As winter fast approaches, skiers and snowboarders are priming their equipment and getting ready to hit slopes across the United States, they’re bringing a sensor, companion app and artificial intelligence along for the ride.
Trace, which provides these solutions, may be getting a boost thanks to a sizable investment by Intel Capital, it was announced Thursday. Intel Capital, the investing arm of the ubiquitous tech company, spread $60 million across 15 data-focused companies.
Trace, based in Los Angeles uses a small sensor that tracks activity for snow sports, water sports and more recently soccer in order to deliver performance insights. For those taking videos, Trace automatically and immediately edits the entire day of footage to just the action highlights with no editing required.
For skiing, it can measure a skier’s vertical, speed, airtime and distance, among other statistics. The technology works on any mountain in the world, the company claims. Skiers and snowboarders can view basic stats within the app or log into their Trace account to gain more insight into individual runs.
Other features the app includes are a patent-pending jump tracker letting skiers know how long and how frequently they were airborne, a comparison of friends’ runs, and a 3D “challenge” replay feature that allows friends who skied on different days or slopes to see how they would have fared against each other.
For surfing, kiteboarding, wakeboarding, windsurfing, standup paddleboarding and kayaking, with the sensor and the app, they can get stats about their riding including speed, paddle and ride distance, ride time, calories burned and wave count.
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The sheer amount of data Trace can provide fits hand-in-hand with Intel’s new mission. “The world is undergoing a data explosion,” Wendell Brooks, the president of Intel Capital, said in a statement.
“As Intel transitions to a data company, Intel Capital is actively investing in startups across the technology spectrum that can help expand the data ecosystem and pathfind important new technologies,” he added.
The mobile app, available on the App Store and Google Play Store, was the official app of a number of well-known ski resorts around the world, including Blue Mountain, Mount Tremblant, Winter Park and Stratton.
Trace has also created a desktop app for Mac that allows users to take point-of-view video like that of a GoPro without having to sort through minutes or hours to find the most shareable, highlight-worthy moments. Where it would seem the mobile app and desktop video editor connect is through the latter’s ability to overlay stats on top of a video clip. Skiers who embark on a particularly memorable run or take on the hardest black diamond slope can find the best jump and see how long they were in the air.