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NICK Nick Schulz is the Editor of Tech Central Station and has worked in media circles and the ideas industry as a writer, editor, television producer and policy analyst. His writings have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Slate, The National Post of Canada, The Baltimore Sun, Investor's Business Daily, The Washington Times, National Review, Reason, Policy Review, and several other publications. He is also, it should be said, a rabid sports fan whose fandom is inversely proportional to his overall athletic ability.
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February 05, 2006

Global Positioning Sports

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Posted by Nick

Here are some interesting ideas for using GPS in sports such as baseball, football, futbol and golf.

For instance at the World Series a baseball hit into the third level will be able to be recorded by GPS as to exactly how far it was hit and it’s trajectory to formulate where it would have actually landed had the stadium been flat. Thus we will be able to tell who was the greatest homerun power house of all times, perhaps even who is on steroids based on their body mass, speed of pitch, GPS data and ‘haptics’ (body movement and form).

Wouldn’t it be cool to be watching the World Series on TV and instant information about a homerun appearing on the bottom of the screen? Sounds like a whole new potential betting arena, not only how many homeruns a person will hit, but exactly how far they will hit them?

A football kick would be immediately known the exact yardage, every play near the sidelines would be instantly called in or out of bounds and there would never be any question as to if a football actually broke the goal line. I can hear the referee unions screaming foul already as they will no longer be needed or have jobs? Ouch? Soccer balls, off sides, out of bounds? Yes all possible via GPS data.

With sensors getting smaller and GPS units being used in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles of smaller and smaller size for Micro Air Vehicles and RFID imbedded chips, this technology believe it or not is ready for golf balls as well? All you need is a little imagination. So there you are Tiger Woods with a PDA device in your hands which measures the exactly where the ball is, how far to the next hole, picking up the data from inside the golf ball itself and the flag in the hole. Way-points are displayed also as to where the sand traps are, lakes, edge of fairway and the rough surrounding the green.

My sense is we'll see these things adopted eventually.

Comments (3) + TrackBacks (0) | Category: Misc.


COMMENTS

1. Raymond on February 5, 2006 03:02 PM writes...

I dunno, even really good DPGS has 1 meter margin of error. Good enough to find your lost golf ball but hardly enough to make a goal/no-goal decision.

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2. David Pinto on February 6, 2006 06:27 PM writes...

I believe the 1-meter error comes from the sattelites being so far from the earth. If you set up a local GPS system in the stadium (one on each light tower, for example, you might be able to get a good enough reading to call balls and strikes.

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