Two Dunedin technology businesses on the same street are making a big contribution to the 35th America's Cup.
And one might even influence the outcome.
YachtBot, the GPS tracking systems developed by Dunedin company Igtimi, is on nearly 40 boats operated by the America's Cup Event Authority which include official, media and VIP boats.
YachtBot allows the race organisers to build a ''virtual stadium''on the water and establish a ''seating plan'' for the public.
It also helps course marshals to position the buoys.
Igtimi co-director Brent Russell said YachtBot allowed the skippers to understand where they were in relation to the race course.
The company customised the system for the America's Cup but the technology was used to provide training and tracking tools at all levels of sailing, Russell said.
''Everybody will be able to benefit from it. A lot of ma and pa yacht clubs will get involved using it, and their kids, right through to high performance level sport, who use the same tools for training.''
It is the second time Igtimi has supplied a tracking system for the America's Cup. It was involved in the 33rd America's Cup, at Valencia in 2010.
The next major event for the company is the 13th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, which gets under way from Spain in October.
Fellow Dunedin company Animation Research Ltd is also heavily involved in the America's Cup.
It created an America's Cup mobile app and is also supplying the graphics for the event, so it has a big presence in the hospitality area.
But the exciting innovation had been the introduction of 360deg cameras on the race boats, company chief executive Ian Taylor said.
''We [developed] the prototypes on a 3-D printer down in the basement at Dowling St,'' Taylor said.
''Then they were built to the specs, and in carbon fibre, and mounted on the boats.
''Team New Zealand and Oracle have all the footage from the last four races.''
''And what is interesting is three yachting analysts came and looked at the footage and said you could really see the difference between the two boats,'' Taylor said.
All that footage will probably be of a lot more use to Oracle, which trails Team New Zealand 3-0.
