Mutual tracking app

Forums › GPS, maps and mapping software › Mutual tracking app

PSLog

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Ultimate Geek

#302976 8-Jan-2023 01:48

Planning a supported river trip by kayak, through a city.
We will need for the kayaker to constantly know where the support crew is and for the support crew to know where the kayaker is.

Is there an Android app that each party can use to show, on each device, the location of both parties simultaneously? That is, each device can show on a map, its own location as well as the location of the other party, at the same time.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

jamesrt

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#3018487 8-Jan-2023 05:08

Google Maps has a facility to share location with another user.

The kayaker could share with the support crew and vice versa; this assumes they're using separate Google accounts on the phones.

It's probably fairly accurate assuming the kayaker is in coverage with mobile data.

Linux

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#3018488 8-Jan-2023 06:45

SteveXNZ

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#3018489 8-Jan-2023 06:46

My wife and I frequently use WhatsApp to mutually share locations when trying to meet up. It has 15m, 1 hour and 8 hour transmission function, so 8h should be fine for a day kayak. I've used Glympse in the past which (when I last used it) has a speed display as well. Useful to know if the support crew has fallen asleep or the kayaker is stuck in a whirlpool :-)

djtOtago

1149 posts

Uber Geek

#3018510 8-Jan-2023 09:17

Gps reception on a phone is not the strongest, so if you have the phone in a dry bag in the kayak it may not reliably show your position.

PSLog

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Ultimate Geek

#3018554 8-Jan-2023 12:49

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.
Looks like Whatsapp is well worth a look. (I have been avoiding a plethora of messaging apps, but that is a pretty useful function and may persuade me to change from Messenger).
I've been using the GPS on my phone: regularly for biking, and fairly often for kayaking and (for me, anyway) it has seldom failed.

xpd

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#3018614 8-Jan-2023 16:32

Facebook messenger has share location option as well. Most messaging apps do these days that Ive seen.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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maslink

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#3018670 8-Jan-2023 20:53

I think Glympse will work quite well in this situation … https://apps.apple.com/us/app/glympse-share-your-location/id330316698 < br />
Chris.

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nztim

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#3018789 8-Jan-2023 22:51

We used Life 360 up until our last family member got an iPhone now we use built in find my app

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

PSLog

291 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3018829 9-Jan-2023 07:40

xpd:
Facebook messenger has share location option as well. Most messaging apps do these days that Ive seen.

Well, I didn't know that.
I've now tested that and, Yes, it works OK. So maybe no need to change my messaging app.

It would have been nice to find one that showed the target device and the local device on the same map and I see that one of the requests made to the makers of Glympse asks for exactly that.

But we can work with the Messenger app that is already installed.

Thanks everyone (even those want us to ditch Android and buy iPhones .