Tuesday, May 01, 2007

SnowSports Interactive: Tracking on the Slopes


Well it looks like technology is starting to catch on, we have seen theme parks, Legoland in Billund, Denmark, where they use RFID to track kids around the park. "Parents can pay 3 euros for a day’s rental of a tag for their child. Legoland attaches the Bluesoft AeroScout T2 tag, about 1.5 inches by 2.5 inches, to the child’s wrist by means of a disposable wristband. That tag is then registered to the parents’ mobile phone number.

The park will be able to constantly track that tag anywhere in the park. The Bluesoft AeroScout system uses a minimum of three location receivers and Bluesoft’s own AeroScout software to triangulate a tag’s position by recording the time of arrival of a single tag transmission at several receivers and using time difference of arrival (TDOA) algorithms to determine location. Parents wanting to locate their child will send a text message from their mobile phone and receive an automated response telling them the location, within 10 feet, of their child. The process takes between 10 and 20 seconds, according to Bluesoft."

So when more companies like SnowSport Interactive get into the game with no more than an idea, you know things are looking up. Now when you go to their site, very one demential, and lacking any real explanation of the product, but hey you have to give them credit for getting it going. For the Flaik Ski School the explanation says "Enables the real time location of students, instructors and other key school personnel." This would be cool if opened up too all that would like to purchase the device, very much like LegoLand. Then when skiing with all your friends and family if one would like to take the Double Diamond and the others the blue route, well then it would be easy via a cell phone to track where they are at, better yet use google earth and a smart phone and then you have a really interactive experience.
Check it out! SnowSport Interactive

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