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What Researchable did
Together with the Sport Data Valley team, we had the opportunity to develop the national data analysis platform for sport, exercise and health. Over the past few years, we have worked towards building a large scalable data platform, in which athletes, coaches, researchers, companies and municipalities can securely collect, manage, share and get insights from data.
Fragmentation of sports research
The Netherlands is a frontrunner when it comes to sports and exercise research. Although a lot of research is done, it is often carried out in a decentralised way and stays in isolated knowledge bases. At the same time, the possibilities of data research are increasing as phones, smartwatches and many other 'connected devices' generate more and more data. For instance, data-based research has been conducted in elite sports for much longer, but these insights are not yet available to everyone.
The digital platform Sport Data Valley aims to be the connecting factor between the isolated knowledge bases, taking the Netherlands to an even higher level in the field of sport and exercise. By leveraging data, they want the Dutch to move smarter, more effectively and more sustainably.
The data platform
The biggest challenge was to design a single data platform linking all sports and physical activity research activities. At the same time, together we had to think carefully about how we can standardize all data analysis of the research field within the digital platform.
The result is that Researchable, together with the Sport Data Valley team, has developed one large scalable data platform, in which top athletes, coaches, researchers, companies and municipalities can securely collect, manage, share and provide insight into data. Since especially the combination of different data sources provides new insights, we created several integrations with existing sensors, fitness apps, smartwatches and athlete management systems.
The platform summarized
- •Users gain insight into sports and exercise behavior, sleep and performance through advanced data analytics and personalized dashboards. The platform can also make predictions and provide alerts for overtraining.
- •Scientists and coaches can collect, manage, analyze and securely share data in one central place because the platform is developed AVG-proof. It is even possible to create your own analysis on the platform via Jupyter notebooks (in R, Python and Octave).
- •It is possible to automatically combine data from questionnaires, sensors and other data sources. Evidence-based questionnaires have been built in for this purpose (RPE, OSTRC and SQUASH, among others).
Large amounts of data
Our phones and smartwatches collect large amounts of data through the use of fitness apps and athlete management systems. Researchable has created several API integrations with sensors, smartwatches and fitness apps such as Fitbit, Strava, Garmin and Polar. We developed the platform in a "privacy by design" manner to ensure privacy and security of data storage.
API integrations and better performance
- •The platform makes it easier and more efficient to conduct scientific research based on movement data. For example, we have created API integrations with Fitbit, Strava, Garmin and Polar, among others.
- •Athletes can use insights into training, activity, sleep and nutrition to improve performance. With the platform, we make scientific research and analysis more accessible to a wide audience.
The next step
As a technology partner, we first developed a Proof-of-Concept to demonstrate the technical feasibility. After we jointly saw the potential, we got to work on developing a Minimum Viable Product. This allowed us to gather immediate feedback from end users, which in turn could be used in the further development of the platform.
In the meantime we have successfully taken the platform live, but together with the Sport Data Valley team we are continuously working on its development. After all, Sport Data Valley has the ambition to become the most complete data analysis platform for sports, exercise and health in the Netherlands.
Innovation through data
As an athlete, you can perform even better by gaining insights into your workouts, activities, sleep and nutrition. By centralizing knowledge of sports and exercise and harnessing the data potential of phones, smartwatches and sensors, scientists can now conduct research based on movement data in a standardized way.
Researchable was able to perform the technical realization of the platform, helping researchers and athletes to innovate through data. With the platform, we make scientific research and data analysis more accessible to a large audience.
Sport Data Valley is an initiative of Sportinnovator and was created by the Sport Data Center, Leiden University, TU Delft, AISS and the University of Twente.
