How do you find somebody in the middle of the desert? (chasing moving targets)

[Marek]

I know it's a simple enough question, but I have been struggling with this for the past months and I would like to understand how do you guys do it?

Scenario: somebody shares their location over whatsapp. Whether live or point in time - you end up being able to open Google Maps, Yango, Waze or Apple Maps (or whatever you have) and mark it there. But then what? The point keeps changing and it is no longer being reflected as you already changed the app and marked your static destination. And the route is based on something that may or may not exist (I need a direction, not a "route"). Google can't navigate if roads are not there, so the only way to see the approximate location is to keep the phone in one hand in the "pre" navigation stage, making sure to tap the screen so it does not go dark... Other navi apps are equally inconvenient, but they also don't show you the direction where you point your phone at - so you only see two dots marked on the screen and need to figure out which way the dot is moving.

Gaia does this offroad directions pretty well by showing you how far you are off the straight line leading you to the marked point, but only against points that I mark in advance. I haven't figured out a way to "share" location directly into Gaia (at least not on iPhone).

Last week I was trying to chase a group of friends in the desert, and the closest I was able to do it with was by asking them to share location using Google account (not via whatsapp, but directly from within google maps on their phones), so it shows directly on my google maps. Looks awesome. Little like a mini map in GTA 5. But it's not ideal. It allowed me to see the moving point(s) (with some delay of course), but again - only until the screen on my phone went dark (I could not tap "direction", because then I would loose the context and Google would force some arbitrary road 20km away on the other side of the map area). It's a huge struggle to keep the phone "live" tapping it with your right hand thumb, while joggling gears and trying to steer with the other hand - cumbersome to say the least. I was desperate enough to find that damn timeout setting on my phone to make sure it stays always on, but my corp security kicked in anyways, and got it locked after a minute anyways. There must be a better way.

How do gurs do it?

[Zubail]

Garmin Inreach mini 2 😀

But if serious, very good question, will also listen

[_luke_]

garmin tread sxs 'group ride'

requires everyone to be on the same hardware but can see live updates of group members and 'track' to them as well as their stats.

[Frederic]

2 hours ago, Marek said:

I know it's a simple enough question, but I have been struggling with this for the past months and I would like to understand how do you guys do it?

Scenario: somebody shares their location over whatsapp. Whether live or point in time - you end up being able to open Google Maps, Yango, Waze or Apple Maps (or whatever you have) and mark it there. But then what? The point keeps changing and it is no longer being reflected as you already changed the app and marked your static destination. And the route is based on something that may or may not exist (I need a direction, not a "route"). Google can't navigate if roads are not there, so the only way to see the approximate location is to keep the phone in one hand in the "pre" navigation stage, making sure to tap the screen so it does not go dark... Other navi apps are equally inconvenient, but they also don't show you the direction where you point your phone at - so you only see two dots marked on the screen and need to figure out which way the dot is moving.

Gaia does this offroad directions pretty well by showing you how far you are off the straight line leading you to the marked point, but only against points that I mark in advance. I haven't figured out a way to "share" location directly into Gaia (at least not on iPhone).

Last week I was trying to chase a group of friends in the desert, and the closest I was able to do it with was by asking them to share location using Google account (not via whatsapp, but directly from within google maps on their phones), so it shows directly on my google maps. Looks awesome. Little like a mini map in GTA 5. But it's not ideal. It allowed me to see the moving point(s) (with some delay of course), but again - only until the screen on my phone went dark (I could not tap "direction", because then I would loose the context and Google would force some arbitrary road 20km away on the other side of the map area). It's a huge struggle to keep the phone "live" tapping it with your right hand thumb, while joggling gears and trying to steer with the other hand - cumbersome to say the least. I was desperate enough to find that damn timeout setting on my phone to make sure it stays always on, but my corp security kicked in anyways, and got it locked after a minute anyways. There must be a better way.

How do gurs do it?

This is not an easy thing. One option might be for the people who you are trying to find use Sportstracklive.com (website and app) and see if you can use the mobile app to track your friends their live position and use it to navigate towards it. I have not tried it yet but it does allow for live tracking.

 

 

[Marek]

ok, so let's simplify: can we export coordinates from google map pinpoint into Gaia?

 

EDIT: Creating a dumb ios app which would allow me to import data from Google maps and then just keep showing me direction and track statistics should be relatively easy to make. But I can't understand why wouldn't it exist already?

Edited November 8, 2024 by Marek

[Zubail]

1 minute ago, Marek said:

ok, so let's simplify: can we export coordinates from google map pinpoint into Gaia?

I think @Fredericwas writing abount external google maps layer on gaiagps, and this will give you a chance to add coordinates

[Frederic]

3 minutes ago, Marek said:

ok, so let's simplify: can we export coordinates from google map pinpoint into Gaia?

 

EDIT: Creating a dumb ios app which would allow me to import data from Google maps and then just keep showing me direction and track statistics should be relatively easy to make. But I can't understand why wouldn't it exist already?

Yes very easily. Just long click to create a pin in Google maps and then copy paste the decimal coordinates into the search field of Gaiagps

[Marek]

That is a start. Thanks @Frederic. Now I need to figure out how to make a "party" app too. Thanks! 

[Frederic]

1 minute ago, Zubail said:

I think @Fredericwas writing abount external google maps layer on gaiagps, and this will give you a chance to add coordinates

no need. in the GaiaGPS mobile app you will see a search field at the top. This field can be used to enter decimal coordinates or just copy paste them from another application like Google Maps into this field.

Then you can save that location as a pin and select "Guide me" in Gaiagps, so you can use it as a straight line.

1 minute ago, Marek said:

That is a start. Thanks @Frederic. Now I need to figure out how to make a "party" app too. Thanks! 

Tell your friends to send you location once they have set up the tent and opened the cooler with drinks. 😁

[Zubail]

1 minute ago, Frederic said:

no need. in the GaiaGPS mobile app you will see a search field at the top. This field can be used to enter decimal coordinates or just copy paste them from another application like Google Maps into this field.

Then you can save that location as a pin and select "Guide me" in Gaiagps, so you can use it as a straight line.

Yes, already tried! thank you!