A tracking app was on smartphones used by British journalists and other media personnel covering the US presidential election and the House of Representatives and Senate elections on November 8. The app would have helped them counter threats to their personal security in the event of any incident or danger while they were in the USA.
The app, which can be used in and outside trouble hotspots, uses GPS and other technologies to provide the location service tracking, even indoors. Vismo, a British company, has patented technology that it says reduces phone battery drain and boosts location accuracy, and works globally on GSM, 3G, WCDMA and CDMA networks.
The app works via a Vismo panic button on the user’s phone, enabling the user to make contact with a security centre and for the app to share details with emergency and other services. Location and other information are fed into mapping that is commonly used by those services and helps to give advice to users and help with any rescue.
If the services learn of an incident before users in its locality have reported it via the panic button, the users are sent an alert via SMS and email giving them details about it including its location and the action to take to reduce risk to their wellbeing. The app features covert recordings as soon as the panic button is activated, automatically transmitting in real time to a security centre, where staff listen to help build a picture of what is going on and ascertain danger faced by users.
The app is used by at-risk staff of FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies, and several UN agencies – and individuals. It was used in Iraq by a team of Danish journalists after a multiple bomb blast and shootings at an election rally in 2014, helping team members locate a missing colleague and ensuring she reached safety, all via the app on their phones and personnel at a remote security centre.
British media covering the US elections and equipping staff with the app included national newspapers and public and commercial tv and radio broadcasters. The app was one of the products provided to them by Cellhire plc, which supplied the media operators with voice/video and data communications equipment, including smartphones, 3G and 4G SIM cards and MiFis – small, highly secure portable routers. The equipment enabled them to file reports any time from anywhere in the US.
Colin Dale, Business Development Director for Vismo Global Tracking Solutions, says: “Where there was no mobile signal, or it wasn’t useable, users had the option to use Cellhire-provided satellite phones, which were also equipped with our app. Along with smartphones, satellite phones give app users complete global coverage. Thankfully there was no incident that required the use of the app, but if there had been it would have gathered, sent and shared information with one outcome in mind: ensuring the safety of users and their colleagues and anybody else in the vicinity.”
Visit: vismo.com.
