Innovation is set to take center stage at the Olympic and Paralympic Games scheduled for Paris in 2024. Rather than the usual opening ceremony in a stadium like in years past, the River Seine will act as venue, with delegations floating by on boats scheduled to pass such iconic attractions as the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, and more.
This type of innovation requires careful planning and technology is playing a big part. UK technology firm OnePlan is creating “digital twins” of the key venues.
“This will be an Olympic and Paralympic Games powered by innovation, […] a new way of organising events with international collaboration helped by technology,” said Tony Estanguet, President of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
This is the first time the Olympic and Paralympic Games will have a geographic information system (GIS) mapping and digital twin.
“From anywhere in the world, users can feel like they are actually in the venues, walking the routes, hearing, and seeing the environment as it will be during the games,” said Paul Foster, founder and CEO, OnePlan.
The technology will enable Paris 2024’s planners to place infrastructure objects, such as barriers and fencing, and then track them in one place in real time. Other benefits include instant capacity estimates. The versatile tool can also be used to calculate camera angels, preview seat views and to improve the experience for spectators needing assistance.
FlyThroughs and hyper-realistic floor plans of suites may also be key in selling hospitality packages to sponsors. Having an immersive representation of the experience with a complete branding overview is sure to prove useful.
The technology will also play a part in reducing Paris 2024’s carbon footprint, at least at the planning stage. “When you collaborate in OnePlan, you’re eliminating site visits, whether by jet or car, and the associated reduction in Co2 emissions,” Foster said.
Digital twins of Stade de France, where track and field activities will be held, and the Place de la Concorde, where basketball, BMX freestyle, and skateboarding will take place, have already been created to collaboratively identify and test the potential use of this technology. It will then be expanded to include almost every venue of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Although the Olympics and Paralympics Games 2024 is a large-scale logistical mega-event requiring sophisticated planning to go off without a hitch, many of these plans and preparations can also apply to smaller events.
