Transoceanic yacht races are not normally thought of as spectator sports. Fans watch as competitors leave the marina, fast becoming a dot on the horizon. Several weeks later, fans at the destination gather to witness the final moments. Unfortunately, they all miss the action. Who took the first lead? What weather-related obstacles did the skippers overcome? Who got lost? Was there a battle for second or third place the last 48 hours?

But GIS and partner technologies like GPS are changing how fans, enthusiasts, and supporters experience these races.

One such race, the Transat Monotype en Solitaire, is a course between Belle-Ile-en-Mer, southern France, and Marie-Galante in the French West Indies. Twenty-seven mariners sailing alone left March 25 for the 3,436-thousand mile journey across the Atlantic Ocean. Armed only with their skill, experience, and a GPS for tracking, they have to navigate the best route--northern or southern--each with its pros and cons. The northern route is shorter, but puts the sailors against the wind. The southern route is longer, but the winds may be more favorable.

By the halfway mark, three ships had already abandoned the race. A visit to the Web site and clicking “Cartographie” tells a good part of the story. You can see who’s ahead, who’s out of the race, and which course the skippers have selected.

To get details for each boat, you can click on the list of boats on the right and that boat will be circled. Or, click on the boat in the center of the map to get information about the boat’s skipper, location, and rank. You can pan, zoom, choose to see only the top three  or click from a pull-down menu to see wind speeds (noeuds).

What technology is behind the online maps?

GPS coordinates showing the positions of each boat throughout the race are transmitted to a central location, where they are gathered, stored, and published using GIS. GIS software makes it easy to manage large amounts of real-time information, facilitates the combination of race-specific data with other layers, and enables the sharing of race information via the Web or other applications.

See more examples of Web sites using the same server-based technology.