Chat Window is a communication feature for inReach® professional account administrators to monitor all messaging, tracking, and device activity within a user group. Chat Window also enables administrators to send messages directly to all of the inReach users from a centralized Chat Window. The Chat Window is on the Map page in the Professional portal.
Select the Settings button to open the settings window. From here you can toggle whether or not you receive audio alerts for new messages and track points, and whether or not the chat window stays scrolled to the bottom (to always show the most recent activity).
The activity feed is the list of all messages, track points, notes, and inReach activity. Clicking on an activity in the feed automatically pans and zooms the map to where that activity took place. You can filter which activities are shown by using the Filter field. You can also select which users are displayed by toggling the eyeball icon in the user panel.
Example: Administrators can see messages sent from any user to any other inReach/SMS/Email address. They can also see when devices have started and stopped tracking.
To send a message to one or multiple users, tag a user in the message by typing ‘@’ and then their name. You may also select recipients by clicking on their name in the activity feed, or by clicking on one of their data points on the map. If no users are tagged, the message will be posted as a note.
A note is a message without a recipient. Notes are added to the activity feed, but are not seen outside of the Chat Window. This is a useful tool for adding notes and comments that you do not want to be seen by anyone in the field.
See the filter option to show only the activities that match a certain search term. For example, find all of the traffic sent and received for “Joe Smith” or all of the preset messages for all users. You can also combine the chat filter with the filters in the user panel to show more specific data, such as all of the tracking messages from a specific date.
The below stories are fictional but based on real user requests and were part of the requirements for building the Chat Window. These use cases demonstrate just two of the many ways the feature can be used to extend the value of an Professional inReach plan.
Summer Camp – Cell coverage is very poor at Camp Wipagenius. Camp management needs to keep track of each camp group so they know when a group arrives at their destination, and if there were any issues. Each Camp Counselor takes an inReach with them before they leave for the day’s activity. They send a preset message when they arrive at the location of the activity and the message, along with all of the other camp counselor messages, displays in the Chat Window. If one of the counselors needs assistance they can text another counselor for help. The Camp Manager observes this message between the two counselors in the Chat Window and jumps in to assist. The Chat Window gives the Camp Manager the ability to monitor all message and device functions to make sure all of the groups are safe.
Gas Collecting Field Office – The regional team leader at the XYZ Oil and Gas collecting facilities in Hobbs, NM needs to monitor the safety of all of her field engineers while they are in the field performing inspections or making repairs. Their collection systems are in very remote areas in the southwest, and cell coverage is very spotty. Each field engineer has an inReach and checks in every hour with the regional team leader. They send a preset message to the team leader and the team leader sees the message in her Chat Window along with their current location on the map. The field engineer continues to send a preset message every hour. If the regional team leader does not see a user’s preset message in the chat widow, she will send a message to the nearest engineer or call in the company’s service group to send out someone to check out what is going on. The field engineer gives the service group an inReach with the coordinates of the field engineer’s last known location. The team leader can monitor the service engineer’s location and can call them off if the field engineer checks back in. The team leader is able to focus on the emergency at hand without having to lose sight of their other field engineers.
In both cases, the Camp Manager and the Regional team leader at the gas collecting field office rely on the inReach devices to keep them in touch with their employees. By monitoring their messages displayed in the Chat Window in the Professional Web Portal, they feel confident that the people they are responsible for are safe while on assignment away from the office.