Taqtile continues to dream up new ways to put its 3D mapping technologies to work in the sports world. Through “HoloMaps,” which are holographic maps it builds through Microsoft’s HoloLens augmented reality platform, the company is hoping to change the ways fans, athletes and franchise stakeholders interact with sporting events and venues.
This year, the company teamed up with the Cleveland Cavaliers to create a digital rendering of the team’s planned Quicken Loans Arena renovations, which the Cavaliers used as a way to take stakeholders through a lifelike tour of the building’s blueprint before the project was completed.
“It set the foundation for us going into a transformation project that puts technology at its core,” Cavaliers VP of Digital Michael Conley told SportTechie this summer. Eventually, the Cavaliers plan to use HoloMap technology to sell season tickets and enhance the fan experience, according to Conley.
Taqtile has created similar maps with different use cases for other clients in the sports industry, including the PGA Tour. At the PGA Tour’s Player’s Championship in 2016, Taqtile debuted a detailed HoloMap of the iconic TPC Sawgrass golf course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. overlaid with data from ShotLink showing historical player statistics, side-by-side player comparisons and the exact lines balls traveled from tee to hole. While the PGA Tour experience was created to give players an ability to visualize the course and strategize with coaches, Taqtile said it could one day also be used to enhance the fan experience.
“When we first saw this, we actually saw the HoloLens as a representation of the evolution of computing,” Taqtile co-founder Dirck Schou said. “From a training perspective, let’s think about all this information I could get if I had this pop-up experience that’s bringing in GPS data, weather data, IoT data. How does that create an experience that is richer, deeper, better, faster, hands-free?”
The ability to visualize multiple angles of a sporting event for training is one reason Taqtile is most excited about mixed reality. Taqtile leveraged its mapping technology to power a putting experience that was used by 2015 U.S. Amateur winner Bryson DeChambeau to practice the visual and mental components of putting a green without wasting the energy on multiple swings.
“Basically what (DeChambeau) said was, ‘I only have so many swings in my body. If I can visualize something without having to move my arms, then I’ve saved myself one stroke,’” Schou said. “He’s hacking golf.”
The nominees for the SportTechie Award for Outstanding Startup were:
Connexion Health
Satisfi Labs
Taqtile
VNTANA
2nd Skull
