7 ms·

Not just the satellites, but they also said that, due to the slow speeds involved in the satellites, Apple will employ people who will be able to step in the mi

by cowsup 4y ago

Not just the satellites, but they also said that, due to the slow speeds involved in the satellites, Apple will employ people who will be able to step in the middle of you and EMS, to help get information to them faster and answer relevant questions, without having to rely on you receiving/answering them using your device. The cost of this team alone will be huge.

jerlam 4y ago
This is probably an expansion of the same Globalstar team that services SOS messages from their own SPOT satellite messengers, which also use the same satellite network. The SPOT plans and the competing Garmin inReach plans are not cheap: https://www.findmespot.com/en-us/products-services/service-plans https://www.findmespot.com/en-us/products-services/service-p... https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/837461 https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/837461
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- gumby 4y ago
  And if you make a SPOT call nobody may be out there for a while. I looked into getting one just in case. Where I like to camp, in BLM land, SPOT calls the "local" 911 responder which is 2.5 hours away and run by CHP. Back then they said it can take up to 72 hours for someone to get a team together to look for you. The owners of the backpacking store I went to, whom I know, said it wouldn't be worth my money. I imagine there's better coverage in a national park though.
  - tjohns 4y ago
    Even in a national park, it will take time to respond to a satellite call. Contrary to popular belief, search and rescue doesn't always send a helicopter. It's still common to send a ranger on foot and help walk somebody out on the trail. Or if that's not possible, to take a team of humans and carry someone out on a litter. More generally... From what I was trained, ~12 hours is considered a fast rescue. The average time (according to the FAA's pilot survival training) is 31 hours, even with a known good location fix. 72 hours is very possible if there's inclement weather or difficulty locating someone.
    - cameldrv 4y ago
      It seems like this is a big advantage of the inreach in that you can text with EMS to convey if it is an urgent situation. You can also text friends/family to make alternate arrangements if the regular rescue people aren’t going to be fast enough.
      - LorenPechtel 4y ago
        Sounds like the Apple version lets you send some info also. And I would generally expect search and rescue to be able to get to you faster than friends.
        cameldrv 4y ago
        That's true, it apparently has some multiple choice questions you can answer, which is definitely better than just hitting the big red button and letting rescuers guess what the nature of the situation is based on you position. Being two-way, the other advantage of the inreach is that rescuers can ask you questions and tell you when they expect to arrive etc. That said, the delta in functionality between what the iphone will offer and what an inreach offers in an emergency situation is probably not enough for the vast majority of people to want to purchase an inreach and a subscription, unless they also have a use for non-emergency communication outside of cell coverage.
    - newaccount74 4y ago
      Also, at least where I am from, search and rescue never sends helicopters in the night, because it is too dangerous.
      - dreamcompiler 4y ago
        Likewise if the weather is less than perfect, which occurs frequently in mountainous areas.
    - mschuster91 4y ago
      At that point I wonder when quadcopters or fixed-wing UAVs will be feasible to at least establish visual contact with the sender of an emergency signal and/or drop off a sat-phone for bidirectional contact - there have been model aircraft capable of crossing the Atlantic [1] after all, and modern quadcopters like the DJI Matrice have something like an hour of flight time and 80 km/h speed so these could carry emergency supplies as well, no matter the terrain. [1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAM_5 https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAM_5 [2] https://www.diyphotography.net/djis-new-matrice-300-rtk-drone-offers-a-ridiculous-55-minutes-of-flight-time/ https://www.diyphotography.net/djis-new-matrice-300-rtk-dron...
  - snowwrestler 4y ago
    72 hours is way better than never if you’re incapacitated or lost. Risk/reward probably depends on what you like to do and where you like to go.
  - katbyte 4y ago
    imho with an inreach its mostly that i can message friends and family if something happens from deadly serious to "my truck broke down 100km down a FSR, please send a tow truck!" to "we are running late but OK". inreach has proven to be worth every penny and them some.
  - LorenPechtel 4y ago
    In the backcountry help is farther away than it is in the city. That applies no matter how you call for help. I've got an inReach but I would expect it to be hours from pushing the button to help showing up unless it was something very urgent and there happened to be a chopper around that could reach where I was. On top of the highest peak in the area I wouldn't be surprised at help taking 8 hours to arrive. As for whether it's worth it--it depends on what you're doing. As a backcountry hiker that often goes solo I consider it essential insurance. If something happens that's likely the only way I would get help rather than ending up like the guy on our local mountains that disappeared a couple of weeks ago--certainly dead by now (there's no water to be had) but his body hasn't been found.

