Find me....Being Tracked

[the Ferret]

Wasn't sure which forum category to put this in, but if you are in a situation like mine, where you are always riding off (sometimes for weeks at a time) and leaving your spouse wondering where the heck you are, or how far you are from home, there are solutions.

One is a product called Spot Tracker. Many long distance riders use these. You buy and carry a little gizmo that sends a signal to a satellite and your spouse can log on to a website and track where you are. The units are generally a couple hundred dollars and the fee is about $150 a year for the tracking service. My buddy Jnor used one of these when we rode out to Cali and his wife tracked us the whole way and always knew where we were and whether we were still moving or stopped for the night. When he turned onto his street on the way home from the trip his wife hit the garage door opener and it was open when he pulled in the drive.

I recently got an Iphone and my wife and I have Ipads. There is a feature on these devices that is called "Find My Friends". Using my cell phone signal my wife can track where I am when I am out riding. You have to agree to let yourself be tracked. Both my son and my wife have permission to track me. This was the prime motivator in getting my Iphone. Since I ride alone this is a safety thing. If I break down or heaven forbid run off a curve, plunge over a cliff and crash in a creek I want to be able for them to find the body lol..I mean find me and send emergency help. There is no extra fee for the tracking service.

The first time we tried the feature I stopped at a little roadside park for some tea and called my wife and asked where her Ipad said I was? She said "you are stopped at the intersection of St Rt 52 and St Rt 232, so you must be at that little roadside park by Grant's house."

Yep, Perfect!

I asked my wife to take a couple pics of her I pad while I was on yesterdays ride to show you guys

Here it shows I am on St RT 50 (just east of a great series of uphill back and forth curves that I just came thru) near Pattison Park on the west side of Owensville, Ohio



In this one I am on ST RT 131 (I am about to turn left on St RT 727 and head north to the lake)

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/tracking%202_zpsvkephizn.jpg.html]

Real peace of mind for me...and for her now.

The problem with the Iphone tracker is it will only track where there is a cell phone signal which is not everywhere. I use Verizon. Great coverage, getting better every day, but it's not 100% of the country.

Hope this helps someone else who might be searching for a similar solution to keeping their spouse at ease with them being gone on their motorcycle.

 

[redbirds_imp]

Good idea Micky. Just got my first Verizon phone and was not aware of this feature.

The safety aspect is the best part. About 35 years ago one of my co-workers was involved in a very serious motorcycle accident while on vacation in Alabama. He hit some mud that had washed into the road on a blind curve and he and bike went off the road and into the trees. He would have died there if not for traveling with a friend who witnessed the accident and went for help. BTW, he was in a coma for sometime afterwards and was able to return to work a year later.

 

[jrns_imp]

that's a great idea Ferret, thanks for posting.

 

[Rocky_imp]

Great feature! Thanks for the info

 

[emptysea]

The app I have is "Find My IPhone" not sure if it is different than "Find My Friends", but I think the former may be how you can spot any devices on your Apple account and the latter can be used by anyone who agrees. My wife uses it to track me on my solo rides, sometimes she even opens the garage door if I happen to be close when she checks. I usually check on her in the mornings to be sure she got to her office OK, especially when she rides to work.

The SPOT device is intriguing and it's not terribly costly. I am thinking about getting one because, a) it uses GPS and b) you can set it to send email updates to people as you go along--there are a lot of people that have expressed an interest in receiving on the road updates from my travels..OK, a few. I'm still in the 'considering' phase, though.

 

[Guth_imp]

A word of caution...

Find My Friends is a very useful app, but the location information presented can sometimes be "just a bit off". A couple of years ago I ended up taking the CB1100 over to the coast where I was meeting my family and some friends for a weekend stay. My wife and son had headed out on a Friday morning and I left later that day after work.

