Lapio – which is billed as ‘a complete race solution that provides awesome race experiences for organizers, participants, and spectators’ – has launched geotracking for endurance events. According to the company, this allow spectators to accurately track participants during a race.
Geotracking adds a further feature to Lapio’s platform that combines race management, live streamed results, social engagement, photo sharing and mobile to create ‘the ultimate race experience from start to finish’.
In recent years, Lapio notes that the most accurate way to track participants was by using multiple timing mats to provide an average pace of the participant… ‘During an endurance event the participant’s pace can vary between splits causing tracking to be an estimate and not based on real-time. Lapio is combining the power of GPS-enabled devices and timing mats to create the most accurate, geotracking in the industry.’
Using GPS-enabled devices is now a reality due to the increase in wearable technology. Lapio points to a variety of sources on the growth in this technology:
- The wearable market is set to expand from 9.7 million device shipments in 2013 to 135 million in 2018
- Fitbit fitness trackers are expected to triple to over 70 million devices by 2018
- Apple is expected to sell 30-40 million smart watches in its first 12 months of availability
- Garmin introduced new colours, further extending the appeal of wearable fitness to the masses
- Strava recently released a global heat map of 160 million activities and 375 billion GPS points
Lapio adds that GPS-enabled devices are changing the endurance industry by providing the missing component of location-based tracking: GPS coordinates. Race directors can know exactly where participants are on the course, increasing event safety. Friends and family can accurately track participants allowing them to follow their progress and cheer them on.
“We are passionate about providing precise data to race directors, athletes and spectators,” said Lapio founder Klaus Preisler. “We have proven we can provide accurate, live results; geotracking was the obvious next step. We are not just adding a feature but enhancing an already powerful solution.”
Helping fund this innovation are three notable players in the technology industry, Co-founders Morten Primdahl and Alexander Aghassipour of Zendesk and Thomas Pedersen, Co-founder and CEO of OneLogin.
“Lapio continues to push the limits of innovation in the endurance industry,” said Thomas Pedersen, Co-founder and CEO of OneLogin. “The introduction of geotracking just proves their motivation to not just be a player in the industry, but a leader.”
