Tag Archives: Google Glass

Around the world in 80 days, talking maps and tennis!

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For those of you who follow my twitter feed you will have noticed that I’ve been traveling quite a bit lately. It’s been a busy Summer to say the least. So what’s been going on at GameSetMap? Plenty in fact…

During August I took a trip back to Australia and presented to a group of students from the School of Mathematical and Geospatial Science at my former university, RMIT. It’s always great to re-visit the place where so many seeds were planted for my career that lay ahead. And of course it’s rewarding to share your work with the students to give them a taste of what’s possible with their geo-spatial knowledge. Thanks to Gita and Lucas for having me!

RMIT University

Back where it all started at RMIT University, Melbourne.

After Australia I set off for Dresden, Germany where I presented my tennis work at the 26th International Cartographic Conference (ICC).  The conference is the premier bi-annual global cartographic/geospatial meet-up in the world, attracting over 1300 delegates. I presented my work under the stream of 4D Cartography. As we know, much of sports analytics is preformed across 4 dimensions, space (x,y,z) and time, so this was a perfect slot for my spatio-temporal tennis analysis. It was great to see a packed house in for my talk, it certainly raised a few eyebrows!

Google Glass and Tennis

Talking about wearable technology and Google Glass for tennis at ICC in Dresden.

After Germany I was invited to talk at the IE Sports Analytics Innovation Summit in Boston, MA. There were some big names on the program from Manchester United, New York Knicks, NFL, Nike and Adidas so it was humbling to share the same space with some of the big guns of the sports world. Much of the talk from the conference was about data, in particular geo-sports data, what to do with it, how to make sense of it etc. This area is about to blow up big time!

The slides from the conference can be viewed below:


Over the journey I met so many great people, and collected many new ideas! My mind is buzzing with endless possibilities. In the next few months you’ll start to see the results of these ideas come to fruition on GameSetMap.com. Stay tuned…

“OK Glass, show me Tennis Analytics”. How Google Glass will revolutionize the way we see tennis.

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Early in 2012, the tech world was buzzing with the news that Google was about to release a wearable augmented reality device. Enter Google Glass.  Google Glass puts augmented reality right in front of your eyes, literally!

Sergey-Brin-Wearing-Google-GlassSergey Brin, co-founder of Google models Google Glass earlier this year.

There has been plenty of hype surrounding the product since it’s preview early last year, and we have seen examples how Google Glass can be used to take a picture, record a video, or get directions.

But what else might one do with Google Glass?

To activate Google Glass, you start by saying “OK Glass”. Then you ask Google Glass to show, do, or tell you something. So let’s give it a try:

Lets start with a simple question. “OK Glass, show me the weather forecast at the Australian Open today”

Google Glass Australian Open

Imagine sitting courtside at the Australian Open and wondering what the weather is going to be like for the afternoons play. Up pops the current weather conditions. It’s as simple as that.

Google Glass has the ability to overlay all kinds of information in your field of view. So let’s try this:

“OK Glass, show me Federer’s second shot placement”

Google Glass Federer

Imagine sitting courtside at the Cincinnati Open and wondering where Federer had previously played his second shot after Novak’s return of serve. Bam, up pops the trajectory lines of Federer’s second shot to show you where he’s likely to hit his next shot. Excited yet? Let’s try one more example.

“OK Glass, show me a stroke pattern heat map”

French Open Heat Map

Imagine sitting in the stands at court Philippe Chatrier and wondering where this player is going to hit his forehand? Google Glass immediately overlays the stroke pattern right onto the court so you can see where his shots have been passing on the court. Wow!

These images are a few quick examples that I put together to show you the potential of Google Glass in tennis. Google Glass will enhance our viewing experience of tennis (and all sports) by 10 fold! Sitting court side, we will be able to control when we see the stats, what stats we see and for how long. Whether it is seeing a live heat map, or 3D ball trajectory the potential is endless.

Of course, if tennis analytics isn’t your thing you may find Google Glass useful to find a friend in the crowd, or to video a point and share it on Facebook. You might even ask Google Glass for directions to Arthur Ashe Stadium!

The real time visualization of sports statistics and Google Glass are a match made in heaven. Let’s hope the ATP, WTA, and ITF fast track the delivery of real time tennis analytics to everyone so when Google Glass goes live, the game and our eyes will be ready!

To find out more about Google Glass visit their homepage.

Image Credits:

Sergy Brin wearing Google Glass: Copyright CBS Interactive

Australian Open: http://madamebonbon.com.au/blog/archives/7968

Roland Garros pic: http://lewebpedagogique.com/alaricenglishspeakers/the-tennis-and-roland-garros/

Cincy Tennis: https://shop.cincytennis.com/SeatViewer.aspx