How do family members track you

Active Captain had an interesting article this week on a new device that will track your position via satellite. Your position can be seen presumably by others at a web site. https://activecaptain.com/newsletters/2014-12-10.php
The device is not real expensive but requires a monthly plan for the sat hook up - I believe. All this happens seamlessly and as long as the unit is turned on, your tracked. It has some nifty emergency features too.

However, for me I really don't want another techkee device, especially one with a monthly obligation. I have an EPIRB, PLB and DSC so emergency issues are taken care off. We don't go more than 100 miles off shore and that's very seldom. I would however like to have my kids be able to track my progress and location. I have a Verizon MiFi unit so internet is always available.

Any suggestions on how I could set up a position reporting system that my kids and whoever else I wanted, could see my current location on a map, perhaps by logging into a web site?

I'm using Google+, it lets you specify who can see where you are and what detail level (street -City). I guess you would need an android phone for that, not at all familiar with Apple stuff. Of course big brother will then always know where you are, what time.

We have an old (second generation) Spot Messenger.

We don't use the tracking mode, but prefer to send a message each morning and night, or when we make an obvious turn into a new channel or waterway. These automatically get sent to our loved ones with a pre recorded message and a link to a satellite image showing exactly where we are.

In tracking mode, as I understand it, you can give access to other people who could then find out where you are every ten minutes.

This device was a game changer for my wife, because I tend to roam solo off trail in the woods all day while photographing. The Spot offers peace of mind to her, and me as well because now I don't worry about her worrying about me.

Dutchman45 said:

I'm using Google+, it lets you specify who can see where you are and what detail level (street -City). I guess you would need an android phone for that, not at all familiar with Apple stuff. Of course big brother will then always know where you are, what time.

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I don't really understand Google+. I also am not a facebook or twitter follower either. I'm basically a social media outcast!
I do have all android devices. Perhaps I should education myself on Google+.
Will Google+ automatically track me when I turn on my MiFi device?

Try a Delorme tracker Tim. I think you will find it does what you wish for minimal expense.

I only have Google+ because I have a Google Phone, do not use the socializing parts nor Facebook, but you can enable tracking if you have a GPS enabled phone/Tablet and either WIFI or wireless access. You determine who in your circles gets to see what. I have it and don't use it, nobody really cares where I am. It was just a suggestion.

100 miles offshore is out of VHF (AIS vessel tracking) or cellphone (google, etc) range. So if you want tracking offshore, you have to pay for satellite time. Spot and Delorme are two outfits offering this service, the Delorme device seems to be more expensive and offers more features. Spot has been around a while and works well.

We use Boat Beacon which is like a faux internet-based AIS using our MMSI registration and displaying other AIS vessels in the area in near-real time. Giggitoni uses it on his iPad and I use it on my Samsung Note 8. It's similar to MarineTraffic AIS.

My family and friends can follow my progress easily from home via MarineTraffic.com or on the marinetraffic app.

HF radio with a Pactor modem via Winlink (http://www.winlink.org/). We do daily position reports when we leave the dock. Along with our position, we have up to 80 characters for a message. World wide coverage and it's free.

http://www.winlink.org/userPositions then enter kc7yww in the upper left. Once you're to scale, click on the balloon for the position and message.

FlyWright said:

We use Boat Beacon which is like a faux internet-based AIS using our MMSI registration and displaying other AIS vessels in the area in near-real time. Giggitoni uses it on his iPad and I use it on my Samsung Note 8. It's similar to MarineTraffic AIS.

My family and friends can follow my progress easily from home via MarineTraffic.com or on the marinetraffic app.

Click to expand...

Since I don't have an AIS transmitter I assume the app or marineTraffic.com obtains my position from my MiFi unit (which has cellular internet connectivity) and the GPS in my tablet - Samsung Note 8, like yours.

Generally I don't turn on my MiFi unit until we are anchored or at a slip, so I'm guessing that when I turn on my MiFi unit and start the Boat Beacon app it will update our location. Is this correct?

Our AIS transmitter plus marinetraffic.com, for inshore and near shore tracking.

It's not perfect, since we're sometimes out of range of one of the volunteer marinetraffic retransmitters, but it generally works well enough in the big picture.

-Chris

Larry M said:

HF radio with a Pactor modem via Winlink (http://www.winlink.org/). We do daily position reports when we leave the dock. Along with our position, we have up to 80 characters for a message. World wide coverage and it's free.

http://www.winlink.org/userPositions then enter kc7yww in the upper left. Once you're to scale, click on the balloon for the position and message.

Click to expand...

Your not far from our old family river house that burned in the 50s

Just bought a Delorme InReach SE from Defender as Defender's sale price plus the AC discount made it attractive. (You can also get another $50 rebate from Delorme if you activate your account prior to the end of the year, which I won't do as I don't need it activated til next May).

Plan to use this mainly for family and friends to follow us on our little loop trip next year, although the SOS sending ability is an added plus.

Will probably sell it after our trip though.

