The organizers of the CHI Geneva have once again added an innovative touch to their show. From December 10th to December 13th, the public as well as the competitors will discover a pioneer solution of “horse tracking” and statistics. A worldwide premier.
Used during the television broadcasts on the main screens within the show grounds as well as on the internet site www.chi-geneve.ch, this system created and developed by the company Playfulvision, based in the Innovation Park of the EPFL campus in Lausanne, is meant to facilitate the comprehension of show jumping to the general public.
At the end of the competitions, a recapitulative chart will allow a comparison of the performance of the first two riders of the class. The time, the distance rode, the number of strides galloped as well as the average speed will be displayed and will allow a better understanding the why’s and how’s the winner dominated the second place rider, a similar system to the one used in tennis. The errors made, if any, will also be analysed. Numerous other statistics, interesting to those with a deeper knowledge of the sport, will be available on our internet site. Indeed, a superposition of the two rounds of the two best riders of the class (horse tracking) will allow for a visual comparison of the lines each rider chose to execute.
This innovation will allow a new insight to showjumping and help to understand more precisely the subtleties of the sport. This technology will be used in exclusivity and as a world premier at the Concours Hippique International de Genève during its 55th edition in December 2015 (from 10th to 13th). Working solely with cameras strategically positioned on the course without disturbing rider, horse, nor the public, will allow for real-time feed and consequently, live data.
"We are thrilled to be able to present this novelty to our spectators and competitors", explains Sophie Mottu Morel, General Director of the CHI Geneva. "The collected data will provide a new view of show jumping. Typically with a jump-off, it is not always easy to precisely explain what allowed one rider to be quicker than the other. The statistics provided by this system as well as with the visual superposition of the courses should help bring answers.This data will not only be useful to the public and the competitors, but also to the TV commentators during broadcasts. This solution has real added value and is a huge step forward in the use of technology in our sport."
The statistics and the system of horse tracking will first be used during the Credit Suisse Grand Prix and thereafter in several other competitions, notably the Rolex Grand Prix, one of the classes of the Grand Slam of Show Jumping, on Sunday December 13th.
Additional information about the system can be found at www.playfulvision.com and www.chi-geneve.ch
Source: Press release from CHI Geneva