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TEAM LOCATION SHARING

Live team location sharing that people can see and switch off.

Team location sharing in Sinkaos puts members, vehicles and teams on the same map as the incidents they are working on. Each person can see when they are sharing and with whom, and sharing is limited to the time and the roles the operation needs.

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THE PROBLEM

Half the radio traffic is “where are you?”

The coordinator needs to know who is closest to the gate that has just been blocked. So the radio goes round: Team 2, your position? Team 4? Somebody reads a street name, somebody else says “near the big tent”. By the time the answer is clear, the situation has moved.

The usual workaround is live location in a messaging app, which holds up for a while. Then some people forget to switch it on, others leave it running for days after the event, and nobody can say afterwards who saw whose position. For volunteers and staff that is a real privacy question, and it lands on whoever organised the operation.

A FESTIVAL SHIFT

One festival shift, from the briefing to sign-off.

  1. 14:00
    Stewards join from a QR code
    Temporary stewards scan a QR code at the briefing and join the operation as guests in the steward role. The app asks them to share their location for the shift, and shows that it is on.
    GuestsRolesVisible sharing
  2. 14:15
    Everyone lands on one map
    The operator sees stewards, the security teams and the medical vehicle on the site map, with statuses such as en route or on scene. Team leads see their own people. Stewards see what their role allows.
    Live locationStatusAssets
  3. 19:31
    Who is closest?
    A gate is blocked. The incident appears on the map and the nearest security team is visibly 40 m away. The task goes to them directly, with no round of position checks on the radio.
    IncidentsTasks
  4. 21:10
    A geofence speaks up
    A watch on the closed service road raises an alert when anyone enters it. The operator acknowledges it and sends the nearest team lead to check.
    GeofencesAlerts
  5. 23:00
    The shift ends, so does sharing
    Stewards sign off. Their location sharing stops with the shift, and guest access ends with the operation. Their tracks stay in the operation record under its retention rules.
    Time-limitedRetention
Operator view of a demo festival operation: the map with zones, teams, a camera and a people counter, and next to it incident INC-0007 "Gate N2 blocked" with its details, three tasks, the camera feed and the activity log.
Teams on the site map next to an incident. Demo data.
PRIVACY CONTROLS

Location sharing with the controls built in.

Knowing where your team is should not mean tracking people. These are the rules Sinkaos applies by design.

The person sharing always knows

A member always sees that their position is being shared and with whom.

Time-limited by default

Share for a set time or until the operation ends. Each stage of an operation (active, suspended, archived, closed) has its own location-sharing rules.

Scoped to roles

Sharing can be limited to certain roles, so a steward’s position is visible to their team lead and the operator, not to every guest.

Only people who joined

Positions come from members who joined an operation and chose to share. Sinkaos is not built for tracking people who don’t know about it.

Retention you set

Retention per type of data, deletion and legal holds, with honest wording about what deletion means.

Changes on record

Sign-ins, role changes, exports and admin actions go into a tamper-evident audit trail.

BEYOND THE DOT

What else the map tells you about your people.

Status next to position

Available, en route, on scene, off duty, kept separate from online presence.

Vehicles and kit too

Vehicles, equipment and teams are tracked the same way as people.

Tracks you can replay

Recorded paths with times and accuracy, for the debrief and for export.

Last known, with its age

When someone loses signal, their last position stays on the map with how old it is. Their track fills the gap once they reconnect.

ETA and deviation

Live ETA, and a warning when someone leaves their route or runs into a closure.

Indoors, by floor

Positions inside buildings from check-ins, QR or NFC tags, beacons or your own systems, with floor and confidence.

Battery-aware tracking

Tracking profiles and batched sync balance detail against battery and mobile data.

TAK users on the same map

Two-way Cursor on Target exchange of positions and markers with ATAK, WinTAK, iTAK and TAK servers.

LIMITS

What location sharing in Sinkaos does not do.

No covert tracking
There is no hidden mode. We won’t help anyone use Sinkaos to follow people who don’t know about it.
Positions are not end-to-end encrypted
They are encrypted in transit and at rest, and the server can read the positions of members who are sharing, so geofences and the operator view work. The Security page lists exactly what the server sees.
No signal, no live dot
A phone without signal records its own track, but others see its last known position until it reconnects.
Your legal basis is yours
Sinkaos gives you controls that help with UK GDPR work. Deciding the legal basis and informing your people stays with your organisation; our guide to UK GDPR and location tracking walks through it.
TYPICAL USES

Where teams share location.

Event stewardingSecurity patrolsSearch sectorsFlood responseOn-call fire crewsConvoys and logistics runsLarge exercisesLone workers on remote sites
QUESTIONS

What people ask before they share their location.

Can a member see that they are being located?
Yes, always. The app shows that sharing is on and with whom. Sharing is set for a period or for the length of the operation.
Who sees my position?
The roles the operation allows. Sharing can be limited to certain roles, so for example only your team lead and the operator see where you are.
Does location sharing keep going after the event?
No. Sharing is tied to a set time or to the operation, and guest access ends on its own when the operation closes.
What about battery?
Tracking profiles let an organisation choose how often positions are recorded, and sync is batched to save battery and mobile data.
Is location tracking of staff legal under UK GDPR?
It can be, with a proper lawful basis, a DPIA, clear information to the people concerned and proportionate retention. Sinkaos supports that work with visible sharing, role limits, retention settings and an audit trail. Read the UK GDPR guide for the details.
Can we see vehicles as well as people?
Yes. Vehicles, equipment and teams are tracked the same way as people, with status, route and ETA.
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Try it on your next operation.

Early access is free. We set up the first operation with you and stay close while you use it.