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SPOT Beacon Used Successfully; Interesting Message Sent

Posted: May 13th, 2008, 3:57pm CEST

Tags: gps

The Herald (UK) tells the story of a senior walking in Scotland. He got sick and used his SPOT beacon, a satellite communications device that sends the location and asks for help. The plea was heard in Houston, TX and help was sent. The walker is in the hospital and doing well. Great story and use of technology.

The interesting part for me is the text of the message sent: "Help message. I'm immobilised but okay and cannot reach you by phone. Find GEOS on Google map and send help."

I did what it said - tried to find GEOS on Google maps - but found nothing relevant. Hmmm.

A bit of research shows that GEOS, actually the GEOS Alliance, is the name of the response company that receives the alert messages from SPOT. It's in Houston. Without searching on GEOS 911 or GEOS Alliance, I'd never have found it. The help messages sent from SPOT, like the one above, are sent to GEOS who in turn contact those people you've asked to be contacted with the message. In this case, the idea would be to confirm there is an emergency (that the person is indeed in the wild and subject to using the device, I guess). So, I guess the "find GEOS on Google maps" is redundant. BTW, if there's no answer from the contacts "at home" the service will contact emergency response personnel.

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