TrackFootball.app

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This spec is a WIP. Updated: 01.08.2021 → added landscape table with some research papers and hardware specification documents Updated: 20.07.2021 → added a few more companies Updated: 07.07.2021 → minor changes before publishing as a blog Updated: 27.06.2021 → added research papers Updated: 21.06.2021 → added IoT section Updated: 26.01.2021 → added lateral technologies section Updated: 25.01.2021 → added some links in similar apps section Updated: 22.01.2021 → added some links Updated: 02.01.2021 → added the important metrics section, consolidated prior art Updated: 30.12.2020 → added data analytics and academic sections Updated: 20.12.2020 → added tl;dr, next steps, prior art sections Updated: 27.12.2020 → Core of the document

tl;dr

  • Code some more and create a 0.0.1 that can be used with friends, without a formal spec for now
  • De-risk data ingestion part by making an Apple watch app

Overview

Why

There is no social network dedicated to casual Football players.
While the athlete performance tracking has made substantial progress in professional Football, there is a gap in inexpensive way to track individual casual Football performance like Strava has done for runners.

What

  • "Strava for Football"/"Journal for Football"
    • Social network for Football
  • "Democratizing Football Science"
    • Collect data from devices (Apple watch, Fitbit for casual games, FIFA approved tracking devices for amateur leagues and up)
    • Show heat maps and stats like distance, speed etc
    • Replay games in 2D field
    • Allow multiple people to superimpose replay/stats when they record on the same field at the same time

How

  • Launch v0.1 first, not even a v1. Aggressively scope it down
    • Basic tracking, heat maps, speed analysis from any device that can emit standard formats (like gpx)
      • Custom app for tracking activity?
        • Apple Watch?
        • Fitbit?
        • Other devices?
    • Basic features of a social network
      • Follow
      • Feed
      • Comments?
      • Notifications?

SWOT

💪
Strengths - No common Football social network - Hardly any Football analytics for Individuals - Upcoming industry (athlete tracking, individual analysis)
😟
Weaknesses - Catapult is almost a monopoly. They acquired almost everything else - Playr (acquired) by Catapult - Existing solutions are bad, but our solution does not exist (Yet)
😼
Opportunities - First to market for a "Strava for Football" like product - Love for the product, dogfooding
🥵
Threats - Large project scope - Lack of domain experience (Geo data, even athlete performance) - Data ingestion makes the project scope large if we don't define it

Scenarios

Scenario 1: Alice

Alice is an individual, casual soccer player who likes to track their games, they are an existing Strava user and have an Apple watch.
They wear a device and record a "run" with Strava. TrackFootball's login with Strava allows them to create a "activity post" from this Strava activity.

Scenario 2: Bob

Bob owns a Fitbit and wants to start tracking their games. They can use the fitbit to track their games and export a gpx file from it which can be posted on TrackFootball.app as an activity status.
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Note: There will be more of these scenarios. I think without our own app to do the tracking, these workflows look broken.

Important Metrics

TODO: Write it out from research links below

Non Goals

  • Create our own hardware for tracking. We can hack a cheaper Mi band or try integration with Google Jacquard (which powers Adidas GMR but is a closed platform afaik) should we need to have customized hardware.
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There will be more things that we may not do. Like, comments, notifications in the feed?

Screens and specifications

For now, a demo TrackFootball.app (Strava account is required for now)

Next steps

0.0.1 → Play around in code and on the field and make it usable for not users but friends
0.1 → First launch, needs more planning

Prior Art

IOT
Catapult (Juggernaut)
  • Easily the biggest player in the market that acquired all similar startups
GIS
Other apps, devices, technology, similar-esque
  • https://magicoach.com/ (dead now but very related, almost exactly the same thing minus the social network aspects)
  • http://wearejoga.com/ (Genius, app that does what we want to do + a west where you can fit your phone like Playr tracker etc → great idea, out of the box thinking)
Google Jacquard and Adidas GMR
  • Adidas GMR uses Google Jacquard to build real-life gamification around FIFA mobile
  • I have it and I will expand this section more from my experience.
  • I love it that this technology is cheap, 35 Euro for both soles and Jacquard tag which means Jacquard might be even cheaper. It does automatic tracking and if we can sync it easily it will be the perfect interface.
 
Lateral technology
Data Analytics

APIs
Apps
Archive/Less relevant stuff
Research Papers
  • TrackNet: A Deep Learning Network for Tracking High-speed and Tiny Objects in Sports Applications
Landscape
Name
Tags
Logo of trackfootball.app
Made for players looking to improve their games
Compatible with Strava logo