The Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour is taking place in Cape Town this coming Sunday and mapIT and Tracker are planning on making sure that Virgin Group founder Richard Branson doesn’t get lost and wind up heading for the Eastern Cape.
Branson, along with the race leaders, other participating celebrities, politicians and charity groups, will be tracked by mapIT and Tracker with their progress being shown on an interactive map during the event. The map will also play host to a Twitter feed during the cycle tour but there is no word on whether Tracker will be remotely disabling bicycles that deviate too far from the planned route.
mapIT’s Managing Director Etienne Louw said in a statement “The race’s history dates back to 1977 and has gained massive momentum to date pulling a large crowd of both local and international entrants and spectators; we are thrilled to be involved with such a well-loved and high profile annual sporting event. Reliable navigation is therefore imperative to a successful experience by everyone and our team has designed the online route map with live data from Tracker, using our LBS platform by deCarta, using a wide range of specialised, interactive features.”
The celebrities and personalities who will be tracked via the interactive map include Western Cape Premier Helen Zille, MEC for or Finance, Economic Development and Tourism Alan Winde, veterans of 35 Cape Argus tours Marge Hemp and Janet Moss, journalists Kevin Mcallum and Gareth Edwards, SA rugby’s Ashwin Willemse, Para Olympic swimmer and Olympics Gold Medalist Natalie du Toit and special riders Damien, Chaeli, Luke and Nicholas who are being towed by family members to raise awareness for children living with disabilities.
