SAN FRANCISCO — To the naked eye, nothing but green acreage surrounded San Francisco Giants outfielders Denard Span and Jarrett Parker. Through the lens of an iPad bearing baseball’s new augmented reality feature, however, the image changed: rings surrounded each player, indicating their usual defensive range. (Span’s circle, Giants fans would agree, was appropriately small.) This beta feature in MLB Advanced Media’s At Bat app using Apple’s ARKit was on display at a product reveal at AT&T Park last week, hinting at the tantalizing possibilities of this technological marriage.
“This is a whole new way to tell the story of baseball,” Chad Evans, SVP of mobile product at MLBAM, said.
The demonstration was used to showcase the new collaboration centering on ARKit, a new offering from iOS 11 that allows users to create augmented reality experiences for iPhone and iPad.
The new functional prototype, with a launch date tentatively set for the 2018 MLB season, uses the same Statcast computer vision and RADAR technologies installed in 2015 within all 30 MLB ballparks to capture data from every play executed throughout the season. This Statcast data, combined with IOS 11’s new augmented reality program, ARKit, creates a product that fits the data space and physical space together, overlaying live player data on the real ballpark image in front of a fan attending an MLB game. Built for IOS customers only, this innovation will only be available for use on Apple’s iPhone and iPad.
The product is intended to enhance fan experience by extending the storyline of the game as users hold their device up in front of the field. The technology pinpoints the player’s location in real time by showing users their icon from exactly where they are standing on the field. Through motion tracking and visual tracking sensors placed around the ballpark, virtually any metric associated with their on-field performance, both past and present, is measured and presented to the fan in real time. Evans believes this is the next step in bringing a whole new generation of baseball fans, to a historic sport.
Baseball fans will be able to follow such performance data as: pitcher vs. batter matchup and history, exit velocity, hit angles and ranges, player speed, ball speed, defensive range and tracking of obscure items like outfielder shifts. Though seemingly miniscule, items like these outfielder shifts can unlock a seemingly endless amount of data. For example, how much ground an outfielder can cover to get to a ball in play, why they initially shifted position (based on other analyzed data), their potential throw range and something as specific as the possible outcomes of a throw to home plate.
At this point, Apple and MLB have tested the app within three California ballparks: AT&T Park, Dodger Stadium and the Oakland Coliseum, with expanded testing set to occur in other ballparks throughout the upcoming postseason play.
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When it comes to the spectrum of data that will be included in the final version of the product, VP of Baseball Data at MLB Advanced Media, Greg Cain assures potential users that “Anything is possible, it’s just a matter of time and focus. Our testing has begun to focus in on key attributes and on narrowing the scope and uses cases of the product, but ultimately, it’s all about what the fan wants to get out of their experience in the park.”
While anything is possible, as developers expand testing in postseason play they are zeroed in on the capability of the experience to work dependably in every park. Fan seating location, along with Wi-Fi strength are just a few of many difficulties they must tackle to bring the technology to baseball fans. Further research will explore solutions for important product attributes, including: utilization of park Wi-Fi vs. personal data, amount of real-time data that can overlay on a small screen cohesively, how personalized the data can become fan by fan, how much of a factor device battery life will play in adoption, fan safety measures, and finally, the ramifications of the product upon the player/fan connection, as fans are encouraged to be on their handheld devices with ever-increasing frequency.
The difference-maker will be to provide the best possible experience to each fan regardless of their seat within the ballpark. As AR is contextual in nature and depends upon a consumer’s world view for use, perspective becomes much more important than distance. Although, Evans breached the idea of exploring the possibility of zoom and reorientation during the zoom for those who are far from the action. His explanation, “if we can get the zoom and reorientation toward the on-field action to happen quick enough, it could be a useful feature.”
According to Evans, one thing is certain, “the onboarding process for new users will be incredibly important to develop in order to create positive first-time experiences (with the product).”
Ultimately, this technology is just the start of what the future holds for viewing live baseball. Filling the natural gaps in the game, highlighting crucial moments, providing tips about what to watch for and expect, all contribute to an explanation of the subtle nuances of a baseball game to non-fans, thus making the game more accessible and engaging for the next generation of fans.