Data technology will be used to allow more spectators to attend Yomiuri Giants baseball games on Nov. 7 and 8 at Tokyo Dome.
Spectator capacity has been limited due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, but it will be raised to 80% of full capacity under a plan approved on Friday by a government working group on the virus.
The Yomiuri Shimbun's Tokyo headquarters and the Yomiuri Giants will provide data from the two matches to the Tokyo Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Tokyo metropolitan government for use in planning next summer's Games.
One of the new technologies is the use of small receivers installed at about 100 locations in the stadium. The system detects signals from smartphones in the stadium and thereby monitors the flow of people at different times and places. The collected data will be analyzed and used to prevent congestion in the future.
As a privacy measure, images shot by 10 cameras in the stadium are altered to show human-shaped icons rather than actual people. A moving person and a stationary person are shown in different colors to easily visualize crowd flow.
In addition, carbon dioxide levels in spectator seating areas and elsewhere will be measured to check ventilation conditions, compared with conditions when spectator capacity is limited to 50%. Using a Docomo Insight Marketing, Inc. service that provides location information on smartphones, the Yomiuri Giants will monitor the population distribution after matches in the area of the city around the stadium and use the data to provide traffic guidance.
Prof. Koji Wada of the International University of Health and Welfare said: "It is commendable to hold the match after taking various measures to prevent infections and promote economic activity. I hope that the collected data will be shared with other sports organizations and the entire sports community will work to prevent infections in the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics."
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