"helped initiate more than 550 rescues in 51 countries on land and at sea"
Whilst GPS
messengers have been around for a while now, they have only recently (in the
last couple of years) become commercially viable for the masses. In line with
this new found availability, many Duke of Edinburgh’s Award groups have
purchased these systems to allow them to keep track of groups on the hill. But
how effective are they? Are they worth the large price tag and annual
subscriptions?
My Air Cadet
Wing recently purchased 8 SPOT trackers and the associated licences. I was
therefore given the chance to test these extensively over the expedition
season. This is a short review of the functionality of these devices for use on
expeditions with young people.
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| 'Remote supervision' |
Overview
The way the
units work is simple; they broadcast the position of the unit to a piece of mapping
software such as Mapyx, allowing the instructors to track the group’s location.
The unit also allows the group to send simple pre-programmed messages via the
buttons on the front, request emergency help from the instructor, and request
external search and rescue directly. The unit uses GPS satellites to send
messages and therefore don’t rely on mobile signal. The SPOT units are small
and easy to explain to groups. The units themselves have 4 front buttons, plus
2 buttons that have ‘safety catches’ to prevent accidental triggering. The 4
front buttons (clockwise from the top):
1. The Power Button; turns the unit on
2. The track button; broadcasts the unit’s position
3. Message button; sends a pre-programmed message, such as “we are at our checkpoint”
4. OK button; broadcasts a check in.
The software
that comes with the units can be used to program what the message button sends.
The unit interfaces with the Mapyx software, which has a web based interfaced,
allowing instructors to log in to the website and view (on a 1:25,000 OS Map)
where the group are.
Costings
The SPOT GPS
unit itself will cost you £160 (RRP although they can be found for cheaper)
On top of
the cost of the unit you need to pay an annual subscription. Subscriptions vary
depending on how often you want the unit to broadcast the position of the unit,
the more frequent the location updates, the higher the cost. You must pay £99
per year for the basic service and tracking, this can then be upgraded by
paying the appropriate upgrade fee. Prices can be found below:
1.
Basic Service and Tracking (Required)
Costing £99 Per Year - Required for all Spot devices.
Package include unlimited predefined Custom, Check In, Tracking, Help and SOS
messages. Basic tracking automatically transmits your GPS location every 10
minutes for 24 hours so you can share your adventures in near real time via
SPOT Adventures or a SPOT shared page. You can track as long as you like, but
after 24 hours, you will need to re-set your tracking.
2.
Unlimited Tracking (Optional)
Costing £28 Per Year on top of the Basic cost- SPOT
Gen3's enhanced tracking features allow you to choose your rate of tracking.
Pre-set your SPOT Gen3 to send your GPS coordinates every 5, 10, 30, or 60
minutes to suit the speed of your adventures. In addition, Unlimited Tracking
will continue to track your progress beyond 24 hours, allowing you to set it
and forget it (no need to re-set after 24 hours).
3.
Extreme Tracking (Optional)
Costing £72 Per Year on top of the basic cost- Get all of
the great features of Basic and Unlimited Tracking but with the added ability
to vary your track rate down to every 2.5 minutes. Perfect for pilots and the
ultra outdoor enthusiast.
GEOS
Search and Rescue Benefit (Optional)
Costing £8 Per Year - The GEOS Search and Rescue member
benefit covers up to £50k in search and rescue expenses, even coordinating a
private rescue contractor, if needed.
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| The software |
The
software
The units use Mapyx mapping
software (although they can be programmed to use others). The software is web based allowing instructors to log in
from any web based device; tablets, phones, laptops etc. Any alerts sent from
the unit i.e. Distress calls will also be sent to a pre-configured mobile
number.
The
drawbacks
There are some quite big
drawbacks to this system:
1. Unless you have access to
the internet where you are (which will usually be remote areas), then the
system is generally useless from a tracking point of view. Whilst the alerts
will come through to a mobile, the tracking relies on the web based internet.
2. The web based net system
on 3G internet requires a good connection, quite often you won’t have this in
the outdoors. As a result trying to view locations on the internet system is
difficult (ties into the point above).
3. Cost - £160 + £99 per
year is expensive, simple! Is it worth it for peace of mind?
If multiple instructors are
trying to access the web system to view the groups locations, it will log out
the person who is logged into the web system when the next instructor tries to
log in. The instructor who got kicked off will invariably try and log back in
thus logging out the person who just logged in. This happened to me during an
expedition, and was honestly one of the most frustrating experiences of my
life.
The
positives
There also some quite big
positives to this system:
1. If you are in an area
with good internet it’s an excellent way of keeping tabs on a group without
smothering them with attention.
2. The group will ALWAYS have
a means of contacting help in an emergency, which can provide peace of mind,
although my worst nightmare is seeing Mountain Rescue storming past a
checkpoint where I’m waiting for a group, and not realise they are running to
the aid of one of my groups!
3. If you have someone at a “base”
location, with steady WiFi, they can act as a point of contact and relay grid
references and other information to the team in the field.
The
verdict
Expensive, but potentially
worth it. They provide a means of contacting emergency services regardless of
mobile signal, for leaders in the field the tracking can be quite ineffective
due to poor internet signal, however if using a base location can provide an
excellent means of keeping track of groups.
