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SafeTrx App

Posted: 05 Jan 2018, 23:15
by djillusions24
I administer the Coast Guard SafeTrx App (I work in IT), I note there is a post on the forums back from 2014 when we first launched the SafeTrx app but nothing since, so thought I would post some updated information.

SafeTrx is a mobile safety application provided for kayakers and boaters to be tracked while out on the water. The app was made originally for Coast Guard here in Australia and is 100% free, its not available in a heap of countries around the world through various marine rescue organisations. VMR Queensland have also partnered up with us to deliver the app to the public.

The app is monitored 24/7 by Coast Guard with various escalation checks in place for when a vessel is overdue based on their ETA or sets off the emergency activation.

Basically you enter your sail plan, with waypoints and end point, people on board, description of the vessel, photo of the vessel, emergency contacts and hit start. You can choose to notify your emergency contacts, the app will send them a SMS with a link to view your location in real-time (we have also just released Facebook sharing for trips). Our operators can see where you are including your details, emergency contact, photo of the vessel (which is super helpful when we need to find you) and some information about your phone such as signal strength and battery.

The system tells us if your battery is running low, if you go out of phone reception the app will cache the infromation locally and submit it when reception becomes available.

Trips are all saved in the app, you can view them on the web too. Attached a screenshot of one of my trips for reference.

Its really a handy tool for letting people know where you are and having some piece of mind to know someone is watching over you. As a rescue service it makes it super easy to locate people should they require our assistance too!

If you have any questions let me know, happy to help.

Re: SafeTrx App

Posted: 05 Jan 2018, 23:47
by choppers
Sounds great. Just wondering if it will be a battery drainer?

Re: SafeTrx App

Posted: 06 Jan 2018, 01:16
by chrisw
Hi Jeremy,

Not really specific to the app but mention of it reminded me of something else that you may be able to help with.

Accurate wind and weather reports are important to kayakers and boaties safety as you'd know, and being in the position you are may give you a lever to do some public shaming of the BOM for not correcting what is in my opinion at least a glaring safety issue that has caught a few of us out.

Check these two threads:

http://www.vyak.net/forum/viewtopic.php ... 9&p=261502
http://www.vyak.net/forum/viewtopic.php ... 2&p=261498

Basically the BOM has been reporting wrong data on their observation web page for Laverton Vic (a popular reference for folks boating in the area surrounding the RAAF base) for many months and was made aware of the fact back in November however the data is still wrong. As an IT person myself I know it's probably a single point to fix this (maybe a station ID was mis-typed) which given it's not fixed suggests to me that someone there doesn't seem to think it's important.

Maybe someone from the coast guard tweeting something like "ummm hey don't you guys think this is a safety issue? Why take months to fix it?" may get a faster reaction ...

Re: SafeTrx App

Posted: 06 Jan 2018, 08:58
by cheaterparts
from march 2013
Yacker wrote:Anyone using this app? Be curious to hear any reviews
so would I - a remember vaguely when this came up a few years back and it wasn't an Iphone app at first since then I hadn't heard a thing about it again on any forums
it's been a well kept secret
choppers wrote:Sounds great. Just wondering if it will be a battery drainer?
I was wondering the same Chops --

I have downloaded and signed up to the app so will have a bit of a look at it - the idea looks good
djillusions24 wrote:As I mentioned in my first post, I am the Commander of the Westernport Coast Guard. Alongside this role, I also administer the Coast Guard SafeTrx App (I work in IT), I note there is a post on the forums back from 2014 when we first launched the SafeTrx app but nothing since, so thought I would post some updated information.
So I as a Welder Im not really up with some of this tech stuff ( but I can lift heavy things ) looking at the App - Track only looks like the mode most would use for kayak fishing
no doubt setting it on the 30 min interval ( lowest battery usage ) would more than likely be good enough unlike boats that travel quickly kayaks are not going to be far from the last tracking point at any given time ( 2 - 5 km ) depending on paddle speed

just thinking of battery life as most use the phone as the primary source of contact if help is needed - the last thing you need is a flat battery

Re: SafeTrx App

Posted: 06 Jan 2018, 09:48
by choppers
Thanks for actually looking into it Steve.. Sounds like an app I will try with your spin on it. Thanks old mate haha

Re: SafeTrx App

Posted: 06 Jan 2018, 09:50
by djillusions24
choppers wrote:Sounds great. Just wondering if it will be a battery drainer?
I cant speak for all phones obviously, the developers have done a wide range of tests on every phone out there, but, the app has been optomised to ensure optimal battery life.

In track only mode the user can select the ping interval from Continuous, 10minute and 30minute - the trade off with this method is not alerting your emergency contacts with a link to view your trip but our operators can still see where you are etc.

I typically just use the standard Sail Plan mode where you enter the start, finish and an ETA (this mode alerts your emergency contacts if you want), yesterday as an example, I had the sail plan running, took some videos and photos with my phone, did some Facebook while I was floating around, took a few calls and only lost about 10% of battery which is pretty decent (I am on an iPhone 7).

There is a group of kayakers that reguarly use the app that go out of Sandringham, they have the boost batteries or battery case on their phones when they go out for an entire day.

As a side note here is the 'official' answer to the battery question from developers (http://www.safetrxapp.com/faq):
The SafeTrx app uses a number of methods to determine position and these do consume battery power. However the app monitors the Smartphone’s battery in real time and adapts to declining battery levels. If the battery level falls below 30%, the location transmission interval is adjusted from 1Km to 2Km to save battery power. There is also a failsafe to ensure that if the battery level falls to 10%*, SafeTrx suspends in order to preserve battery power for emergency calls. When the Smartphone is plugged in to recharge, trip monitoring is automatically resumed.

*Please note that the battery levels reported on some Smartphones are rounded down to the nearest 5%, therefore trip recording may be suspended when the battery level is between 10%-15%

Re: SafeTrx App

Posted: 06 Jan 2018, 09:54
by djillusions24
chrisw wrote:Hi Jeremy,

Not really specific to the app but mention of it reminded me of something else that you may be able to help with.

Maybe someone from the coast guard tweeting something like "ummm hey don't you guys think this is a safety issue? Why take months to fix it?" may get a faster reaction ...
What a total pain and frankly not good enough, telling people to check weather conditions before heading out is one of our key safety messages but if they are getting false information it totally defeats the purpose.

If you dont mind, Ill grab copies of your posts and raise this through EMV to the BoM to see if we cant get it resolved.

Re: SafeTrx App

Posted: 06 Jan 2018, 10:07
by laneends
I would expect this would use far less battery life than apps such as navionics tracking. So it could be handy for your own personal track record, if you like to do that.

Re: SafeTrx App

Posted: 06 Jan 2018, 10:09
by djillusions24
If anyone is curious, this is the information we get when a trip is active:
Screenshot 2018-01-06 10.02.31.jpg
and what the trip route looks like on our monitoring system:
Screenshot 2018-01-06 10.05.49.jpg

Re: SafeTrx App

Posted: 06 Jan 2018, 10:57
by peatop
Hi Jeremy,
I installed the app last night but cant seen to add vessel, everything else worked ok.