
The 2020 Dakar Rally was the 42nd edition of the event and the first edition held in Saudi Arabia. The event started in Jeddah on 5 January and finished in Al-Qiddiya 17 January after 12 stages of competition. The rally was marred by the fatal accidents of Portuguese motorcyclist Paulo Gonçalves on stage 7 and Dutch motorcyclist Edwin Straver on stage 11. After 11 years in South America, the event was held in the Asian continent for the first time ever. Organisers admitted that there was "hesitation" before the decision to hold the event in a country which has been under fire over human rights abuses and its recent involvement in the war in Yemen. The contract to host the event in Saudi Arabia has been signed for the next five years, although it is rumoured that the agreement is actually for ten years.
EarthOnDrive supplied all the WavGen 3D Studio Max 2018 technologies wo its partner company Trimaran in Paris, France. Much of the mapping and geospatial solutions also were supplied as geospatial data is more difficult to search and query over South America.
We are proud to now also deliver technologies for major televised Rally events across the earth, and wll laos be preparing forth-coming auto racing events like Formula 1 for internationally televised events.