Hi

My normal riding buddy is out of action due to a cracked rib.

I went for our normal Tuesday evening road ride without him. I tried to explain to the wife where I intended to go, but I ride back lanes which she isn’t familiar with. I also might change my route mid-ride depending on how I’m feeling, any mechanicals etc.

Is there a simple app I can use to ‘broadcast’ my location and which my mrs can access over the interweb in case I shouldn’t return? I’m guessing the app would need a 3/4 G signal to work?

I don’t need (or want) the world to know where I am…. 🙂

Viewranger has buudy beacon (but I’ve never used it).
There’s my wee app that could do the job too, you can set it up to send your location every specified frequency.(via SMS)

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.uk.happyapper.HereIamFree&hl=en

If you both have iOS devices you can set ‘find my friends’ so that only the people you allow can see your location.

Endomondo does live tracking.

You will need a data signal of some sort.

If you don’t have data signal then you need to invest in a Spot Tracker.

{Helpful mode} Tell her what time you expect to be back and what route your planning on taking, then give her your mates number for if it all goes wrong. My wife would have no idea where ‘racetrack’ was but your riding buddies do so they’d find you quickest.
I’ve got a garmin 810 with live tracking but its a faff to do when you just want to ride
{unhelpful mode} Just get a hope hub and a fat bike – that screams LOOK AT ME 😆

Endomondo

I wish Strava did it too…

In addition to Endomondo, Runtastic & Garmin both do live tracking.

Glympse will do what you need

HereIam can send text when you pass preconfigured points

Haven’t looked into this much but maybe I should.

Glimpse? RideID? there are others I think.
Might be worth an article 🙂

Someone on here also did a nice little app that would text/email your location as you went past certain points on your route.

EDIT – hereiam was the app.

MotionX has options to share your location to facebook, etc.

I use Real Time GPS Tracker on android. Works well for me, doesn’t flatten the battery much, tracked myself over 12 hour rides with plenty left for use on the train home.

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In addition to Endomondo, Runtastic & Garmin both do live tracking.

… and the paid version of ‘MapMyRide’

Find my friends

Google+ allows you to share your location with selected contacts (data signal allowing, of course).

Glympse, works well & is easy to use.

+1 Real Time GPS Tracker on android.

Thanks for all the suggestions, good to see there are plenty of options.

Just tried GPS Tracker and it’s confirmed I’m sat on the sofa. Happy with that as a starting point! I’ll have a go at some of the others to see which works best…

The road ID app does this too and you can set alerts for if you stop for too long.

v666ern has it. That doesn’t rely on technology screwing up and why look for a complicated method when the old one works? Take some id so you don’t end up like that poor sod in Cheshire

I’ve been following v666ern’s approach, the only problem is that I could be in several locations as the road ride involves lots of route options in the middle of the deepest countryside (Yorkshire Wolds for example).

I also carry my Donor Card – not sure that’s necessary these days?

Tried GPS Tracker last night (even though mate with matchstick ribs was with me).

It worked a treat. The mrs tracked my progress and had tea waiting for me as I got home*.

*The last bit about my tea is a bit of a lie, I just happened to get home at the right time.

I use Glympse and quite like it.

It only broadcasts for 4 hours though, so if you don’t think to renew it then it will just stop sending.

I use roadID. I have no idea how good it is but my wife find the “watcher” end very easy to use and it offers her some reassurance.

To the OP – if you want to go for a low-tech proposal you might want to consider this set up:

1. Get a “tracca” nano GPS / mobile tracker for dogs- they are £100 with their current Facebook discount code:

http://www.traccauk.com/tracca-dog/

2. Get a sim from http://www.anywheresim.com . This roams across all UK networks so unless you’re in a cave there’s a good chance it will get a signal from one of the networks. A 1 year sim with texts and data is £60 – the tracking device uses a tiny amount of data and will only text if it’s called.

Pop the tracker in a freezer bag and put it your back pocket / back of your helmet / in your camelbak

The tracker bit can be used as follows:

1. It updates its location every 1-5 minutes to a web service. If the wife in the OP has the app on her phone she can see where you are now, or failing that where you were before falling off the grid

2. She can use the app to immediately find you right now using the web service, or failing that:

3. She can call the phone number for the sim card. It will ring twice then hangup and text back a location with a map link that opens in google maps. If it doesn’t ring she can see where you were when the device last uploaded its position.

Edit – forgot to say that the battery life is a good 24 hours when set to update every 5 mins.