"Locus Flare" add-on for Hiker Safety.
"Locus Flare" add-on for Hiker Safety.
Ever been in a situation where you`re out hiking, your on the rim of coverage and your phone battery is about to die? What if your Locus app could turn airplane mode off, send a final status message via email and/or text message to a friend or a group of friends such as, "Here is my current position, time, speed, direction of travel, and battery life: 5% battery remaining. Heading 200 deg @ 3 mph. N 38°16.980` | W 85°43.627`) "
I was wondering if it is possible to include in the app a similar feature that Lookout Mobile just released in their protection app. The feature is called "Signal Flare". Basically, once the phone gets to 5% battery life it sends a ping to Lookout servers recording the last known location of the device before the battery died. This has huge benefits for those who go back country. However the Lookout feature is limited in scope and is solely server based. It serves well for those who lost their phone, but what about someone who is lost and needs attention more urgently?
Here are my suggestions for an add-on I would call "Locus Flare".
- A user defined message will auto send when the battery meets a predefined percentage. The message will simply combine the user message, remaining battery percent, timestamp, GPS coordinates, average speed, and heading. (ex. "Here is my current position, time, speed, direction of travel, and battery life: 5% battery remaining. Heading 200 deg @ 3 mph. N 38°16.980` | W 85°43.627`) This message is not even a full 160 characters and has a ton if information that could save lives.
-Have the add-on be able to turn airplane mode off in order to gain access to the mobile network.
-Have the add-on have multiple recipients and multiple transports for the same message (SMS, Email). So if my battery hits 5% (or any user defined trigger) Locus will send a message via email and text telling my wife and brother in law my current stats.
-Allow for multiple rules, so maybe I want to have 10 flares set up for each 10% increment of the battery. This would be a sort of "breadcrumb" approach. Having access to turn on and off airplane mode would be key though for saving battery life.
-This feature would require an android device that is active with a cellular carrier. The advantage of having the SMS transport is that most Android devices will try and send SMS until the unit reaches a signal. This allows for a "homing" message that will persist until it can send to it`s destination.
-The current "live tracking" feature is nice, but is not simple and relies on a constant data connection as where Locus Flare is only a one time message.
I like this idea 
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Sorry Brennan, but I do not want to scare my relatives because I forgot to charge my device (or there was no mains availble in the mountain hut).
Chances are at least one of them tries to call me back after receiving the SMS; ah, no luck. My battery is really empty now or I am out of reach.
Then what, oh, they alert the montain rescue while I hike on with a good paper map in hand.
My advice, do not rely on a phone and a (good) APP. And never walk alone, so your mate can call rescue with his phone if yo are in rteal trouble and yours is empty.
-1
Sorry Brennan, but I do not want to scare my relatives because I forgot to charge my device (or there was no mains availble in the mountain hut).
Chances are at least one of them tries to call me back after receiving the SMS; ah, no luck. My battery is really empty now or I am out of reach.
Then what, oh, they alert the montain rescue while I hike on with a good paper map in hand.
My advice, do not rely on a phone and a (good) APP. And never walk alone, so your mate can call rescue with his phone if yo are in rteal trouble and yours is empty.
If your whole point in posting was to say "do not rely 100% on technology", I think everyone sees the obviousness of that statement.
I am curious though...if reliance on technology is so suspect, why are we even on this forum discussing a mobile application that helps users navigate?
For those who know that technology is not a fail safe, I think this could offer alot of benefit in the off chance that somone just wants to have an adittional level of safety. Also, the way the idea is written, it allows someone to setup "breadcrumbs", in the off chance that someone does have an issue. The add-on idea is a service as much as it is a safety.
Also, since we are talking about using common sense, I think it would be commons sense to tell someone, "Hey I am putting you into my Locus app and you will receive text/emails with data about my phone, direction, and speed. Don`t worry unless I am not back by _______. If I am not back by then, use the information to track me."
Would this information not be a huge game changer for local authorities if the user did not return when they said they would?
I don`t know how this couldnt be a good idea unless we have a world of Locus users that lack common sense.
Also, to have the option does not mean you have to use it.
If your whole point in posting was to say "do not rely 100% on technology", I think everyone sees the obviousness of that statement.
I am curious though...if reliance on technology is so suspect, why are we even on this forum discussing a mobile application that helps users navigate?
For those who know that technology is not a fail safe, I think this could offer alot of benefit in the off chance that somone just wants to have an adittional level of safety. Also, the way the idea is written, it allows someone to setup "breadcrumbs", in the off chance that someone does have an issue. The add-on idea is a service as much as it is a safety.
Also, since we are talking about using common sense, I think it would be commons sense to tell someone, "Hey I am putting you into my Locus app and you will receive text/emails with data about my phone, direction, and speed. Don`t worry unless I am not back by _______. If I am not back by then, use the information to track me."
Would this information not be a huge game changer for local authorities if the user did not return when they said they would?
I don`t know how this couldnt be a good idea unless we have a world of Locus users that lack common sense.
Also, to have the option does not mean you have to use it.
I think it would be handy for hikers, but doens`t necessarily have to be integrated with a map application. You could build it in Tasker.
I think it would be handy for hikers, but doens`t necessarily have to be integrated with a map application. You could build it in Tasker.
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