Sweden Leads the Way in Visualisation Technology

Sweden Leads the Way in Visualisation Technology

STOCKHOLM, June 10/PRNewswire/ --

- Experience a Football Game on TV Like you Were Playing Yourself

Never mind if you haven't been picked for the Euro 2008 football
tournament - soon we'll all be able to play like football stars such as the
likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Fredrik Ljungberg.

Using a state-of-the-art visualisation technology developed by
researchers at the Royal College of Technology in Stockholm, anyone will be
able to pass as a football pro within a few years' time. You'll be able to
squeeze past your opponents running down the pitch, or put yourself in the
position of the opposing team - all at the same time as the game is being
played live on your TV screen.

A research team at the Royal College of Technology (KTH) is developing
the visualisation technology which will make it possible to make the
traditional two-dimensional TV picture of a football game into an
interactive, 3D experience. The game is to become as realistic for the TV
viewer as for the player on the pitch.

"It's an entirely new way of watching football. It will be possible to
enter the game virtually, to study the players, rotate them, and view and
experience the game from new angles," says Stefan Carlsson, professor at the
computer science institution at the Royal College of Technology.

"Viewers have never been able to view a football game in this way up
until now. Everything happens in real time, while the game is being played,"
Carlsson adds.

The project is being co-developed with Solna-based firm Tracab which
specialises in a world-leading camera-based system that makes it possible to
track players and the ball in real time. The technology is already being used
during the ongoing Euro 2008 tournament, as well as all Swedish Premier
League (Allsvenskan) games, and in recent Champions League matches.

The Royal College of Technology project is one of eight visualisation
technology projects run by Swedish universities and organisations to receive
sponsorship.

The eight projects will share a total sum of US$85 million earmarked for
the investment programme, which includes organisations such as Invest in
Sweden Agency, the Knowledge Foundation and others:
http://isa.se/templates/News____63546.aspx

Source: Invest in Sweden Agency (ISA)

For further information, please contact: Anna Lagerkvist, Cloudberry Communications, Tel: +46(0)8-551-112-16, Email: anna@cloudberry.se; Stefan Carlsson, Professor of computer science, Royal College of Technology, Tel: +46(0)8-790-84-32, Email: stefanc@csc.kth.se

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