ShotTracker Team - Real-Time Sports Tracking Solution
We made a sports analytics solution gathering and providing real-time data on a number of metrics that can be further processed by professional coaches, team managers, betting companies, etc.
Client & Requirements
On this project, we partnered with a renowned sports data-as-a-service provider for basketball associations, that operates primarily in the United States and now works closely with a variety of universities, NABC coaches, and professional teams.
The ShotTracker company was founded in Kansas City (USA) in 2012 as an ambitious sports analytic startup with the original idea to provide basketball players with an app to track their activities during workouts in real time. Before we got down to work on the ShotTracker Team app, we’d already worked with the client’s specific Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) sensors, and beacons, while developing a fan engagement solution and athlete performance management solution.
Due to this, the client was already well-acquainted with our technical expertise and qualifications, so they chose our sports software development company to deliver their next solution — the ShotTracker Team app.
Challenges
Our initial challenge in this project was to assure connecting BLE sensors properly and gathering real-time data on various parameters from sports games about a team in general and each player separately. We took this idea further and decided to create a sports performance tracking solution for professionals that would be able to:
- Integrate the IoT-based technologies properly
- Interact efficiently with BLE-powered sensors
- Track current players’ positions in real-time
- Gather and analyze data from various sports games and workouts
- Store data in the cloud and synchronize it in real-time
- Run perfectly on both iOS and Android devices
Before the start, we chose the most suitable development model to interact with the ShotTracker management and shaped an appropriate development team for the project. Then we defined the right types of sports data we should gather via beacons and the right tools to store, analyze and provide this data to end-users.
Solution
Our solution was primarily focused on gathering, processing, and storing sports statistical data in real-time and sharing it with various stakeholders via the application. Thus, using the ShotTracker Team app, coaches, team managers, athletes, and betting providers could track different criteria of the entire team or each specific player apart thanks to the following features:
- Sports gear & movement equipment analytics
To create an effective ecosystem of BLE-sensors for gathering and analyzing data about every movement of the ball and players on the court, we set up the five system power modes of beacons, such as Active, Sleep, Deep Sleep, Hibernate, and Stop.
- Real-time box scores and sports performance data AR-based visualization
For displaying real-time box scores and statistics, we run an algorithm to get precise data from a variety of sensors fixed on the sports gear & equipment and in the corners of the court.
To assure vivid data visualization, we designed a specific court view map with the real-time positions of the ball and players. We also implemented AR-based elements, so users could project the court and players’ positions on any surface via their phone or tablet and follow the game.
Process
Building on our previous experience with the ShotTracker technology, we chose Agile as the main development methodology. Thus, we divided the entire process into two-week sprints with daily meetings to check the current status of every task, eliminate minor issues, and track the overall progress of the sprint. We were also giving regular demo sessions for the client after adding major features and updates.
While the entire management was on the client’s side, our company provided all required development experts, including several mobile developers, QA engineers, business analysts, designers, and a project manager to oversee the development process and contact the client swiftly.
As we worked before with ShotTracker’s BLE-based hardware, we decided to extend their original sports performance analysis solution for amateurs with several features to meet the needs of professional players, coaches, and teams.
The entire process of creating the ShotTracker Team app was made of several stages including the following key points:
- Enhancing the IoT ecosystem for getting more precise statistics. We tuned up clear and swift interaction between the ShotTracker sensors attached to balls, players’ equipment, and anchors in playcourt rafters.
- Adding multiple types of drills and workouts that could be set manually and automatically.
- Providing basketball coaches with the ability to adjust workouts and check players’ results remotely.
- Designing a specific court view map for tracking players’ real-time positions during workouts and professional games & events.
- Displaying and analyzing statistics from past and current sports events.
As professional players needed to get some specific performance metrics than amateurs during games and workouts, we added even more detailed analytics about box scores, shot charts, lineups, possessions, and more. The ShotTracker Team app was the first to feature the zone map with live tracking of players’ current positions. This zone map became so top requested, that now you can find it in every other ShotTracker app available on the market.
After we added a zone map and various options to gather and analyze sports data in real-time, the ShotTracker Team app became an advanced IoT-based sports performance analysis & monitoring solution. Now team managers, coaches, betting companies, and other stakeholders can get complete and up-to-date information about professional games and players using the ShotTracker Team application.
Technologies & Tools
Frontend
iOS SDK, Android SDK, REST API, social networks APIs (publishing, crawlers, oAuth),
Facebook SDK, Linkedin SDK, Google SDK
Communication protocol
WebSockets
Data layer management
Core Data
BLE and IoT management
Core Bluetooth
Third-party library APIs
Cocoa, Android Support Library
Results
Working closely with the client’s team, we applied our skills in providing IoT app development services to deliver a full-fledged sports analytic application. Together we managed to create a BLE-based ecosystem providing coaches, team managers, betting companies, broadcasters, and other stakeholders with a robust solution, the ShotTracker Team app, that meets their requirements in part of the gathering and analyzing large amounts of real-time sports data.
This app became so popular, that now the client has a list of companies that already preordered the implementation of this real-time sports data software solution.
Becoming a successful sports data-as-a-service provider today, the ShotTracker company has already signed up our team for further maintaining and updating their IoT-based system with a number of features later this year.
