SMS Locators

Initiating the Text

To use this new feature, you must:

• Be a part of a team account subscription
• Be working from a saved map.

As long as these conditions are met, you can go to +Add, choose “locator”, then choose SMS locator.

In the edit box that appears:

• The Label box will be what shows up on the map, such as “subject” or “Joe Smith” or “mp.”
• The target phone number is the cell phone number for the subject. Use the indicated format, with no spaces.
• The Message field allows you to send a note along with the link. We highly recommend that you say that the text is being sent from Search and Rescue. Any note that will alert the person that they should click the link is important to include here.

Fill out the edit box.

Click OK to send the message. The user will receive a text message from a 530 area code. Their instructions are simple, and included in the webpage that opens when they click the link.

Back to Top

Initiating the Text from a Mobile Device

To send an text from a mobile device you need to either be in service with data or in WiFi.

The process for sending a text from the mobile app is similar to doing so from the web. On your mobile device, tap the + sign, then select Locator. In the list of locators, tap SMS Locator, fill out the required fields, and then tap OK.

Once you tap OK, you'll notice that an SMS object appears in your map items list. When the recipient opens the SMS, they will show up on the map and it will create an app track in the map items list.

Tap the + sign and then tap Locator

When the locator menu opens tap SMS Locator

This is what will open, you can now add the phone number, label, and up to an 80 character message.

Once that is all filled out tap OK

After tapping OK you'll see the SMS Locator listed in the Map Items list.

Once the subject opens the SMS their location will show up on the map and it will create an app track in the map items list.

Back to Top

The Text Recipient

The person receiving the text must:

• Be able to receive a text,
• Have a web browser on their phone
• Have cellular data service

After they click the link in the text message and approve location sharing, they’ll get a webpage that looks like this. As long as the webpage is visible, the track will continue to update. As it updates the latitude and longitude will change as they move. If the phone sleeps so that you cannot see the page, location will stop reporting till the phone awakes and that page is visible. If they close the web page, they can reopen via the same link and it will report again.

A text from sartopo.

The webpage that opens after clicking the link in the text and allowing permission to share location.

Troubleshooting Location Sharing for the Recipient

Some users, especially those on iPhones, will need to take extra steps to send their locations due to privacy restriction setting in their phones.

To get the SMS Locator working, the user will need to change privacy settings on their selected browser to allow location services in that browser.

To do this on the iPhone, go to Settings / Privacy / Location Services then select your browser app and make sure it is NOT set to “Never”. You can select either “Ask Next Time” or “While using the App” (which is what I chose). I also allowed “Precise Location” but that may not be available on everyone’s device.

Back to Top

Using and Editing the Track on Your Map

Once the person receiving the text activates the locator there will be a pop-up that will alert you.

Note: A text sent from the mobile app will not trigger an alert. On the web, if you close the browser or the map before the subject has activated the locator, you will not receive the pop-up alert.

When you see the alert, click OK. At any time, you can click the App Track label to center your map on the subject's location.

A pop-up will alert you when the subject activates the SMS Locator.

Much like using other locators or shared locations, the position can continue to update and will draw a track “tail” so that you can see where the person is moving to and about how fast, or if they are staying more or less in the same spot.

In this image we see the locator track for “Jane Smith” on the map, with its track. In the map objects column there is an app track and a locator object.

You can edit the app track like any other track - change the color or name, view the profile, etc. By clicking on the name of the locator object, you can view the status of the locator:

An active SMS Locator object looks like this when you click on the name of the object in the map object menu. .

Here you can also send a new message to the user. This is not the best way to send extensive information or have a conversation with the recipient. For that, you should text with the person as normal, or use the phone. However, if you need to re-send the link for any reason, or a new message to confirm for the user that you are sending it from Search and Rescue or similar, this is possible.

Bring in the Whole Team

Since the track is a map object, any team member can open the same map via the mobile app, and navigate to the subject.

Here we see a mobile app user finding the app track in the map items list. In the next image, the app user has their location turned on and is pointing more or less in the direction of the sms user.

This app user can see the SMS track in "app tracks" in the map object menu if they have the map open.

The app user here has their location turned on (blue), with directional arrow pointing more-or-less towards the subject (red).

Back to Top