My wife really liked having the ability to track my progress with the FMF app. However, at one point she ended up somewhat confused and a bit worried as the app showed me being quite a ways off the road and into the forest. When I arrived, I assured her that I had not experienced some horrific crash nor had I gone exploring any logging roads. I chuckled a bit at the thought of how I would have somehow gotten myself lodged deep into the woods. But I could understand her confusion and concern. It was a lesson learned for both of us.

 

[the Ferret]

Will keep an eye on that Guth. So far so good. Maybe they have improved it with this latest model phone (Iphone6S) or latest version of google maps or whatever they use? OR maybe you were in an area of poor reception with not enough cell towers to triangulate your exact position?

 

[Obleo]

I knew that I had this feature on my phone,but did not .have it on. While riding solo I usually check in at my smoke breaks. Now my wife can check on me when she wants.

 

[the Ferret]

one thing to note..see in the upper left hand pictures it also lists how far you are from home. The first one says 11 miles, the second 15 miles. That is a straight as an arrow as the crow flies in the air distance and not how far it would take to ride there. In my case it was more like 18 miles to the first one and 25 miles to the second one riding on surface streets.

This map shows where the two pics above were taken (red numbered dots)

and the actual surface streets it took to get there with my route (black arrows)

 

[EGAlvarez_imp]

My $.02...I cannot recommend a device like a Spot/In Reach, etc. enough.

These are wonderful tools that give your family peace of mind while you are away, and you the ability to communicate with them and to notify EMS, if needed. The device themselves are usually free as you can buy them on sale and then get a $50-99 mail in rebate. The basic service plan for my SPOT is $99/year and I always use a coupon to get the free "breadcrumbs" option. I consider this price peanuts to keep my wife sane while I am just a few, or thousands, of miles away touring on my own; and often off-road and in places where there is no cell service which makes all of those handy "Find my..." apps completely useless. (Much of western VA and most of WV has spotty cell coverage at best!)
I also recommend never using a RAM mount or Velcro to attach the device to your bike as you are almost guaranteed to become separated from your bike in a spill. Keep it on your jacket or in a jacket pocket as I've heard scary stories where riders have spent the night on the side of the road, or over the side of a forest road, with a broken femur/ankle and they can't reach the device to call for help as it's on their bike 25' away and they can't walk.
My wife LOVES not having to wait hours, or much more, if I am out riding in a no cell coverage area. I have it set up where she can log into my account on the computer at home and every 20 minutes a small flag appears on a map to show my location. You can also send messages with a smart phone, using satellites, from almost anywhere on the globe.

SPOT: SPOT Satellite Communication Devices | Saved by SPOT | US

In Reach: Garmin

 

[the Ferret]

Eddie, I did not have good luck with the Spot that I bought several years ago (the original orange one) and IIRC the costs then were as I stated. On one ride my wife called me in a panic. The conversation went like this.

Why have you been stopped for so long? Is everything OK? I've been worried.
What are you talking about I haven't stopped at all.
Where are you?
I'm on 52 just east of the 275 loop headed towards home.
Your Spot thingy shows you are stopped in Indiana and haven't moved for an hour.
Don't know what to tell you hon, I'm 15 mins from home, be there shortly.

Happened more than once. I'd call Spot Service and they'd tell me to put new batteries in the unit and go out on my back porch and let the satellites find me. 30 mins later the satellites still hadn't found me. So I cancelled the service (well asked not to re-up when my year was up) and sold the Spot Tracker. Now, I will say my buddy Jnor reports he has had no issues with his. Maybe I just got a bad one, but I wasn't the only one. Multiple complaints on the ST forum. Glad you have had no issues with yours. Maybe they have improved them as well.

I will of course be trying my FMF at the rally this year and cutting thru W Va to get there so we will see how it works.

 

[emptysea]

I've been researching the Spot and the Spot Gen3 has much better reviews than previous versions. They specifically mentioned improved battery life.

 

[Huladog_imp]

I've been using an app called Glympse for sometime now which is useful as it tracks me so the wife knows when I've arrived to pick her up from work. Could just as easily be used for tracking while out on a ride.

