Point of Interest Recognition and Tracking in Aerial Video during Live Cycling Broadcasts

Abstract

Road cycling races, such as the Tour de France, captivate millions of viewers globally, combining competitive sportsmanship with the promotion of regional landmarks. Traditionally, points of interest (POIs) are highlighted during broadcasts using manually created static overlays, a process that is both outdated and labor-intensive. This paper presents a novel, fully automated methodology for detecting and tracking POIs in live helicopter video streams, aiming to streamline the visualization workflow and enhance viewer engagement. Our approach integrates a saliency and Segment Anything-based technique to propose potential POI regions, which are then recognized using a keypoint matching method that requires only a few reference images. This system supports both automatic and semi-automatic operations, allowing video editors to intervene when necessary, thereby balancing automation with manual control. The proposed pipeline demonstrated high effectiveness, achieving over 75% precision and recall in POI detection, and offers two tracking solutions: a traditional MedianFlow tracker and an advanced SAM 2 tracker. While the former provides speed and simplicity, the latter delivers superior segmentation tracking, albeit with higher computational demands. Our findings suggest that this methodology significantly reduces manual workload and opens new possibilities for interactive visualizations, enhancing the live viewing experience of cycling races.