Severe weather or other safety alerts on your InReach, Zoleo, etc.

[WanderingBison]

Hey everyone,

For many years, I have enjoyed lurking in this community for trip inspiration and as a place to learn about new products and solutions.

So, as I am looking for people who enjoy remote adventures to test a new service I have launched, I thought I'd reach out to the community here.

Almost three years ago, my travels took me to Cape Scott Provincial Park, at the northern end of Vancouver Island, a remote area on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, where I spent a week. While there, I realized I would have had no way of getting notified of a distant earthquake and the resulting tsunami. My Garmin inReach would have allowed me to call for help in an emergency or to get a current forecast, but it couldn't alert me in the case of an immediate risk. Imagine a similar situation in an area at risk from flash flooding, forest fires or a tornado. When I got back to civilization, I tried to find a solution. Surprisingly, no one offered a notification solution using a satellite device like inReach!

So, I founded a company called Adiona Alert to provide the service I needed but couldn't find.

After more than two years of work, including testing the service over the last six months throughout North America and issuing over 2000 safety alerts, including severe weather, to our small fleet of test devices, we are beginning to invite people to join our Early Access program so they can start using the service today for free!

Given where your adventures likely take you, I thought this community would be perfect to test the service. I would be honoured if you would consider signing up for the Early Access program.

As we slowly add small groups of users, It would be great if some of you would apply for our Early Access program. You would get these potentially live-saving alerts for free. All I ask in return is to share your thoughts, suggestions, and even complaints with my team to improve the solution.

I would love you to visit our website - AdionaAlert.com, to learn more and apply for our Early Access program.

Thanks for considering this, and let me know if you have any questions or concerns.


J.S.

[arctictraveller]

This sounds like an excellent idea. Like you I spend a lot of time in remote places with little to no cell service. In summer, I'm concerned about approaching wild fires, flash floods etc and this sounds like a great service. Since I don't have a 2 way satellite communicator, can alerts be sent to cell phones too? Obviously I'd need cell service, but at least I'd have some notice when in service.

[Steve C]

Definitely an intriguing idea and service. As ArcticTraveller noted, an option to have alerts sent to cell phones in addition to satellite devices seems like a good idea. As an intermittent InReach user, I just applied to your Early Access Program. Also, in my case... it's probable that my InReach won't be turned back on until March/April, when I begin to get out and about again (just a heads up that "feedback" may be delayed).

Best of luck in this endeavor, hope it works out!

[WanderingBison]

Thanks for your feedback! We have heard this quite a few times, and your feedback is one of the reasons we are connecting with you and this community.

We designed Adiona Alert to allow us to provide highly reliable, location-based wherever our users travel take them, including where satellite connectivity is the only solution or cellular data is unreliable. We focussed on an off-grid/satellite device-based solution because there is a critical need and because we can make a life-saving difference here.

It allows us to be focused on an important mission while creating a viable business.

There are certainly several solutions out there that might fill your needs. If you haven't found the kind of service you need, I would be interested in hearing what's missing and how we can help you stay safe.

I'm happy to have this conversation here or privately if you prefer. Feel free to reach out through the DMs.

Thanks

[WanderingBison]

Originally Posted by Steve C

Definitely an intriguing idea and service. As ArcticTraveller noted, an option to have alerts sent to cell phones in addition to satellite devices seems like a good idea. As an intermittent InReach user, I just applied to your Early Access Program. Also, in my case... it's probable that my InReach won't be turned back on until March/April, when I begin to get out and about again (just a heads up that "feedback" may be delayed).

Best of luck in this endeavor, hope it works out!

Thanks Steve for the feedback and the interest.

We will be happy to have you join our Early Access program when you are ready. In the meantime, you should receive an email invite in the next day or two.

Let me know if you have any questions.


J.S.

[Twoxentrix]

I'll chime in with the same; IMHO your audience would build considerably larger & grow quicker if you included the offering to cell phones (maybe users just register their number on your site???).
We only use our in-reach when no cell service is available (which for the majority of us resembles about 5-10% of our trip, if not less), but would certainly welcome a service designed for normal day-to-day coverage.
SUGGESTION: The local alerts we normally receive are always appreciated but limited to the immediate threat, so we always end up scrambling to acquire weather info giving insight for the 24hrs (so we know what to expect, and can effectively establish a 'contingency plan' if warranted). Would be outstanding if with your Alert, your system also includes a glimpse of the next 24hrs (maybe even geographically mapping where potential threats may be in 24hrs)...really nothing more than what you'd find on local weather channels - just more convenient so I don't have take time to conduct a seperate search. I know, Guess I'm probably just getting lazy!
Hope your launch is a success, it certainly has appeal. Will be interesting to see what others suggest.

