Digital stadium app for west standers.

[MattBackHome]

The battery issue has improved in my experience.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

It won't slow your 3G connection. Say you've already downloaded the latest live scores, the app will share that with fans who are less fortunate and have poor reception.

Steve (the one from the digital stadium project).

Thanks for clarifying.

 

[sphen]

I don't get how this works, do you need bluetooth on or just low connectivity.

So lets say you've looked at the live scores in the app and you've download the latest scores because you have a good mobile data connection. Someone else in the stand, doesn't have a mobile data connection, so of course he can't get the latest scores from the Internet. In that case, their app will use WiFi-Direct or Bluetooth to connect to your phone (or anyone else who has the latest scores) and get the latest live scores from your phone.

You can think of it like a Peer-to-Peer network in the stadium where fans are sharing content.

I hope I've explained that clearly.

 

[sphen]

What happens if you dont live in atown with a pier?

Out of luck I'm afraid. The town needs two piers for the app to work.

We are still developing the technology so there may be some bugs and issues. If so, we blame the west pier for this.

 

[clippedgull]

So lets say you've looked at the live scores in the app and you've download the latest scores because you have a good mobile data connection. Someone else in the stand, doesn't have a mobile data connection, so of course he can't get the latest scores from the Internet. In that case, their app will use WiFi-Direct or Bluetooth to connect to your phone (or anyone else who has the latest scores) and get the latest live scores from your phone.

You can think of it like a Peer-to-Peer network in the stadium where fans are sharing content.

I hope I've explained that clearly.

What's to stop any stand in the stadium using the app today? If I had it in the ESU and a guy two rows away from me did as well, could we not use the app?

 

[Notters]

So you just have to have your wifi turned on basically?

 

[sphen]

So you just have to have your wifi turned on basically?

The app handles the wifi connections for you. If you have the app running on the phone, it should take care of everything.

 

[Notters]

The app handles the wifi connections for you. If you have the app running on the phone, it should take care of everything.

Good stuff. Do you have anything to do with bubblephone at the uni?

 

[Dave the OAP]

I find that O2 is completely shite in the stadium as I get a signal but can't get the data to load.

 

[Eksman]

Thank you I've just downloaded it, I'm in north stand so ill still give it a go

 

[sphen]

What's to stop any stand in the stadium using the app today? If I had it in the ESU and a guy two rows away from me did as well, could we not use the app?

You are right that there is nothing stopping you, however, we are still in the testing phase of the project. Things may not work as well as we would like or expect. By giving the app out to a small number of users in the west stand, we can provide the support if things go wrong. If we go stadium wide and it doesn't work, it'll be harder for us to handle the fallout. We need to be sure the app works well before we do that.

Today's test is the first test of the iPhone version, so of course we are expecting some bugs. For Android, we've made a lot of changes over the summer, following on from user feedback. So today we are just hoping to see if these changes have improved things.

 

[Dave the OAP]

You are right that there is nothing stopping you, however, we are still in the testing phase of the project. Things may not work as well as we would like or expect. By giving the app out to a small number of users in the west stand, we can provide the support if things go wrong. If we go stadium wide and it doesn't work, it'll be harder for us to handle the fallout. We need to be sure the app works well before we do that.

Today's test is the first test of the iPhone version, so of course we are expecting some bugs. For Android, we've made a lot of changes over the summer, following on from user feedback. So today we are just hoping to see if these changes have improved things.

Why don't you just get a wireless router and give the ground free wifi?

 

[sphen]

Why don't you just get a wireless router and give the ground free wifi?

From a technical point of view, WiFi in stadiums is very hard to get right. Most previous attempts at stadiums in the US and Europe have failed or provided Internet access for only a few hundred users at most. The Gillette Stadium WiFi implementation (supposed to provide 40% of fans with WiFi and I'm aware of bad reviews of it) has a cost of around $6m according to some sources.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

You are right that there is nothing stopping you, however, we are still in the testing phase of the project. Things may not work as well as we would like or expect. By giving the app out to a small number of users in the west stand, we can provide the support if things go wrong. If we go stadium wide and it doesn't work, it'll be harder for us to handle the fallout. We need to be sure the app works well before we do that.

Today's test is the first test of the iPhone version, so of course we are expecting some bugs. For Android, we've made a lot of changes over the summer, following on from user feedback. So today we are just hoping to see if these changes have improved things.

An excellent way to roll out a programme of improvements. Have you spoken with the caterers, who might learn something?

 

[clippedgull]

You are right that there is nothing stopping you, however, we are still in the testing phase of the project. Things may not work as well as we would like or expect. By giving the app out to a small number of users in the west stand, we can provide the support if things go wrong. If we go stadium wide and it doesn't work, it'll be harder for us to handle the fallout. We need to be sure the app works well before we do that.

Today's test is the first test of the iPhone version, so of course we are expecting some bugs. For Android, we've made a lot of changes over the summer, following on from user feedback. So today we are just hoping to see if these changes have improved things.

OK. Thanks for the explanation. Good luck.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

From a technical point of view, WiFi in stadiums is very hard to get right. Most previous attempts at stadiums in the US and Europe have failed or provided Internet access for only a few hundred users at most. The Gillette Stadium WiFi implementation (supposed to provide 40% of fans with WiFi and I'm aware of bad reviews of it) has a cost of around $6m according to some sources.

An interesting article about how they are handling the issue at the Seattle Sounders stadium (which is probably regularly packed with the largest concentration of computer geeks at any football match in the world) ...

http://www.geekwire.com/2013/seattl...hanauer-big-data-construct-soccer-powerhouse/

When they finally get round to taking food orders to your seat, will the pie be the one you ordered?

 

[Gazwag]

I found it worked fairly well in the north stand today, I checked the scores a few times during the 90 minutes and they did update.

I guess if you don't get updates yourself you can only drill down to see the match details if somebody with a signal has already done so.

I don't really understand this stuff but how doe it effect you own data download allowance, it seems its live until you switch it off but does it download date in the background all the time or only when you open your phone up to see the scores

 

[wellquickwoody]

Uninstalled.

It murdered my battery.

 

[Chicken Runner61]

I'm also testing the iPhone version and it seems to be really good - worked fine a bit like a fast Albion version of the sky football app. All the bells and whistles aren't switched on yet but so far so good

 

[Munki]

Hi all - Given that against Burnley, the Android Stadium app leaked out of the West Stand into the rest of the stadium, we'd like to "unofficially" let it out into the stadium to see how it works. We will do an official release against Bolton on 21st September, but we'd like to check that it scales up before doing that. Therefore, if you'd like to help us by trying out the app on *Android* against Millwall, you can do directly through the Digital Stadium website at www.tribehive.co.uk

Some tried last week but without knowing how to set the phone (needs to be able to accept Unknown Sources as it's not coming through the Play Store). There are YouTube videos showing you the set up and the App and some of the features - look at the Downloads section of the site.

We're going to be standing next to posters on the Upper and the Lower West Stand if you want to come and find out more... and remember to do any downloading BEFORE you get to the stadium as the connection can be rough there (which is the problem our app is trying to solve

If you do install the Android app, have your Twitter account info handy if you have one and it would be useful to know roughly or precisely where you are so we can map out the stadium connectivity...

Have fun and here's to a great result this arvo!

Cheers - Jon and the Digital Stadium team