Chris Korbulic and Ben Stookesberry, two of the world’s premier adventure kayakers, are equipped with inReach for communicating directly with friends, family, and with followers via social media during their current adventure in Africa.
Chris and Ben, who paddle for the Eddie Bauer/First Ascent team, are challenging the Zambezi, Kufue, Cunene and Kwanza rivers in Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Angola in December and January; they’lll take on the Lukuga River in Congo during late January and February . During the latter they’ll also be involved in community aid and a National Geographic project.
Chris contacted DeLorme upon hearing about inReach, and we are delighted to be supporting him and Ben with reliable 2-way satellite messaging, message delivery confirmation, remote tracking, SOS, and GPS navigation (the latter via Earthmate PN-60w which we’ve also provided for each paddler).
As of today, Chris and Ben are en route by vehicle to their starting point. You can follow their journey at their inReach MapShare page. Bookmark it and check back to follow their progress. You can click on any of the message and tracking icons to read more details, and you can also send messages to them (just click the blue Message icon near the top of the page). In addition, you can follow Chris on Twitter @ckorbulic. In any of his tweets that contain a URL beginning “dlor.me” you can click on that link to see their location as of time the tweet was posted.
I want to take a second to show off one of the most exciting features our new inReach device has to offer—the ability for a user to send a message with their location from their device to a friend’s device so that their friend can see exactly where they are on the map. Now granted, there are other systems out there that let you see the location of people in your party but none of them let you see people anywhere in the world! No more problems if your friend is on the back side of a ridge and no more problems if you travel too far away from each other. This two-way, global communication with the Earthmate PN-60w & inReach is all powered by the Iridium satellite network.
I’m sharing a few screenshots that illustrate the feature. While I was hunting this weekend I received a message from my dad showing where he was sitting. I was able to select the message from the conversation thread and press Enter to view the details of his message.
The details page included his speed, heading, elevation, and the time he sent the message. It also gave me options to view my dad’s location on the map or create a route to that location. I could have chosen to create a waypoint at his location too since it’s one of his favorite hunting spots!
After I chose to create a route to his location the map displayed an orange route highlight from my GPS location to the location where he sent his message. You can see the red route finish icon on top of his green message icon. The blue message icons show locations where I sent a message. If you look south of my GPS location you’ll see a second green message icon where my brother-in-law sent me a message too.
That’s the short version of how to use the location of someone who has sent you an inReach message. You can create a waypoint at their location, see them on the map, or create a route to where they are. The final screen shows all of the tracking and message information that was shared between the three of us that were out hunting. The view is from my MapShare and shows locations overlaid on aerial imagery
Feel free to post any questions you might have about the DeLorme PN-60w and inReach, and don’t forget about the blog challenge to share a picture of your camp! There’s still time left to enter and we want as many as possible to have a chance to win the Earthmate PN-60w that we are giving away!
November 1st marked the opening day of whitetail deer season here in the state of Maine. This is a special time of year for my family since we have a long standing tradition of gathering for hunting camp, spending time together telling stories about the good ol’ days and the one that got away…
I wanted to take a moment to share some of that hunting camp tradition with you and then show some videos of DeLorme’s new Earthmate PN-60w and inReach in action. While most things at hunting camp have a nostalgic feel, the technology being used is cutting edge and will keep you connected—no matter where you’ve gotten to during the hunt!
For those who’ve never been, going to a hunting camp is like taking a step back in time to an era before cell phones, cable television, and even electricity. I’m sure other hunting enthusiasts around the country will have pictures like these from their own camps; places with names like Bon Ami, Number Six, The Old Warden, and Stag-er-Inn.
At hunting camp you get your water from the cast-iron pump next to the sink and it’s as cold as the ice in the brook until the pump’s drained for fear of freezing the pipe in December.
Gas lights throughout the camp let you read big buck stories in Field & Stream while the loyal bird dog curls up on the couch she’s not allowed to sleep on at home. The magazine articles always make it sound so easy but I can assure you it’s not.
Red wool jackets and blaze orange hats hang on hooks and the backs of chairs while boots are arranged near the wood stove to dry. Camp slippers on the board above the stove are welcome should you need to make a trip to The Necessary in the night. Trinkets and trophies decorate the walls telling their own stories of camp and family and Maine.
