Enhancing the Stadium Experience of Sports with Augmented Reality

Abstract

Augmented Reality (AR) is the concept of superimposing digital content on top of a view of the real world as seen through the viewfinder of a camera. From maintenance to real estate, AR can foster digital innovation in workforce enablement and customer interaction innovation. Within this Master Thesis, an Augmented Reality prototype is developed and evaluated. The prototype aims to integrate augmented reality information layer in real-time during a sports event in the stadium. The hypothesis is that AR technology can enhance the sportive experience and improve the stadium presence, especially for the branches with lower spectator engagement. AR is known to provide sport-relevant business cases, such as location-based commercial spots; however, this thesis limits its focus on information communication and visualization about the athletes towards the spectators. A review of current literature for AR is necessary to understand the field of this study. Current "trends" of AR/VR in sports will be analyzed to define the requirements for the prototype. In the last step, the prototype will be evaluated within an experiment to reveal its impact on the user engagement, AR experience and information enhancements.