NTT, the official technology partner of ASO (Amaury Sport Organisation) will create what is touted as the world’s largest connected stadium, generating a “digital twin” of the Tour de France.
Millions of data points will be collected and brought to life through visualisations and digital experiences for fans, as well as new services to support the event operations for this three-week long race that takes place from June 26 to July 18, 2021.
Due to ongoing travel restrictions and COVID-19 safety measures, NTT and ASO will deliver a host of digital experiences to engage fans around the world.
This includes Race Center, the official live tracking site that provides race updates including rider live tracking data on letour.fr and on the official Tour de France Mobile application and LeTourData, data-driven insights and AI predictions on twitter, Instagram and TV broadcast.
Also included are 3D Tracker, an immersive augmented reality app that provides 3D views of the stages; Tour de France Fantasy by Tissot, a fantasy sports game integrating data insights and machine learning (NTT predictor) to provide insights on the riders to watch; and NTT Media Wall, a rich media display at the race villages featuring data insights and visualisations from LeTourData, and live race updates.
Creating a digital twin of Tour de France — a mobile stadium that picks up and moves every day for 21 days across 3,400 kilometers along some of the most remote locations in France — will enable operations staff to gain real time visibility and ultimately streamline operations to ensure the continuity and resilience of the race.
NTT will use a broad range of IoT sensors, edge compute and networks, integrated into NTT’s smart platforms and mapped against a geo-location model of each stage of the Tour. This will enable real-time visibility of key locations and assets, COVID-19 contact tracing and in-the-moment updates of caravan and race arrival times.
Also, NTT will use real-time analytics at the edge to provide immediate race data back to official race vehicles. This will deliver a live overview of the race situation, even in remote areas or the high mountains.
Creating a digital twin of the race also means greater connectivity of devices and vehicles, as well as more applications and platforms accessing services hosted in the cloud – whether public, private or hybrid.
