Live tracking and the public pageBeta

Live tracking gathers every rider carrying a satellite tracker onto one map, so you can see who is moving, who has stopped and who has called for help without ringing round the group.

Two audiences read those positions in two different places. You watch the organizer map from the dashboard, and family at home watch a public tracking link you send them, which means nobody needs your organizer access to follow a rider.

Where positions come from#

On the web, a rider's position comes from a satellite tracker rather than a phone, because the web reads share feeds while phone live sharing is part of the INVIA app.

A tracker is one of three things:

• A SPOT share feed, pasted once, so the rider sets it up before the event and then leaves it alone.
• A Garmin inReach share feed, pasted once, in the same way.
• A tracker from the organizer's own fleet, issued to a rider who has none.

Phone live sharing is not on the web#

Looking for a button that broadcasts your phone's position on the web will not turn one up, because that half of tracking lives in the INVIA app.

What you see:

• No control on the web shares a phone's position.
• Share my live location on the participant page takes a share feed.

What still works:

• Satellite tracking from a SPOT feed, a Garmin inReach feed or a tracker from the organizer's fleet.
• Every other part of the event.

What to do:

1. Paste a SPOT or Garmin inReach share feed instead.
2. Or share from your phone in the INVIA app, which broadcasts your position without a satellite tracker.

The organizer map#

Live Tracking opens a full-screen map of everyone being tracked, which is the screen to keep open on a laptop while the ride is out.

1. Open Settings.
2. Press Live Tracking.

Add trackers opens My fleet and Rider trackers, which is where you attach a feed or a fleet tracker to a rider.

The command pill#

The command pill is the master switch for the whole event rather than for one rider, and it reads LIVE or TRACKING OFF.

The pill reads TRACKING OFF#

Nothing reaches the map while the pill is off, because the pill governs sharing for everyone at once.

What you see:

• The text Tracking is OFF, riders cannot share.
• No rider position arrives while the pill reads TRACKING OFF.
• Riders have no Share my live location panel on their event page.

What still works:

• The event, the roster panel, the routes and the briefing.
• Every tracker you added under Add trackers stays attached rather than being removed.

What to do:

1. Set the command pill to LIVE. Riders can share only while the command pill reads LIVE.

Setting the pill back to LIVE returns Share my live location to each rider's event page, because that panel is hidden entirely while the pill is off. A rider whose tracker was already attached finds it reading You're sharing your live location with its button on Sharing, so there is nothing for them to set up again.

Refresh#

The map refreshes every 90 seconds on its own, so you can leave it open at the start line and let it keep itself current.

Refresh satellite trackers now refreshes it by hand when you would rather not wait for the next cycle, and the result reads Updated N trackers or No new positions yet.

The result reads No new positions yet#

Nothing new has arrived since the last check, which is ordinary rather than a fault, because a satellite tracker reports on a schedule of its own instead of when you ask it to.

What you see:

• The message No new positions yet.
• The dots and trails already on the map stay on the map.

What still works:

• The refresh every 90 seconds keeps running.
• Every tracker you added is still in the roster panel.

What to do:

1. Wait, since a satellite tracker reports on its own schedule.
2. Press Refresh satellite trackers now again.

The roster panel#

The roster panel searches by name or category and filters by role, so you can pull up one named rider or a whole role rather than reading every dot on the map.

Each row carries a chip naming why the screen is unsure about that rider, which puts a problem in front of you instead of leaving you to notice a stalled dot. The number in a chip is how many minutes that state has been true.

A tracker reporting 50 kilometers from its owner's phone has usually been lent to someone else or left behind, so opening that rider spells out how many miles apart the two are.

A problem chip on a rider's row#

A chip tells you which rider to look at first, and that rider stays on the list either way. Read a chip as a prompt to check rather than as a sign someone dropped out of the event.

What you see:

• The chip on that rider's row.
• The rider is still listed in the roster panel.

What still works:

• Search by name or category.
• The role filter.
• The map, the message pins and the trails.

What to do:

1. Press Refresh satellite trackers now.
2. Read the chip on the row.

SOS#

An SOS raises a band, so the call reaches you even when you are looking at another part of the screen. The band reads {name} needs help for one rider, and N riders need help for more than one.

What to do:

1. Press Show me on the band.

Pins, trails and dots#

The map draws three things, and between them they answer where a rider is now and where they have been:

• Message pins show OK, help, SOS and text.
• Trails show where each rider has been.
• One rider is one dot.

Who can see rider locations#

Who can see rider locations decides whether the live map belongs to you alone or to the whole group. It is set to Organizers and staff only (Only you and your staff see the live map. Riders cannot see each other.) or Everyone in the event.

The default keeps rider positions inside the organizing team, which means opening the map to the group stays a decision you make rather than one INVIA makes for you.

Riders cannot see each other#

On Organizers and staff only a rider gets no live map of the other riders, because that setting holds the map to the organizing team.

