SPOT Satellite Messenger

SPOT Satellite Messenger is a personal GPS tracking device. With the push of a button, SPOT can transmit a user's GPS location and message. The data can be send to a 9-1-1 emergency call center in times of need, or to friends, family or co-workers to request help, track their location, or just keep in touch.

SPOT sends a user's GPS location over a commercial satellite network and SPOT works in much of the world regardless of cellular coverage.

Viewing messages and locations is easy using the SPOT web service with included Google Maps technology.

Once activated, SPOT will acquire its exact coordinates from the GPS network, and send that location along with a distress message to a GEOS International Emergency Response Center every five minutes until cancelled.

The Emergency Response Center notifies the appropriate emergency responders based on your location and personal information - which may include local police, highway patrol, the Coast Guard, our country's embassy or consulate, or other emergency response or search and rescue teams - as well as notifying your emergency contact person(s) about the receipt of a distress signal.

The Spot Satellite Messenger has just four buttons which include ON/OFF, OK, HELP and 911.

The unit sends three types of messages, depending on which button is depressed. The "OK" signal, sends a custom message out to email inboxes or as a text message to a cell phone.

The HELP mode sends an "I need assistance" message to the same group of family and friends via email or cell phone text. This is for non-emergency situations.

For real emergencies, the device's 911 button transmits a distress signal to a private control center in Houston, which then alerts local search and rescue, the Coast Guard or other organizations as need be.

In all modes, SPOT sends message data plus GPS coordinates. This allows the user to record and track their way points. GPS data sent from the device is viewable on a computer screen via the Google Maps program, which SPOT integrates with its easy-to-use web site.

On December 13, 2007 - SPOT Inc., designer and distributor of the SPOT%u2122 Satellite Messenger announced that it was awarded the Consumer Electronics Association's (CEA®) 2008 Innovations Design and Engineering Award. The award, judged and selected annually by a panel of independent industrial designers, engineers and journalists, was given to SPOT in the category of Personal Electronics.

Outdoorsmen and hunters will find that SPOT allows them to go further and do more. SPOT helps hunters track their adventures while giving peace of mind to loved ones. A hunter can mark that hunting location and go back time and time again.

A Spot Satellite Messenger allowed the United States Coast Guard to located and tow a 26-foot boat to shore after it was disabled 28 miles east of Virginia Beach in July 2009.

On July 11, a 9-1-1 operator contacted the Coast Guard at 6:34 p.m. stating they had received a SPOT notification from the vessel School Zone, which indicated their position.

An MH-60J Jayhawk helicopter crew launched from Air Station Elizabeth City, located the vessel, and guided a rescue boat crew aboard a 45-foot response boat from Station Little Creek to the scene.

The boat crew arrived on scene and towed the boat to Rudee Inlet.

"SPOT is a handheld satellite personal tracker that sends the position to a SPOT office who then calls us with the position," said Petty Officer 1st Class Bernice Paver, a search-and-rescue controller at the Coast Guard command center in Portsmouth. "Then we allocate search assets, and they go out and rescue the people."