The reason to get DeLorme inReach or SPOT is that it works through a constellation of satellites and requires no internet, cellular, or WiFi connectivity. It just always works. So if you're passing through North Carolina where your cell phone might not work, in Desolation Sound on the way to Alaska, or offshore where there's no connectivity possible, others can view your position and receive your request for help. For DeLorme's product, you can also send and receive messages. It's an incredible safety device that augments an EPIRB for offshore use and provides about everything needed for inshore and nearshore use.

We've licensed the data from DeLorme and SPOT, grab it, and store it with your electronic boat card. We then allow your friends and groups that you permit to see your position to track you. DeLorme and SPOT also provide tracking but it's more open and not based around individual relationships you've approved.

DeLorme also has airtime plans that allow you to turn off the plan so you only pay for it when you're out.

We'll also be grabbing position data over cellular in a variety of ways (beta for Android, Windows, and Macintosh is out now). I'm also currently working with the APRS people to get position reports integrated from APRS ham radio packets.

We've had SPOT for the last 4 years and DeLorme inReach for the last 1 year (long before I wrote the support for it). Having one or the other is important for safety and allowing it to double-team with social position sharing makes it a no-brainer to get. The inReach is a little more expensive but the screen, keyboard, interface to iOS/Android, and two-way messaging are knock out capabilities in my opinion. I'm sure SPOT will catch up with that eventually.

I just noticed on my iPhone 5s on the text message screen of a recent contact if you highlight details and you can send current location or share for one hour, till the end of the day or indefinitely. I have sent my location and it shows up in a very close detail, usually a blue screen, But if you expand the radius to show the shore and location and links to google maps for car driving directions. You have to be in cell phone service area. Not sure if all need to on iPhones? Or how to receive.... The Active Captain Defender offer sounds great, but I hate monthly recurring charges. I paying for Netflix and haven't used it in months.... Guess I could look for the the number and turn it off.


I need to read what my fat fingers are typing on the phone and tablet before I sent. Sorry for the mistakes...

Capecodder said:

The Active Captain Defender offer sounds great, but I hate monthly recurring charges. I paying for Netflix and haven't used it in months.... Guess I could look for the the number and turn it off.

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As Jeff said: "DeLorme also has airtime plans that allow you to turn off the plan so you only pay for it when you're out."

With one caveat: It seems to be a month by month thing. That is, you can't buy just, say, two weeks.

Jeff's business plan is a good one. Product line is wonderful. But my goodness where does all this stop with monthly fees piling up hither and yon. For Al and those of you in the Delta why not just call on your cell phone if you want to hook up with the crew? Cell phone coverage is becoming amazing in the seemingly out of reach near shore places. With an IPad/clone/phone it is likely no more than a year or two away where with GPS enabled they become "trackers" even when out of tower range, thus SPOT becomes questionable for many.

Personally I like most others am inundated with electronic toys, watching as the drawers/shelves fill up with out of date nav devices, chargers, cords and handsets.

In Murray's case the SPOT is a wonderful tool. As he says, a game changer at least for his wife's peace of mind. How many of you recall the SPOT data that showed the SoCal sailboat race two years ago where a S/V, without altering course, sailed right into an island with several lives lost. Don't confuse safety trumped toys and social media hype for real navigation devices and skills.

My rant aside, if I were planning an extended blue water passage tomorrow, I would sign up for Active Captain's recommended devices and plan. It provides the shore bound weather router additional and cost effective knowledge as to how current and intended vessel paths coincide with storm avoidance tactics.

We use the Delorme Inreach and were pleased with it for the most part. We did have a few Bluetooth connectivity issues with the iPad that could only be resolved by turning the Inreach off and back on. I talked to InReach Canada the other day in response to a questionnaire and mentioned they should provide the option to create multiple tracks that might represent separate voyages, etc. also there should be the option to download the gps data into a file or other program. We use Inreach in combination with Earthmate, on the IPad. We use the $50/month plan when cruising during the summer.

https://share.delorme.com/JamesCave


Jim
Sent from my iPad using Trawler Forum

FlyWright said:

We use Boat Beacon which is like a faux internet-based AIS using our MMSI registration and displaying other AIS vessels in the area in near-real time. Giggitoni uses it on his iPad and I use it on my Samsung Note 8. It's similar to MarineTraffic AIS.

My family and friends can follow my progress easily from home via MarineTraffic.com or on the marinetraffic app.

Click to expand...

Me too!

sunchaser said:

For Al and those of you in the Delta why not just call on your cell phone if you want to hook up with the crew? Cell phone coverage is becoming amazing in the seemingly out of reach near shore places.

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I answered about AIS and marinetraffic.com earlier... but this ^^^ is much closer to our real situation.

If somebody wants us, they can call... and if they want to know where we are, they can ask during the call. We don't go really out of our way to inform friends and family of our whereabouts, nor do we have the sort of friends or family who'd bother to care except for maybe only very occasionally.

We don't Tweet what we had for breakfast on Facebook, either.