by cowsup 4y ago

jerlam 4y ago

This is probably an expansion of the same Globalstar team that services SOS messages from their own SPOT satellite messengers, which also use the same satellite network. The SPOT plans and the competing Garmin inReach plans are not cheap: https://www.findmespot.com/en-us/products-services/service-plans https://www.findmespot.com/en-us/products-services/service-p... https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/837461 https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/837461

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
gumby 4y ago
And if you make a SPOT call nobody may be out there for a while. I looked into getting one just in case. Where I like to camp, in BLM land, SPOT calls the "local" 911 responder which is 2.5 hours away and run by CHP. Back then they said it can take up to 72 hours for someone to get a team together to look for you. The owners of the backpacking store I went to, whom I know, said it wouldn't be worth my money. I imagine there's better coverage in a national park though.
- tjohns 4y ago
  Even in a national park, it will take time to respond to a satellite call. Contrary to popular belief, search and rescue doesn't always send a helicopter. It's still common to send a ranger on foot and help walk somebody out on the trail. Or if that's not possible, to take a team of humans and carry someone out on a litter. More generally... From what I was trained, ~12 hours is considered a fast rescue. The average time (according to the FAA's pilot survival training) is 31 hours, even with a known good location fix. 72 hours is very possible if there's inclement weather or difficulty locating someone.
  - cameldrv 4y ago
    It seems like this is a big advantage of the inreach in that you can text with EMS to convey if it is an urgent situation. You can also text friends/family to make alternate arrangements if the regular rescue people aren’t going to be fast enough.
    - LorenPechtel 4y ago
      Sounds like the Apple version lets you send some info also. And I would generally expect search and rescue to be able to get to you faster than friends.
      - cameldrv 4y ago
        That's true, it apparently has some multiple choice questions you can answer, which is definitely better than just hitting the big red button and letting rescuers guess what the nature of the situation is based on you position. Being two-way, the other advantage of the inreach is that rescuers can ask you questions and tell you when they expect to arrive etc. That said, the delta in functionality between what the iphone will offer and what an inreach offers in an emergency situation is probably not enough for the vast majority of people to want to purchase an inreach and a subscription, unless they also have a use for non-emergency communication outside of cell coverage.
  - newaccount74 4y ago
    Also, at least where I am from, search and rescue never sends helicopters in the night, because it is too dangerous.
    - dreamcompiler 4y ago
      Likewise if the weather is less than perfect, which occurs frequently in mountainous areas.
  - mschuster91 4y ago
    At that point I wonder when quadcopters or fixed-wing UAVs will be feasible to at least establish visual contact with the sender of an emergency signal and/or drop off a sat-phone for bidirectional contact - there have been model aircraft capable of crossing the Atlantic [1] after all, and modern quadcopters like the DJI Matrice have something like an hour of flight time and 80 km/h speed so these could carry emergency supplies as well, no matter the terrain. [1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAM_5 https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAM_5 [2] https://www.diyphotography.net/djis-new-matrice-300-rtk-drone-offers-a-ridiculous-55-minutes-of-flight-time/ https://www.diyphotography.net/djis-new-matrice-300-rtk-dron...
- snowwrestler 4y ago
  72 hours is way better than never if you’re incapacitated or lost. Risk/reward probably depends on what you like to do and where you like to go.
- katbyte 4y ago
  imho with an inreach its mostly that i can message friends and family if something happens from deadly serious to "my truck broke down 100km down a FSR, please send a tow truck!" to "we are running late but OK". inreach has proven to be worth every penny and them some.
- LorenPechtel 4y ago
  In the backcountry help is farther away than it is in the city. That applies no matter how you call for help. I've got an inReach but I would expect it to be hours from pushing the button to help showing up unless it was something very urgent and there happened to be a chopper around that could reach where I was. On top of the highest peak in the area I wouldn't be surprised at help taking 8 hours to arrive. As for whether it's worth it--it depends on what you're doing. As a backcountry hiker that often goes solo I consider it essential insurance. If something happens that's likely the only way I would get help rather than ending up like the guy on our local mountains that disappeared a couple of weeks ago--certainly dead by now (there's no water to be had) but his body hasn't been found.