Lynne Kiesling
While we’re in the “how cool is this?” department, pro cycling team CSC has announced that we’ll be able to track all of their riders on the upcoming Tour de California using GSM cellular technology and Google Earth:
During this year’s edition of the pro cycling race, the Computer Sciences Corporation, or CSC, will outfit seven contenders with specially designed tracking devices. Information about the riders’ locations and relative positions in the race will be made available as a map mashup during each of the tour’s eight daylong stages. …
“This is more than just GPS,” says CSC’s Identity Labs chief technologist Dan Munyan. “This is object field tracking. We want to be able to focus on a field of objects in motion, looking not only at where they are on the route, but also where they are relative to each other.
Yay, a whole new way to cheer on Zabriskie and Julich! How cool is this? Amazingly cool. And it helps the riders to prep for the race:
Julich says the devices will also help the riders study the route more closely and better prepare for the race. But after rolling across the start line, turning in a winning performance is totally up to the rider.