The discussion with Rich Burnett, Director and Co-Founder at AWOL, was ‘out of this world’ – as we talked through the company’s partnership with the UK Space Agency (via the European Space Agency – ESA). This is delivering a world-first live photography service to mass participation events.
Rich explained how the new technology works, utilising satellites in order to live stream race photography. Images are tagged to athletes who opt in – with sophisticated facial recognition also deployed, helping with the identification of athletes when race numbers are not visible.
The company adds that the service – which can be used at mass sporting events of all kinds including running, cycling and triathlons – means when a person passes a specific milestone on the course or crosses the finish line, their photos will be delivered instantaneously via smartphone to family and friends.
Rich said “Essentially, we’re networking both human operated and automatic cameras at mass participation events. We add accurate GPS time and location data (to ensure the images work with Strava and other platforms) and then upload the images over satellite.
“Once in our systems, we use a combination of number, body and facial recognition to apply a ‘tag’ before serving a live image notification directly to the smartphone of the family/friend or supporter of the participant.”
The new livestreaming photo service will roll-out at a number of UK events in early 2021; and the company now has international expansion on its radar.
