Scouting at World Championship

[JesseK]

Here is something we're investigating for Champs since a version of it worked well at DCMPs:

6 Scouts with paper -> 1 person to enter into Google Spreadsheet via single 3G/4G-connected device. Requires power in the stands or 2-3 battery packs that are charged in the pits when not in use. Tricky to use if the 'device' is a phone, but easy if it's a tablet or USB-tethered laptop.

The drivers and I create a phone-friendly 'view' in the Google spreadsheet ahead of the competition, then populate it from our phones for an upcoming match. We use fake data ahead of time in order to conditionally color-code cells on the view.

The data-entry guys can make their entry stuff user-friendly based upon what they think is user friendly. The drivers and I can make a view that suits our needs. No one has to make sure a web server stays running on Amazon (etc), and there are no other tools to purchase or download to each client/platform. The data is live and accurate whether we have a 3-match or 30-match turnaround at champs (i.e. even if we can't walk back to the pits).