It lets you decide how long it should share your location along with other features. I've been using the free version for awhile and it's pretty accurate.

Then again if you're out on a cross country trip a dedicated device like a Spot would give your family peace of mind.

Aloha,
Huladog


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Chapomis_imp]

A word of caution...

Find My Friends is a very useful app, but the location information presented can sometimes be "just a bit off". A couple of years ago I ended up taking the CB1100 over to the coast where I was meeting my family and some friends for a weekend stay. My wife and son had headed out on a Friday morning and I left later that day after work.

My wife really liked having the ability to track my progress with the FMF app. However, at one point she ended up somewhat confused and a bit worried as the app showed me being quite a ways off the road and into the forest. When I arrived, I assured her that I had not experienced some horrific crash nor had I gone exploring any logging roads. I chuckled a bit at the thought of how I would have somehow gotten myself lodged deep into the woods. But I could understand her confusion and concern. It was a lesson learned for both of us.

It's my understanding that Apple has its own maps, different from Google maps. When Apple first started loading their maps onto their devices they were notoriously inaccurate. That was probably 10 years ago ? But I think that they have improved considerably. I have added Google maps to all my Apple devices and use them exclusively, but then that doesn't help with Apples FindMy whatever. Ferrets seems to be working well, i'm going to give it a try.

 

[rboe]

In another thread I showed my APRS setup; using a ham radio (handy-talky Kenwood), along with a power amp to boost my signal so my wife can track me in the field. I think I'd go with an In-Reach if I had to do it over again.

But at least with APRS there are no subscription fees, but you do need a ham license. With line of sight to a receiving antenna (bounce will work in some cases, but I suspect canyon walls will be a deal beater) and a reliance on APRS receivers more spotty than cell towers coverage can be iffy. If I do Death Valley again this year I'll test it there. So far, in AZ the coverage is pretty good.

 

[rbike_imp]

My wife has a free phone ap "Life 360" she use to track my son when he is travelling. With all of the privacy issues, ... this is a for one's own family item. It would not be applicable for the forum to use outside of each's immediate family- not the forum's movement on a group trip. The spot item woud be more applicable for that.

 

[Blockhead_imp]

My wife and I use the 'find my iPhone' app often, works great....Can you imagine if Hillary would have had access to one of these to track Bill over the years?

 

[ride4now_imp]

I'm with Blockhead, the 'find my iPhone' feature works great.

 

[Pterodactyl_imp]

It's surely a great app, Ferret. The best in fact. I put my phone on a delivery truck to a vegan health farm on the NSW north coast while I went to PI. Darling thought I was a good boy

Cheers

 

[Cormanus]

A word of caution...

Find My Friends is a very useful app, but the location information presented can sometimes be "just a bit off". A couple of years ago I ended up taking the CB1100 over to the coast where I was meeting my family and some friends for a weekend stay. My wife and son had headed out on a Friday morning and I left later that day after work.

My wife really liked having the ability to track my progress with the FMF app. However, at one point she ended up somewhat confused and a bit worried as the app showed me being quite a ways off the road and into the forest. When I arrived, I assured her that I had not experienced some horrific crash nor had I gone exploring any logging roads. I chuckled a bit at the thought of how I would have somehow gotten myself lodged deep into the woods. But I could understand her confusion and concern. It was a lesson learned for both of us.

It's my understanding that Apple has its own maps, different from Google maps. When Apple first started loading their maps onto their devices they were notoriously inaccurate. That was probably 10 years ago ? But I think that they have improved considerably. I have added Google maps to all my Apple devices and use them exclusively, but then that doesn't help with Apples FindMy whatever. Ferrets seems to be working well, i'm going to give it a try.

Chapomis,

I'm not sure it's to do with the maps. Rather it has to do with the GPS signal, I think. When it first finds the phone it shows it being somewhere in the middle of quite a large area; as they 'talk' a little more the possible size of the area the phone is in contracts until it becomes pretty accurate.