-Chris

I have used he InReach for 3 years and it represented the best option I have seen so far. I'm currently working with an Iridium GO satellite Wifi hotspot. It's not real cheap to buy (~$899), and the monthly plans are a little confusing. You can do a prepaid plan that gives you a certain amount of air time, you can can do a postpaid plan for $129 per month, that gives you unlimited text and data and voice for $.99 per minute. It works as a hotspot for a smart phone and you can send text messages, and send and receive email (text based only as it will strip the rest before it sends it over the satellite network). There are some other apps can provide weather forecasts (no marine forecasts) and some third party software that can use the GO to get customized weather data for a price. `11`

A friend uses this - http://www.eagletrackgps.com
Seems to work, I know nothing about cost or any monthly fee. I've followed him him a few times while he's doing the loop. After awhile his post on FB were much more interesting because of the photos and explanation than a icon on a map.

How Do Family Members Track You

During a delivery voyage from Queensland to Sydney by a friend in a new to him sailboat, it was via the Water Police and Marine Rescue.

Bread crumbs?

Ports of call paternity suits?

sunchaser said:

For Al and those of you in the Delta why not just call on your cell phone if you want to hook up with the crew? Cell phone coverage is becoming amazing in the seemingly out of reach near shore places.

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We do that sometimes too, Tom, but if the wife wants to check in on me while I'm out fishing, she can see just where I am anchored from her laptop at home or her cellphone app around town.

When returning to our home marina with our friends, sometimes we stagger our arrivals so one can pump out while the slower boats are still enroute. With the AIS app, we can watch as one enters and leaves the fuel dock without the need for phone or radio calls.

We have great 3G/4G coverage in most of our boating area so this works well for us. YMMV

Are we the only ones who don't want to be tracked???? That's why we bought a boat instead of a condo.

Drake said:

Are we the only ones who don't want to be tracked????

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Nope. On the AICW from Stuart FL to Crisfield MD I had cell coverage 98% of the time. If anyone wanted to know where I was, all they had to do was call, text, email, or Skype me. Besides, most are too busy playing on the Internet to keep track of someone living the dream in the real world.

Ted

I don't think the reason to let yourself be tracked has been properly described here. I realize that there are people who want to get in their boat and get away from everything. More power to you. Every one of these devices has an on/off switch and I, myself, have turned off these things at times when I didn't want to be bothered.

I think the future of these tracking devices has these breakdowns in uses:

20% as a safety device - it's hard to ignore the obvious safety capabilities of being able to access help with messaging anytime, anywhere. DeLorme, for example, has a special plan with TowBoatUS to automatically connect and provide messaging when you're in a situation when you need it.

10% as a way for friends at home and family to track you. It gives a good way for them to follow you but most of your friends probably don't really care and most family members don't understand the cruising lifestyle. It's nice to give the ones who want to check in on you a good view of where you are and where you've been.

50% as a way for other boater friends to track you. This is a 2015-2016 type of thing and it might not be attractive to some existing cruising boaters. But from my 12 years of near full-time cruising, I've found that the difference between the couples who keep cruising and the ones who stop centers around the social aspects of the boating lifestyle. It isn't the sunsets or the destinations. It's the people. And as you cruise longer, you obtain a treasure-chest of friends that you've made along the way. Tracking allows you to be more active about meeting them instead of the random/happenstance nature of it before tracking. This category also includes the ability to track boats common to you in one way or another - pets, boat type, cruising club, or maybe even the forum they hang out on. All of that is possible and the future of it requires reliable tracking.

20% as commercial enabling devices. This is coming in a big way. We've personally talked face-to-face with 200+ marinas about this. The basic idea is that if a facility can see you and where you're going, they can offer you just-in-time discounts and attractions to bring you into their facility. Dockage, fuel, bottom painting, etc. Imagine the marina with 10 free slips seeing you pass by at 3 pm. They know that you're not coming in and those 10 slips will go empty. Giving a just-in-time discount of, say, 40% might be enough to attract you in. The 40% received is much better than the $0 otherwise. Believe me - marinas are itching to have this capability and it requires the ability to have yourself tracked. And tracking systems that also provide messaging capabilities give the facilities everything they need to do this.

Yeah, there's a big brother aspect to it all. And there needs to be controls about privacy so you can select who can see the track. But ultimately, tracking is the gateway to a cruising lifestyle that will be much more social than anything we've seen before. It's also exactly the type of capabilities that 40-50 year olds about to start cruising are going to expect (and demand) as they're using tools like Four Square, Waze, Instagram, and a dozen other things that many existing boaters don't even know about.

We live and boat in an area with thousands of square miles of uninhabited heavily forested lands bordered by hundreds of miles of complex shoreline, and spend a lot of time ashore exploring creeks or wandering around in the forest. If we went way up a mountain and became incapacitated, the search would begin from the last "okay" message and not from the beached dinghy, if they could find it.

We can also go days without seeing another boat, so anything that would speed up a rescue response in an emergency situation is a good thing.