When spring kicks in in Flanders, thousands of men – and women – brace themselves for a series of iconic cycling races. Today, the cream of the cycling crop will be competing in the E3 Record Bank race in Harelbeke. While Flanders will be cheering for Tom Boonen, hoping he’ll win the race for the 6th time in his career, the event organizers and a large team of experts will be safeguarding security along the route in an ad-hoc command center equipped with Barco solutions.

Never change a winning team
Never change a winning team … That may count for the cyclists competing in the race today, but just as much so for the organization behind the race. Last year, we teamed up with INNOS, the new Belgian Innovation Center for Security, and private security expert Securitas, to convert a local classroom in Harelbeke into a temporary control room. As the setup truly improved efficiency and decision-making during the race, we were invited to this year’s race too.

Dispatching on-the-go
Just like in 2016, we equipped the classroom with our networked visualization and collaboration platform, including a 4 x 2 Barco video wall, TransForm N and CMS, which we completed with our new OpSpace workspace solution. The setup will capture images from fixed and mobile CCTV cameras, the police helicopter and drones, and even feeds from social media and the public broadcasting TV station. Then, it will combine the information sources into perspectives, distribute these and visualize them on the video wall or exchange them remotely. In this way, everyone involved – event organizers, police forces, emergency services and Securitas –, will have a real-time view of what is happening along the route.

Keep an eye on our newsroom to read the full story of this set-up!