[Closed] Live tracking of someone's progress on a hike?

[url= http://international.findmespot.com ]Spot tracker[/url] is realistically the best option but it's expensive.
Viewranger app with buddy beacon theoretically works but as soon as the phone loses mobile signal, the tracker will stop uploading.

Endomondo will do live tracking if you have internet connectivity from the phones.

Or if no internet but there is phone coverage then :-

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=sms.location.tracker&hl=en

Glympse will also do it but I guess the net connection is going to be the issue

edit: oh, and battery life with GPS running.

Find my iPhone, if she's using one?

Issue will be battery life and connection availability...most tracking sites will work but I'd suggest updating your position every 10-15 minutes to save a bit of battery life. 70 miles is a fair hike so unlikely a single full charge will last on the phone...take spare battery packs to keep phone topped up.

Apple Find Friends has the advantage that it only gets her phone to send data while you are looking at it, rather than sending all the time.

If it's in the Highlands then anything reliant on a phone/data signal is useless. Add in the issue of phone battery life and the only option left is a Spot Tracker. Expensive, though I'm sure someone rents them out.

Google+ has a location sharing tool you can but again mobile phone signal likely to be the issue in parts of highlands. spot tracker is the one.

[url= http://opentracking.co.uk ]www.opentracking.co.uk[/url] do exactly what you need. Get in touch with James and he'll sort you out for very reasonable cost. We've just used his trackers to follow progress on a week-long adventure race and they worked brilliantly.

if possible I would use a gps and keep the phone full of charge just in case its needed, if you don't have a gps maybe a old phone if you have one kicking about

Thanks very much for all the info. I'll send my brother a link to here.

Think she has a Garmin and a smart phone of some sort.

I've got a spot tracker. Handy bit of kit but you're paying around £150 for the Gen3 which is the newest and best one then around £120 for the subscription.

Expensive? Yes.
Worth it? Definitely.

The whole reason for me getting this was that my wife's friends father went walking in the highlands in Glen Etive on his own. Fell down and unfortunately never made it back. Didn't find him for nearly a week.

Since then I've been away biking on my own in the hills and fell off and broke my arm. If it hadn't to have been for me just passing an American family I would have been pushing the oh sh1t button on my tracker as there is no way I would have made it back myself from where I was. The oh sh1t button sends a text and email to your chosen contact as well as alerts emergency services to your location. The tracker itself tracks my location every 2,5 or 10 minutes depending on your subscription. For your family it is possible to view exactly where you are on a map and you can push a button on the tracker to let them know you're ok any time you feel like it.

I would never be without one now. Ever.

If they are out with others then how about just uploading some geo tagged pics, much more interesting to have a photo map rather than just a flashing dot on the screen which won't actually move that far.
https://help.instagram.com/169549819835551
Instagram Photo Map

http://www.sportstracklive.com/

For android and you need the paid version its about £2 rather than the free for live tracking - your phone will need occasional 3G coverage to upload the latest tracking info. Use this when i ride solo so others know where I've gone/last was.

My Garmin Fenix watch can sync with an iphone app to provide updates on location (exact details are hazy).

I've a couple of Anker external batteries to keep gadgets topped up when out and about.

Opentracking uses a GSM signal so is out of the question. SPOT really is the only solution for the Scottish Highlands - I've gone full days without a mobile signal up there and that includes Munro summits. Once you get a hill between you and a centre of population, you're goosed if you're reliant on GSM.

On Ben Nevis, you'll get coverage up from the main car park for a while, then lose it, then finally get it back when you approach the summit plateau, but this is dependent on what side of it you're on.

Post above reported as spam (posters history would explain my reasoning) though it's hardly the best advert. The linked track doesn't even show tracking to the top of the Ben but used 35% battery 😆

Removed, ta.

If it's in the Highlands then anything reliant on a phone/data signal is useless. Add in the issue of phone battery life and the only option left is a Spot Tracker. Expensive, though I'm sure someone rents them out.

Surely it can only be useless if the OP defined what it was to be used for? For occasional Facebook update's it'd be fine and usefull, for mountian rescue it'd be useless unless you go lucky.

I was responding in respect of the words "live-tracking" in the post title. However, you are correct. If the requirement is only for the occasional update when a mobile data signal sporadically allows then a few more options present themselves.