One race, four screens: why everyone shouldn’t see everything.

A small paradox from real race days: the more information you put on one screen, the less anyone can find on it. The operator needs capture controls now. The judge needs the full-resolution finish image and nothing flashing beside it. The commentator needs names, places, and times the moment they’re official — and no buttons that could change them. The crowd needs the result, and only the result.

One truth, many windows

The crucial rule underneath: different views, but one source of truth. The judge’s screen and the commentator’s screen aren’t two copies of the result — they’re two windows onto the same record. Copying results between screens is how events end up with versions that quietly disagree, and a finish line is the last place on earth for two versions of the truth.

Views come with permissions

If everyone sees a tailored view, everyone should also get tailored power. The commentator reads an approved result but can’t touch the finish order; the judge revises a provisional result but has no reason to reach the camera config. Each role gets the minimum control its job requires — because on a busy day, the button you can’t press is the mistake you can’t make.

Status must be unmissable

A time on a screen with nothing beside it is a small landmine: provisional? approved? published? A good dashboard writes the status next to every result in words — not just colour, which can vanish on a sunlit screen or to colour-blind eyes. Five words prevent the most public category of mistake: the unfinished result treated as final. Lion Timing Advanced builds these role-based views as windows onto the same synchronized race data.

Next in the Academy: A recorded finish is not yet a result →