NTT builds an augmented reality experience for the Tour de France

Technology firm NTT has developed an augmented reality app that shows the Tour de France race in 3D.

NTT's augmented reality view of the Tour de France.

Technology firm NTT has developed an augmented reality app that shows the Tour de France race in 3D. The TDF kicks off this Saturday August 29 and promises 21 stages of gruelling cycling endeavour.

The cycling race not only will be televised. Using a phone or tablet computer, some fans will be able to load the AR app and watch the action on a three dimensional map on their living room floor.

The new experience is being offered by NTT, formerly Dimension Data. It along with several other subsidiaries is adopting the name of NTT, the global parent.

The company already provides an Internet of Things (IoT) device strapped underneath riders’ saddles that transmits their real time position and speed.

“We get that information back from them every second,” says Peter Gray, senior vice president, advanced technology group: sport at NTT. “That requires a real proprietary transmission network that multiplexes with the television,” Mr Gray told The Australian.

He says the technology works even in remote parts of France with limited mobile coverage.

“That information then feeds through to the television broadcast. We‘ve built a whole range of digital platforms that they are able to utilise and leverage.”

He says cyclist position and speed is augmented with details of the gradient they are travelling up and weather conditions, so people know whether they are riding into a head or tail wind.

NTT has created a machine learning module which estimates how hard cyclists are working, based on their speed, gradient conditions and the size of the group they are with.

NTT's augmented reality view of the Tour de France.

Mr Gray says NTT processed cyclist data and fed it into the television broadcasts of the recent Virtual Tour de France, held in July.

He says NTT has redesigned the race platform for the real world Tour de France with an enhanced mobile experience.

The big step forward for the TDF this year is the augmented reality application. Fans can look through their tablet or phone screen to see a 3D model in the room that lets them appreciate the scale of the event.

“With an unprecedented view from the sky, they will see the riders among the mountains, valleys, rivers and lakes, and have access to interactive live data on the race whilst feeling like they’re actually viewing the race from a helicopter, says NTT in a promotional statement.

Mr Gray says users can project the three dimensional model of the course onto their desk or table.

“It shows you exactly where the riders are, and gives you all the access to that live telemetry data. You can walk around it, you can zoom in, you can go through the valleys and see what that climb looks like, it’s a pretty awesome experience.”

He says the augmented reality experience was built by the NTT digital team in Australia and would be used globally. However there will be only a limited release of the AR app this year to “several thousand people around the world”.

Mr Gray says there is potential to create a social experience around the AR experience in future.

“You‘re sitting with a group of friends in your home, and you’ve got the three dimensional projection that you’re all interacting with. You’re actually changing the experience in somebody’s lounge room.”

With COVID-19 limiting the ability of fans to attend the race in person, NTT ran a hack fest to come up with new ideas for a better digital experience. He says there’s a range of new possibilities that NTT can now explore.