[WanderingBison]

Originally Posted by Twoxentrix

I'll chime in with the same; IMHO your audience would build considerably larger & grow quicker if you included the offering to cell phones (maybe users just register their number on your site???).
We only use our in-reach when no cell service is available (which for the majority of us resembles about 5-10% of our trip, if not less), but would certainly welcome a service designed for normal day-to-day coverage.
SUGGESTION: The local alerts we normally receive are always appreciated but limited to the immediate threat, so we always end up scrambling to acquire weather info giving insight for the 24hrs (so we know what to expect, and can effectively establish a 'contingency plan' if warranted). Would be outstanding if with your Alert, your system also includes a glimpse of the next 24hrs (maybe even geographically mapping where potential threats may be in 24hrs)...really nothing more than the what you'd find on local weather channels - just more convenient so I don't have take time to conduct a seperate search. I know, Guess I'm probably just getting lazy!
Hope your launch is a success, it certainly has appeal. Will be interesting to see what others suggest.

Thanks TwoXentrix. Really appreciate the feedback.

You touch on a few interesting aspects. We are listening and may very well come back here to explore some of your comments further

[Orv]

People with cell phones are likely to get EAS alerts anyway (at least in the US), so I'm not sure a cell phone version of this would add that much. This seems like a good solution for when you're out of reach of cell towers, though.

[WanderingBison]

Originally Posted by Orv

People with cell phones are likely to get EAS alerts anyway (at least in the US), so I'm not sure a cell phone version of this would add that much. This seems like a good solution for when you're out of reach of cell towers, though.

That's an excellent point, @Orv! We deliver Wireless Emergency Alerts (EAS/WEAs) to remote areas where they would not be available otherwise!

We also go beyond this!

First, we deliver ALL alerts using your actual location based on the location reported by the personal satellite communicator (inReach, Zoleo, etc.) you already carry. As a result, the alerts you receive are specific to where you are. They are location-specific.

That's somewhat different from the EAS/WEAs sent to cell phones since their delivery is based on the geographic area defined by the alerting agency AND the geographic coverage of the cellular phone towers in the affected area. To ensure maximum reach, the alert is often delivered to phones outside of the defined geographical area, and as a result, there is some overlap and "overspray".

The second aspect is in many ways related to @TwoXentrix comment "…limited to the immediate threat, so we always end up scrambling to acquire weather info giving insight for the 24hrs (so we know what to expect, and can effectively establish a 'contingency plan' if warranted)."

We deliver alerts beyond the cell phone alerts most of us are pretty used to now (EAS/WEAs) by sending ALL alerts prepared by the alerting agencies. This is especially important for the National Weather Service (NWS) alerts that include "Watches" (intended to prepare you for the heightened risk of severe weather, such as significant active weather that will affect the PNW over the next few days) AND "Warnings" that communicate likely severe weather predicted in the next few hours.

Weather Watches and Warnings will generally issued even if a cell phone EAS/WEA alert is not issued.

It also allows you to receive other safety alerts, such as drinking water advisories, dangerous persons, and missing persons alerts, which can be very beneficial.

We think this is critical for users in remote areas since it allows them to change plans and prepare contingency plans for the potential of severe weather and other risks.

Of course, this can also benefit users in areas where cell service and EAS/WEAs are possible.

Hopefully, this conversation helps all of us be better prepared!


J.S.

[Twoxentrix]

Originally Posted by WanderingBison

That's an excellent point, @Orv! We deliver Wireless Emergency Alerts (EAS/WEAs) to remote areas where they would not be available otherwise!

We also go beyond this!

First, we deliver ALL alerts using your actual location based on the location reported by the personal satellite communicator (inReach, Zoleo, etc.) you already carry. As a result, the alerts you receive are specific to where you are. They are location-specific.

That's somewhat different from the EAS/WEAs sent to cell phones since their delivery is based on the geographic area defined by the alerting agency AND the geographic coverage of the cellular phone towers in the affected area. To ensure maximum reach, the alert is often delivered to phones outside of the defined geographical area, and as a result, there is some overlap and "overspray".

The second aspect is in many ways related to @TwoXentrix comment "limited to the immediate threat, so we always end up scrambling to acquire weather info giving insight for the 24hrs (so we know what to expect, and can effectively establish a 'contingency plan' if warranted)."

We deliver alerts beyond the cell phone alerts most of us are pretty used to now (EAS/WEAs) by sending ALL alerts prepared by the alerting agencies. This is especially important for the National Weather Service (NWS) alerts that include "Watches" (intended to prepare you for the heightened risk of severe weather, such as significant active weather that will affect the PNW over the next few days) AND "Warnings" that communicate likely severe weather predicted in the next few hours.

Weather Watches and Warnings will generally issued even if a cell phone EAS/WEA alert is not issued.

It also allows you to receive other safety alerts, such as drinking water advisories, dangerous persons, and missing persons alerts, which can be very beneficial.

We think this is critical for users in remote areas since it allows them to change plans and prepare contingency plans for the potential of severe weather and other risks.

Of course, this can also benefit users in areas where cell service and EAS/WEAs are possible.

Hopefully, this conversation helps all of us be better prepared!


J.S.

Interesting, I didn't get this info from visiting your site - Personally, I think you should include these specifics.