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How large is the demand for something like this? Are tons of people really going that far out of range of cell signals?

nicoburns 4y ago
A lot of serious hikers use dedicated devices for this kind of functionality. It's expensive-ish, and the chance of needing it is small. But if you do need it then it could be an actual life-or-death situation, so it's worth it if you're out in the middle of nowhere regularly.
snoopy_telex 4y ago
For the first 10 months in 2020, the Adirondacks had 245 search and rescue events[1] and it's a fairly small park nationally. This could save a huge amount of park service resources if they could be given the GPS cords to go directly to rather then spend hours searching. Expand that nation wide, it's a huge public win, and a great safety benefit to the individuals to be able to get help as soon as possible if something happens. I was unable to find nation wide stats on search and rescue events. [1] https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/record-number-of-search-and-rescues-this-year https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/record-number-of-...
- deleted 4y ago
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reaperducer 4y ago
How large is the demand for something like this? Are tons of people really going that far out of range of cell signals? When I lived in the desert, the local newspaper regularly published stories about tourists getting lost/stuck/stranded and then dying. Going by the newspaper accounts, I'd estimate at least a dozen people died in the desert each year, and that was just in my area.
- bombcar 4y ago
  The demand is enough that the govn't could pay Apple the whole cost of this program and save money on search and rescue just because "head to the location of the phone" is a lot easier than "carefully comb this entire mountain range". And that's not even counting the lives saved.
- LorenPechtel 4y ago
  I've never tried to total them up but I don't find that at all surprising. Tourists head out into the wilderness with no respect for what they're facing. They aren't carrying enough water, they have a breakdown, they're in deep trouble. Here in Las Vegas we have a ring of mountains around the city--and virtually no cell coverage beyond that ring. Even within the ring the outlying areas are often shadowed out.
kube-system 4y ago
US national parks alone had 297 million visitors last year, and it's not hard to find areas without coverage in many of them. Many state parks also have tens of millions of visitors each year. I have never not lost cell coverage when going on a hike in the mountains, and I only go on casual day hikes.
malfist 4y ago
Honestly, yes. I'm from Kentucky, and if I go back home, there's very little cell coverage. Too mountainous, too few people. You can usually get signal if you climb the biggest hill, or go into town, but if you've injured yourself and need to call 911, those aren't ideal requirements. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a lot of midwest areas that have a similar problem.
- jliptzin 4y ago
  I agree this is a good feature, however it's 2022 and maybe the government should start forcing companies like Verizon to take some of the $50 billion in profits they make per year and build cell towers in remote areas even if it means they won't make a 1,000% profit from doing so?

A lot of serious hikers use dedicated devices for this kind of functionality. It's expensive-ish, and the chance of needing it is small. But if you do need it then it could be an actual life-or-death situation, so it's worth it if you're out in the middle of nowhere regularly.

snoopy_telex 4y ago

For the first 10 months in 2020, the Adirondacks had 245 search and rescue events[1] and it's a fairly small park nationally. This could save a huge amount of park service resources if they could be given the GPS cords to go directly to rather then spend hours searching. Expand that nation wide, it's a huge public win, and a great safety benefit to the individuals to be able to get help as soon as possible if something happens. I was unable to find nation wide stats on search and rescue events. [1] https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/record-number-of-search-and-rescues-this-year https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/record-number-of-...

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

reaperducer 4y ago

How large is the demand for something like this? Are tons of people really going that far out of range of cell signals? When I lived in the desert, the local newspaper regularly published stories about tourists getting lost/stuck/stranded and then dying. Going by the newspaper accounts, I'd estimate at least a dozen people died in the desert each year, and that was just in my area.

bombcar 4y ago
The demand is enough that the govn't could pay Apple the whole cost of this program and save money on search and rescue just because "head to the location of the phone" is a lot easier than "carefully comb this entire mountain range". And that's not even counting the lives saved.
LorenPechtel 4y ago
I've never tried to total them up but I don't find that at all surprising. Tourists head out into the wilderness with no respect for what they're facing. They aren't carrying enough water, they have a breakdown, they're in deep trouble. Here in Las Vegas we have a ring of mountains around the city--and virtually no cell coverage beyond that ring. Even within the ring the outlying areas are often shadowed out.

kube-system 4y ago

US national parks alone had 297 million visitors last year, and it's not hard to find areas without coverage in many of them. Many state parks also have tens of millions of visitors each year. I have never not lost cell coverage when going on a hike in the mountains, and I only go on casual day hikes.

malfist 4y ago

Honestly, yes. I'm from Kentucky, and if I go back home, there's very little cell coverage. Too mountainous, too few people. You can usually get signal if you climb the biggest hill, or go into town, but if you've injured yourself and need to call 911, those aren't ideal requirements. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a lot of midwest areas that have a similar problem.

jliptzin 4y ago
I agree this is a good feature, however it's 2022 and maybe the government should start forcing companies like Verizon to take some of the $50 billion in profits they make per year and build cell towers in remote areas even if it means they won't make a 1,000% profit from doing so?