What a rider sees on Organizers and staff only:

• No live map of the other riders.

What still works:

• Organizers and staff see the live map.
• A rider can still share their own live location from the participant page.

What to do:

1. Set Who can see rider locations to Everyone in the event.

Rider opt-in#

Nobody is tracked without asking to be, because the rider adds their own feed. Share my live location on the participant page takes a SPOT or inReach feed inline, so a rider joins the map without leaving the event. The panel is on that page only while the organizer's command pill reads LIVE, so a rider who cannot find it is looking at an event with tracking switched off.

1. Open the participant page.
2. Press Share my live location.
3. Paste the SPOT or inReach share feed.
4. Press Test.
5. Press Save & share.

The page then reads Sharing your live location. It stops after the event ends. or Organizers see you during the event, then it stops., which states the limit up front so a rider knows the sharing is not open ended.

Sharing stops when the event ends#

Sharing ends with the event rather than running on, so a rider is not left broadcasting to an organizer days after the ride.

What you see after the event ends:

• Your live location is no longer shared with the organizers.

What still works:

• Your account, your routes and your rides are unchanged.
• Your SPOT or inReach share feed is unchanged.

What to do:

1. Press Share my live location again on your next event.

The public tracking link#

A Pro account can create a public page for a feed at inviagps.com/track?token=…. That page is what you send to family at home, because it shows the rider without handing anyone your organizer access.

The page refreshes every 60 seconds on its own, so somebody watching from the kitchen table sees the ride move without pressing anything.

What the person at home sees#

The page is a full-screen map with a marker for each tracker on the link, and each marker moves as new positions come in, which is what the person at home is watching.

Across the top is the rider's name with Live · updated and the time of the last refresh, so the person at home can tell how recent the map is. Before any position has arrived it reads Waiting for the first position… instead.

Tapping a marker shows the rider's name, the time of that fix, the speed, the battery if the tracker reports it, and any message the rider sent. A check-in, a help request or an SOS turns the plain marker into a badge, so the marker that needs reading is the one that stands out.

Creating the link#

The link is made on your own profile rather than inside an event, because it belongs to your tracker rather than to one ride.

1. Open your profile.
2. Find the Satellite Trackers section.
3. Press Create share link under Share my location.

Share my location appears once you have at least one SPOT or Garmin inReach tracker registered, so a profile with no tracker on it has nothing to share yet.

Pressing Create share link makes the link and copies it, and every link you have made is listed with a copy button and an X that turns it off. A link does not expire, which means it lasts until you turn it off.

Create share link is locked#

A free account gets a locked button in place of Create share link, because creating a public tracking share page is part of Pro.

What you see:

• Share page with a Pro tag instead of Create share link.
• The message Creating a share page is a Pro feature.

What still works:

• Your SPOT and Garmin inReach trackers stay registered on your profile.
• Organizers still see you on their live map at any event where you share your location.
• Anyone can open a tracking link somebody else made, since Pro governs creating the page rather than reading it.

What to do:

1. Upgrade to Pro to create the share page.

A link that has been turned off#

Turning a tracking link off closes the public page and nothing else, because the link is a view onto the feed rather than the tracking itself.

What the person at home sees:

• The message This tracking link is invalid or has been turned off.

What still works:

• The organizer map still shows the rider.
• The rider's SPOT or inReach share feed is unchanged.
• The public event page is unchanged.

What to do:

1. Create a new public page from the Pro account.
2. Send the new link.

The public event page#

inviagps.com/event/{slug} is open to everyone. No beta is needed. This is the page to put on a flyer or a forum post, since a rider can read the whole thing before they have an INVIA account.

A meet-up#

A meet-up page carries four parts, and the RSVP bar stays on screen as you scroll so the way in is always within reach:

• The hero.
• The details.
• The route map.
• A sticky RSVP bar reading Sign in to RSVP and get the routes.

An organized event#

An organized event page carries more, because an organized event has a program, an organizer and a start location a rider has to find:

• The hero.
• The chips.
• Register, which goes to the organizer's site.
• Get the routes, which joins the event.
• N riders in.
• About.
• The flyer.
• The riding.
• The routes teaser.
• The start location with directions.
• The organizer card.

Route files on the public event page#

Download tracks (GPX) with No account needed. appears on the page only when the download dial is set to Anyone with the link. That setting is the one that lets a stranger keep a copy of the files.

No download button on the page#

A page without a download button belongs to an organizer who chose not to hand the files to everybody, and joining the event is the way through.

What you see when the download dial is set to anything else:

• Download tracks (GPX) is not on the page.
• The page reads Route files are available to riders who join this event.

What still works:

• The hero, the chips, the routes teaser and the start location.
• Get the routes, which joins the event.

What to do:

1. Press Get the routes to join the event.
2. Or ask the organizer to set the download dial to Anyone with the link.