Summing up
The season 2013 was not easy for our project - we have redeveloped the whole system from the very beginning and have had to consider all our previous year experience as an research stage and collection of requirements. Besides in order to make the system fit for the Paragliding World Championship we had to develop a full-scale retrieve solution including retrieve map, retrieve table and mobile application to process SMS between pilots and the headquarter.

As we wanted to implement as many useful functions as possible not everything was ideal this year. We must admit that some problems hindered the race viewing - caused the effect of freezing pilots on the screen. Nevertheless we were able to find and fix errors both on the server side and in the trackers firmware. Within last 2 months we have conducted a lot of tests, confirming that the problem is solved.

Despite the difficulties we consider that we managed to install a good service basis that allows further system development the way we planned. And it’s very important. So in 2014 we will not make anything from the scratch but will optimize, improve and develop the existing system. We are also glad to find out that judging by the feedback we get from pilots, viewers and organizers we managed to develop a modern and convenient user interface.

And of course we would like to express our gratitude to the competition organizers that worked with us this year and who believe in us. We also want to thank all the pilots and viewers who support us and help us in our mission.

What’s new?
Since the end of World Championship 2013 we have made a lot of improvements. For example we have updated our 2D player . The retrieve solution for organizers was significantly enhanced in all components including retrieve map, SMS processing application and retrieve table. Server side bugs were fixed. The development of 3D player based on Google Earth plugin has been initialized - and it’s first version is to be used at Pre Worlds in Colombia.
Besides we are finalizing the development of the functional that allows the organizers to create and manage their competition pages without Airtribune staff support. So we are heading towards a full self-service solution for organizers that will offer equally high quality standards for competitions of any levels.

Our plans for 2014
Our first priority before the beginning of the season 2014 is the creation of iOS/Android mobile tracker for pilots and its full integration to our website. It will allow the organizers to conduct competitions live tracking without the necessity to buy, keep and manage 150 devices with SIM cards. It will be enough for every participant just to install the application and log in. After that the system will automatically define the competition in which the pilot is participating and will guide him through with useful hints. Thus the organizers will get a perfect tool for any level event organization which will be managed through a web page and will produce equally high quality operation without any necessity to rent or to buy devices. What is most important is that the organizers will be free from solving the trackers hardware and firmware problems.
Modern mobile phones have got better performance for live tracking aims. Smartphones are not limited to GPRS connection only. Unlike tracker devices they may use 3G and 4G technology to send live tracking data much without delay. Smartphones are much more suitable to work with buffered data in case of coverage loss as well. At present we test our mobile tracker for iOS and Android every day and we’ll do our best in order to finish this solution in time.

The second important development issue is the creation of API access to our website functional. It will allow the organizers of National Leagues to get their pilots results automatically and use them for pilots rankings within the National Leagues websites. Thus Airtribune plan to offer good conditions for attracting many national championships of different countries. We are in the process of negotiations with several European countries on the issue of holding all national competitions within Airtribune system.

Perhaps its too early to say but we feel it proper to mention here that the third issue that we plan to implement in 2014 is the private live tracking. This service will allow to make online free-flight live tracking with the help of the mobile app. Well it’s just a half of the idea and we’ll not disclose the whole vision for now, just we assure you that it will be a complete solution fully answering a paraglider pilot needs both for a professional or an amature sportman.