I’ve got a bike challenge coming up and it would be cool if folk could track my progress.

Does such a site/app exist?

Borrow a Spot tracker and set up a Spotwalla page. When is the challenge?

Open tracking?

Home

If its a well known challenge they may be able to put the route map on for you, otherwise you may need to create one for them. They’ll post you a GPS tracker the size of a large matchbox, but it’ll cost about £35 for the weekend’s hire

I use glympse on my phone. It sends a link out to people and they can watch your progress on the web. Free, and they don’t need to log in. You have to set how long to track for but it can be for up to 12hours after which you need to go to your phone and extend the time. I don’t know how long you can extend for.

Seems light on traffic and battery and tracks much better than Garmin does. For 12hours you might need to a USB battery as backup and you will want to test what it does to your data but I’m never found it to be a problem.

https://www.glympse.com/what-is-glympse

£35 for the weekend’s hire

*something about al not wanting to fork out for stuff*

The RoadID app does something very similar to Glympse by the sounds of it.

When is it Al? Just thinking you might be able to borrow my SPOT tracker and use my SPOTWALLA page.

Another option:

Garmin Connect does this and so does Strava Beacon. In the case of Garmin Connect, you obviously need a Bluetooth connected Garmin, which relays positions back via your phone. This data can be viewed using a special link in Garmin Connect, which does not require authentication.

Strava beacon is much the same, and can receive data either from Garmin, or from the Strava app direct. It requires a premium account though.

I used to use the Garmin Connect thing but it proved to flaky in the end, used more data for some reason and didn’t seem quite as up to date with where you were though that wasn’t so important

The RoadID thing looks interesting as well as Glympse though

Real time GPS tracker

Play Store

Configure the updates to say 15 minutes and it does not eat your battery

second vote for glympse

Google maps now has this feature and you can share with contacts for a set time. If you do a long term share it reminds you weekly if you still want to share your location.

third vote for Glympse

Google Maps has a new location sharing tool, no idea how well it works…

Glympse +1 – use it all the time

Mrs uses Garmin Connect on her watch/phone

Note that the garmin thing actually gives event progress,i.e distance and time etc. I’ve found it to work well in races but only used once or twice. For more general location sharing Life360 may also be suitable. Use that with my wife for general out and about and when will they be home sort of stuff.

Hmm… handy thread. I only ride solo and will use one of the above in case I come a dropper whilst out.

Google maps has a share location feature. I use it, other half wont let me out without it switched on!

obiwankenobi – Member
Google maps has a share location feature. I use it, other half wont let me out without it switched on!

Battery usage ok?

Thanks all. I’ll look at Glympse.

Challenge is weather dependent but if it’s going ahead I’ll post up on Thursday.

Just tried Glympse…seems batter heavy… challenge is 12+ hrs

Can you configure update frequency?

Can you configure update frequency?

Not with glympse no. I think the Garmin one updates less frequently

I’m surprised there is a battery issue with Glympse. Did you leave it on the Glympse screen or just go back to the normal ‘desktop’ display? For 12hrs I would assume you would need a USB battery connected anyway

For 12+ hours you would need to extend the time within Glympse at least once during the event anyway as 12hours is the max at the moment

Al – if it’s next weekend only, borrow my Spot as I won’t be using it- batteries last for ages. I’m in Edinburgh. Email in profile.

I did a 50m run, also had Strava open and a bit of WhatsApp. Battery 50% after, must’ve been nearly full at the start.

Alastair thanks I might take you up on that.

I’ll try again. And look at alternatives.

Jesus. Life360 just works in the background, there’s a minimal hit on power (typically about 5% of total power). Updates are not immediate but for a 12h event who cares. Does require setting up and logging in though.

Does Lokki do it?

I did a 50m run, also had Strava open and a bit of WhatsApp. Battery 50% after, must’ve been nearly full at the start

turn Strava and WhatsApp off as another test. Ive run it for hours before with no problems. It depends on your phone a bit of course but 50pct sounds wrong imo

Just switched it on riding into town. 20mins was 2pct battery on a moto g5 which is roughly what I remembered. Were you possibly running a Bluetooth HRM with Strava and the display on?

Nothing else running bar strava and WA.

I’ll try again, although weather looks against me for the challenge.

Google ‘Trusted Contacts’ app (now also available for iOS) uses this and allows you to set certain contacts to be able to pull your location on demand.

Google does this on Android for free….

Used the Google Maps share location feature on Sunday with Strava running after 8 hours it had nearly flattened the battery but it worked well on iPhone.

Nothing else running bar strava and WA.

Give it a shot with just strava and WA to see if they are what are eating the battery. If you are using a bluetooth HRM with strava that might be power hungry