GPS tracking

[Blackbear]

What tracking device do you recommend for the folks at Home to keep track of your location on the TA?  Blackbear

[brizz20]

There a few options. If you have a mobile device such as iPhone or Android, you can use Runkeeper and get their elite service. The app is free, but the Elite membership costs 20 dollars a year. It allows the user to view the person in real time. https://runkeeper.com/elite

Option 2 is specific to iphone and also works great. Cyclemeter is 4.99 in the app store, but they do the tracking slightly different. You can post it to FB or Twitter, or you can send it directly to an email address. Which is great if you are only sending it to your partner or a specific person. The refresh rate however is every five minutes.
http://www.abvio.com/cyclemeter/

I own both apps (iphone) and from a live tracking perspective I prefer Runkeeper since its live. From an overall app standpoint, its almost a tossup. They both have thier pros and cons, but if I were to be held at gunpoint i would ultimately go with Runkeeper. The UI is a little nicer and the live tracking is done slightly better. Hope that helps.

[Luke]

If you don't want to drain your phone battery and will be riding outside mobile/cell phone coverage have a look at a SPOT Messenger <http://www.findmespot.com/en/. You get a track update to a web site every 10min and the ability to send pre-defined custom messages to e-mail and/or SMS and emergency location. I've been using one for about six months and while it doesn't have a map display it is great for showing where you've been and marking positions of interest. The only downside is that it requires a yearly subscription service but it is cheap insurance in my view. I use it on the bike, motorbike and in the car.

[BadBob6]

I use a SPOT for several reasons. The most important being that it does not rely on cell coverage. It uses satellites. Also, no matter where you are in the world, using the 911, or SOS, feature on the SPOT will summon emergency responders to your location. That is a real lifesaver. I link my SPOT locations to my own blog page using SpotWalla (http://www.spotwalla.com/). My blog page is at http://badbob6.blogspot.com/ if you wish to see a simple way to use the SPOT data. Again, SPOT does not rely on cell or internet coverage so it reports your location anyplace you might be.

[chrisch]

I've written an iPhone app for bike touring called TrackMyTour.  It's a small blogging type service with an emphasis on location.  It's not a real-time tracker, which is good for keeping battery consumption and roaming costs at a minimum.  You can see where some people are touring now with the app at http://trackmytour.com/tours/?type=bicycle.

[devinsmith]

I have been using run keeper for over a year now and find the online service very useful, a great app.