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Events
METROMAP
How aerial imagery solves problems for outdoor event MetroMap’s high-resolution aerial imagery and measuring tools are a game-changer for outdoor event managers. South Australia’s biggest domestic cycling race, the Super Series, uses MetroMap to overcome many logistical and time challenges in putting on its nine events. It allowed Jake Thomas, Super Series Race Director and Event Coordinator for AusCycling in SA, to manage the months-long planning processes better, communicate more effectively with stakeholders, and grow the event through improved time management.
Remote inspections
The Super Series has a significant footprint across seven different race locations, five different local government areas, and four events situated more than 50km from the Adelaide CBD. Courses range from a couple of kilometres in length to more than 100km. MetroMap’s broad capture program ensured Jake and his team could remotely examine and take ground-level measurements of every road and host location without leaving their office. “MetroMap has been really useful for the Super Series this year,” said Jake, “especially with planning, because it’s meant that we can do things like venue inspections, road inspections, and all other the things that normally involve a trip out to the site. Being based in Gepps Cross makes it difficult to get to every location while we’re trying to organise nine events at once.”
MAY 2022
MetroMap’s remote inspection and measurement capabilities simplified the planning for a completely new Super Series course in a complex Adelaide CBD location by streamlining parts of that intricate event. “One of the races we developed for this year’s Super Series was the East End street race,” said Jake. “MetroMap allowed us to map the exact distance of the barriers needed for that venue, meaning we didn’t need to pay for a stack of barriers sitting unused. We were able to do that without taking a walking wheel and measuring open roads in the middle of the city. We would have done a lot measuring on foot without MetroMap.”
Stakeholder communication
Aus Cycling SA made MetroMap imagery a crucial part of the participant and other essential stakeholder communications. Participant manuals showed the course layout and site plan so the event would run smoothly. Basing event assets on quality imagery enabled communications to be about more than location and infrastructure information, benefiting the way the event and AusCycling was perceived. “Having a better image than anybody has ever seen legitimises what you’re doing,” said Jake. “Turning up with a super detailed map to meetings with council, residents, or traders’ groups tells them we know what we’re doing and gave us an air of authority.”
Better time management means better events
MetroMap better uses the event managers’ finite resources. For Jake, it meant using recovered time to support improvements. “Super Series being an annual race means we get an opportunity to take what we’ve done year-on-year and constantly make it better,” he said. “We want more people to come out. We want the event experience to get better. It’s tricky when to find more time before the event day, but recovering 15 minutes here, two hours there, and half a day elsewhere frees up time to take on those extra projects that might have been on the backburner for a couple of years. You don’t save time necessarily, you just use time better do things that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to.”
Everyday tools for event managers
The Super Series has crowned its winners for 2021, but MetroMap has become an ongoing part of Jake’s and the AusCycling SA office’s workflow. “We’re using MetroMap at least 10 times a week,” he said. “It’s become my first stop when I’ve got a question about what something looks like, or where I’m going to put something at an event. It’s become second nature that I’m curious about something and I go to MetroMap and look it up.”
Learn more about how MetroMap can help your business at www.metromap.com.au.
