BBC develops 3D technology to enhance sport broadcasts

One project, which it hopes to be ready for the 2012 Olympics, will superimpose live sporting footage on a three-dimensional rendering of the Olympic Park — allowing viewers to navigate with a ‘helicopter’s eyeview’ and zoom in on specific venues and events.

The Viewers’ Situational and Spatial Awareness for Applied Risk and Reasoning project, referred to as the VSAR project, is a £3.1m collaborative venture co-funded by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB).

3D rendering of the Olympic Park is achievable

Graham Thomas, principal research engineer at the BBC

The BBC team will trial the technology for Wimbledon 2011, where it will be used internally as a tool for producers and directors to better coordinate coverage. A flash-based web-browser plug-in for consumers is also in the pipeline.

‘With Wimbledon we might have camera feeds for five or six main courts. You could add overlays of who was playing and what the current score was, then you could fly between the courts. When you fly into one particular court there might be a button where you could switch to Iplayer for a full broadcast complete with commentary,’ said Graham Thomas, principal research engineer at the BBC.