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Monitoring, SOS Handling, and Ending Location Sharing

On the event day, organizers watch the safety monitoring screen and confirm participant status.

What should be checked first?​

In day-of-event monitoring, the following order is usually the most practical.

  1. Check whether any participant is in SOS
  2. Check whether anyone has exited the play area or entered a restricted area (red pulsing ring, "Out" / "Restricted" badge)
  3. Check whether anyone has had no location update for a long time (red/orange indicators)
  4. Check whether any participant battery is getting low
  5. Check whether anyone forgot to stop sharing after finishing

In a Safety Tracking Event, it is more realistic to confirm participants in priority order than to watch every participant with the same depth all the time.

Things to watch during the activity​

  • Current participant location
  • Last transmission time
  • Battery level
  • GPS accuracy
  • Whether SOS is active
  • Whether the participant is still sharing or already finished
  • Whether they have strayed into dangerous areas or far off the intended course

Points worth checking on the live map​

  • Whether someone is clearly moving to an unexpected place
  • Whether someone is staying in the same place for a long time
  • If patrol staff also share location, who is nearest to the participant

The live map is useful not only to identify a current location but also to decide which participant should be checked first.

The safety monitoring screen. Participant markers on the map at the top and the participant list below, with colors showing the connection status and the participant in SOS highlighted. The participant with an active SOS is first
If you also want to watch the location of patrol staff

Add staff as operators (this requires the Organizer Plan), and have them share from Switch to organizer mode on the event screen with Share your location with other organizers. This button appears when the owner, managers, and operators number two or more in total. Sharing this way does not use play slots, and staff appear on the monitoring screen's map as operators. This is available on both iPhone and Android.

If staff start location sharing in the same way as participants, they appear on the monitoring screen as a row indistinguishable from participants, and they use play slots. On iPhone, the sharing screen is shown in full screen, so they cannot open the monitoring screen while sharing.

When you receive an SOS​

  1. Confirm the SOS message
  2. Confirm the current location or the location at send time
  3. Coordinate by phone contact or with patrol staff
  4. Mark it resolved after the response is complete

Things to keep in mind in the first response​

  • First confirm the location and time, and check that the information is not already old
  • If communication is unstable, also look at the last received location
  • Reassess the priority depending on whether phone contact is possible
  • Separate who makes contact and who moves on site between HQ and field staff

What to record after the response​

  • SOS content
  • Response start time
  • Contact method and outcome
  • Whether on-site confirmation was performed
  • Time when the case was marked resolved

Keeping these records helps later review and handover between multiple staff members.

When receiving an alert for outside play area or restricted area entry​

When a participant exits the play area or enters a restricted area, they appear near the top of the monitoring list (after SOS) and all owners, managers, and operators receive a push notification.

  1. Check situation — Confirm participant marker badges ("Out", "Restricted") and duration in the list (e.g., "Outside area 12m").
  2. Review location and trend — Check participant position and heading on the map to see if they are moving further away or heading back.
  3. Contact and warn — If they do not return after a while or are venturing deep into hazardous terrain, contact them by phone to guide them back (participants who checked in with the Check-in QR can also be sent a direct message from the Player List on iPhone).
  4. Push notifications — Notifications are sent to all owners, managers, and operators when a violation is confirmed after lasting 10 seconds, every 5 minutes while it continues, and when the participant returns to a safe area. A notification is also sent if precise location is turned off on the participant's device during a violation and detection stops.

Checking overdue-return candidates​

  • Confirm the last location and last transmission time
  • Consider the possibility of communication trouble, battery loss, or device trouble
  • Do not conclude from the app display alone. Combine it with phone contact or field confirmation

The action logs recorded on the participant's device are automatically saved to the server after sharing ends. You can use them for post-event cause investigation, such as determining when the participant went out of coverage.

For the broader thinking behind overdue-return response itself, see Operations Guide - Safety checks and return confirmation.

Confirm that participants ended sharing​

After the activity ends, ask participants to end location sharing by long-pressing the stop button (Long press to stop).

Things to check at the end​

  • Whether anyone has already finished but still appears as sharing
  • Whether battery loss or communication trouble caused the stop operation to be missed
  • Whether there is any mismatch with reception-side or HQ-side return confirmation

We recommend guiding participants to stop sharing after the finish. Before closing the event, it is safer to check once whether anyone still remains active.

Note that even if someone forgets to stop, location sharing stops automatically a maximum of 24 hours after it starts.

Participant-side stop operation​

Participants end sharing by long-pressing the stop button (Long press to stop) after they finish.

Organizer-side force stop​

When necessary, the organizer app can also end a participant's sharing state.

The menu opened for a participant in SOS on the safety monitoring screen. View Details, Set alias name, Update Entry Number, Edit note, Resolve SOS, and Force End Play

Typical cases for organizer-side ending​

  • The participant forgot to stop sharing
  • The participant cannot stop from their own device because of trouble
  • Return confirmation is complete and only the sharing state remains active

This is convenient, but it does not mean you can skip actual return confirmation. Make the decision together with face-to-face or phone confirmation.

Things that are easy to miss in play slots and event-day operation​

  • Whether enough play slots are prepared for the expected number of users
  • Whether the start guidance has reached all participants
  • Whether patrol staff should also use location sharing

If you may run short of play slots during the event, additional purchase may be needed on the organizer side. If participant numbers may grow, it is safer to confirm this with some margin.