For (student) excursions to remote areas, an emergency beeper must be taken along. At the moment there are 6 emergency beepers (4x Spot Gen3, 2x Spot Satelliten-Messenger) which can be borrowed from the Institute of Applied Geology. On the map on the right you can see the coverage of the Spot services. In the red areas, messages should be sent relatively quickly (<20 minutes). If you are in a "yellow" area, e.g. Ethiopia, it is possible that the messages did not get through despite a green signal (=sent). In any case, leave the devices switched on for longer than 20 minutes to increase the probability that the messages have actually been sent. Before the devices are issued, you have to provide the following predefined messages and the corresponding contact persons for possible emergencies or status messages:
Check-In / OK: e.g. "Sender name - arrived in Mexico, everything ok", plus max. 9 email addresses for sending (max. 110 characters)
Custom Message: e.g. "Sender name - I am fine, everything is OK", plus max. 9 email addresses for sending (max. 110 characters)
Help / Spot Assist: e.g. "Sender name - NOT in danger but lost, need help", plus a total of max. 9 email addresses and/or phone numbers of contacts on site. (max. 110 Zeichen)
S.O.S.: e.g. "There is a serious problem. I need help immediately.", plus primary and secondary emergency contact, name, phone number, country (max. 500 characters)
Primary emergency contact = person on site who is not with you during excursion. Secondary emergency contact = BOKU 24-hour hotline, indication of person to be notified in case of emergency In addition, the contact details of the person using the device (name, telephone number) are required. Please send this information in time collected to notfallpiepser(at)boku.ac.at. As soon as everything is set up, you will be informed and can pick up your device at the Institute of Applied Geology. For more information:
