This article was taken from the August 2011 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Even the world's most popular sport loves to crunch data. Currently being used in Spain's La Liga and the UEFA Champions League, TRACAB is a 3D tracking technology that follows all the action in a football match in real-time and is precise to within ten centimetres. "We have machine-learning algorithms that can distinguish what is a player and what is a ball," says Johan Apel, CEO of the Stockholm-based company. "The system knows their exact position at all times -- it calculates and records everything from average speeds to shots made." Using an image-processing technique first developed for the military by SAAB, TRACAB uses two boxes of eight cameras to follow what is happening on the pitch. This churns out a constant stream of data, giving managers access to detailed reports of player performances, heat maps and game stats. Lazy footballers beware: you are being watched.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
