike other sports, which typically occur in a single venue, the Tour de France presents a unique set of challenges for using tech nology to capture and distribute data about the race and its cyclists Information technology services firm Dimension Data (Dimension www.dimensiondata.com) has provided and managed the technol ogy behind the Tour since the 2015 race Dimension has to gather and transmit data as the cyclists travel over difficult terrain such as up and down mountain roads in the Pyrenees and the Alps, where wireless Signals can be intermittent and weak. The manner in which Dimension handles these conditions provides an excellent example of how to deal with high-volume, real-time data from Internet of Things (lot, see Chapter 8) sensors in often harsh conditions Each of the 176 riders who began the 2018 race had a custom, 100-gram (3.5-ounce) sensor on his bicycle. The sensor contained a global positioning system (GPS) chip, a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip, and a rechargeable battery with enough power to last for the longest of the Tour's 21 stages. Each sensor transmitted its GPS data every second, producing a total of more than 3 billion data points during the course of the race, a vast increase in data from the 128 mil. lion data points generated in the 2016 Tour de France. Dimension also collected data from other sources such as weather services and road gradients (steepness of climbs). The data were entered into new machine learning algorithms (see Technology Guide 4), which predicted breakaway speeds, time gaps among riders, and even the winner of each stage. Dimension achieved approximately a 75 percent success rate on all its predictions for the 2018 Tour The bicycles' sensors transmitted data over a mesh network (see Chapter 8) via antennas placed on race cars that followed the cyclists, up to television helicopters overhead. The helicopters then sent the data to an aircraft at higher altitude, which in turn transmitted the data to the television trucks at the finish line of each stage of the race. There, the data were gathered by Dimension's Big Data truck" which was also located at the finish line of each stage. Dimension notes that the transmission distances and latency (lag time) associated with sat- ellites are too slow for the Tour Dimension's cloud computing service (see Technology Guide 3), based in data centers in London and Amsterdam, collected data from each stage of the race. At the data centers, Dimension produced the near-real-time information that was transmitted to broadcasters, 170 CHAPTER 5 Data and Knowledge Management social media, and the race app. The entire process from bike to viewer took a total of two seconds. Dimension integrated and analyzed these data. As a result, race organizers, teams, broadcasters, commentators, television viewers, and fans using the Tour de France mobile app had access to in-depth statistics on the progress of the race and their favorite riders. As recently as 2014, the only way for riders to obtain real-time information (eg, road and weather conditions ahead, accidents that may have occurred, positions of other riders and teams during the Tour de France was from a chalkboard that was held up by race officials who sat as passengers on motorcycles driving just ahead of the cyclists. Today, the riders wear earpiece radios so their teams can relay real-time data (often from Dimension to them while they cycle. In that way, riders do not have to take their eyes off the road-and other riders-to look for chalkboards containing nformation for them. Fans have enjoyed the insights that they have gained. For example, Dimension displayed an image of a high-speed crash during the 2015 Tour that contained data on the speed and sudden deceleration of the bikes involved. The data suggested that some riders had somehow accelerated after the moment of impact. Fur: ther analysis revealed that the bikes themselves, with their sensors still attached, had greater forward momentum after their riders were thrown off, because the weight on each bike had decreased Some bikes involved in that crash seemingly accelerated to race speeds soon after the crash. In fact, they had been picked up by team cars following the peloton (the main group) of cyclists and were driven away. In the 2018 Tour data suggested that some riders achieved top speeds of over 60 miles per hour. Some fans were doubtful until one rider tweeted a photo of his speedometer showing that his speed peaked at more than 62 miles per hour along one downhill section of the race. However, technology can be wrong. For example, GPS data can be corrupted by signal noise during transmission. As a result, during the 2015 Tour, the GPS data indicated that one cyclist was in Kenya, Today, all data are checked for these types of errors before they are processed Today, the technology is opening up the Tour to new and old fans. For example, in 2014, video clips distributed by race organizers attracted 6 million views. By the 2018 race, that number had grown to more than 70 million. Eurosport (www.eurosport.com) is a European television sports network that is owned and operated by Discovery Communications. The network reported that average viewer numbers for live coverage of the 2018 Tour de France increased by 15 percent over the 2017 Tour. Dimension is developing new services for the 2019 Tour. First is a new predictive cybersecurity protection model because the race is subject to a huge number of online attacks. For instance, Dimension was able to block almost two million suspicious access attempts during the 2017 Tour. Second, Dimension is developing an augment- ed-reality app that would allow viewers to experience, for example, an Alpine climb through a projection on a mobile app. Third, Dimension is developing dedicated chatbots that could provide real-time infor- mation on any specific rider at any point of the race. Sources: Compiled from "Technology, Data, and Connected Cycling Teams at the Tour de France: What Can Businesses Learn from the World's Biggest Race?" TechRodor Pro, July 20, 2018; M. Moore, "Tour de France 2018: Why This Year's Race Will Be the Smartest Yet," TechRadar, July 6, 2018, "How Big Data, IoT, and the Cloud Are Transforming the Tour de France Fan Experience," NTT Innovation Institute, August 10, 2017, M. Smith, "How Sophisticated High-Tech Analytics Transformed the Tour de France," 13.com, July 31, 2017, M. Phillips, "19 Weird Tech Secrets of the 2017 Tour de France." Bicycling, July 21, 2017: B. Glick, "Data Takes to the Road - The Technology Behind the Tour de France." Computer Weekly, July 20, 2017; G. Scott, Six Tech Trends from the 2017 Tour de France." Road Cycling UK, July 18, 2017, R. Guinness, "Bike Development is vital but Technology Alone Won't Win Tour de France," ESPN, July 8, 2017: "From Brakes to Water Bottles: What Technology Is Being used in the 2017 Tour de France?" Future Sport, July 7, 2017, "The Impressive Engineering behind the Tour de France," Match Tech, July 4, 2017, M. Murison, "Tour de France to Use IoT in Digital Race for Spectators' Attention," Internet of Business, June 29, 2017 "Coverage of the 2017 Tour de France: A Technological Challenge that Orange Meets on a Daily Basis," Orange, June 28, 2017: D. Michels, "Adding an lot Dimension to the Tour de France," Network World, May 23, 2017; and www.letour.fr, accessed August 1, 2018