Playing cribbage is a favorite pastime when the table isn’t serving up good food prepared for hungry hunters in from the woods. You’d be surprised by the appetite you can work up napping in the woods on a crisp fall day.
Of all these things though, it is the family and the stories that I value most. It’s staying in touch and sharing the excitement of being together at camp and being in the wilderness. That’s why I really am excited about DeLorme’s new inReach. It gives me the ability to send a message back to my mom, letting her know where I am on the ridge. I can tell my dad I flushed a bird or maybe even saw a deer! Who knows, maybe I’ll finally sit quietly, long enough to get that big buck and send a message for some help… not likely, but at least I’ll be ready!
Watch the video to see some of the exciting new ways we’ll be staying in touch at hunting camp. Granted, most of the excitement was around breakfast and cinnamon buns but the value of the PN-60w and inReach for sending two-way messages powered by the Iridium satellite network is clear.
Imagine how you might use a system like this at your own hunting camp. The satellite network powered by Iridium is global, pole-to-pole. You can exchange messages with friends and family regardless of how far from camp they are. For that matter, you can send messages to me in Weld, Maine, the next time we’re both out in the woods!
I hope you enjoyed your brief tour of our hunting camp here in the wilds of Maine. As a “thank you” for visiting I encourage you to go to our DeLorme Facebook page and post a picture of your own camp, hunting or not; you’ll be entered to win a PN-60w! From there the winner will just need the inReach to stay connected wherever they go!
Don’t forget to sign the camp log before you leave, my mother will be checking it to see if you enjoyed your visit. Good luck to all of you this season, enjoy your time in the woods and at camp!
This weekend marks the third annual Dempsey Challenge, an inspiring event hosted by Patrick Dempsey and organized to raise money for the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope and Healing. DeLorme is proud to be the official GPS Mapping sponsor for this event and Team DeLorme is excited to be riding the 100 mile route for the third year in a row. You will be able to follow us on our MapShare page (sorry, event has closed, no MapShare available) and see our tracking messages as we ride one of the most challenging and worthwhile centuries that we take part in each summer. Feel free to ask questions about how the ride is going, with the two-way satellite communication capabilities of the DeLorme inReach thanks to Iridium, I’ll be able to get back to you when I’m catching my breath at the rest stops. With the product release approaching, I’m excited to give one more sneak peak at the functionality before everyone starts sharing their own adventures online!
Here’s a map of tomorrow’s ride, I’ll be watching the profile on my PN-60w and waiting for the end as I climb the monster hill at the half-way point. Pay no attention to any slow speeds that might be reported on the MapShare page, it probably was caused by one of those last minute issues that the project team will get taken care of once the ride finishes.
And for all those Grey’s Anatomy fans out there, I did get to meet McDreamy at the sponsor ride today!
It was very impressive to see the effort that Patrick and all of the other coordinators put into this event. If you are a walker, runner, or cyclist in the New England area I’d strongly encourage you to check it out.
Now I’ve got to get to bed! The ride starts at 7:30 and the other members of Team DeLorme are going to be hammering for a chance to ride with Levi Leipheimer, Tom Danielson, and all of the other amazing professional cyclists that have come out to support the Dempsey Challenge!
Ride safe,
Chip Noble
Team DeLorme
UPDATE:
The 2011 Dempsey Challenge was a wonderful event. The weather was perfect and the route was challenging, leaving all riders with a sense of accomplishment. Congratulations to all of the participants and a job well done to all of the coordinators and to Patrick Dempsey for once again making the Dempsey Challenge a memorable event for all involved! They announced that the event raised over one million dollars for the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope and Healing, a very impressive effort by everyone that participated.
I tracked our progress with the PN-60w and DeLorme inReach, I hope those interested had a chance to see the track on our MapShare page…
Here are a couple of pictures of a fellow Team DeLorme rider and me approaching the finish line and then celebrating the end of the 100 mile ride. I only wish someone had told me about the crazy spiked hair!
Keep an eye out for the 2012 Dempsey Challenge and let me know if you want to ride with Team DeLorme!
Posted by DeLorme 
RSS Feed
