SMS Group Chat

Client

GeoChat is a flexible open source group communications technology developed for InSTEDD, that lets team members interact to maintain shared geospatial awareness of who is doing what where over any device, on any platform, over any network.

Approach

Learn more about how GeoChat works 2:18

Features:

• Create, join and participate in chat groups by SMS, email, or web browser.
• Translates location names sent by users to a position on a map
• Supports a variety of explicit location formats, as well as other user-defined tags.
• Subscribe a group to one or more RSS/ATOM feeds, and each new item will be broadcast to mobile users via SMS.
• Groups may be set as public or private.
• GeoChat Server is available both as a free download and as a hosted service.
• Twitter access via “geochat”, and domestic US gateway service via 44911.
• Dedicated international SMS gateway supported by 96% of the world’s mobile carriers.
• Optional “local gateway” mini-client that allows you to plug a local cell phone into your laptop, connect to the Internet, and allow users to send and receive text messages through the service via the local cell network, rather than using the international gateway.

Results

Benefits:

• Let’s you see, at a glance, who said what, when, and where.
• Allows geospatial ground-truthing, as your mobile team works to confirm, refute, or update data on your map.
• Allows mobile users to verify, refute, or update information live from the field.
• Allows highly-connected users to share the benefits of their geospatial “big picture” view and push out relevant RSS/ATOM feeds to a barely connected users via SMS.
• Ensure that your teammates know where you are and what you are doing.
• Visualize your remote team on the surface of a map and interact with them.
• Works on any PC, Mac, or Linux PC capable of running Mozilla Firefox.
• Works using any cell phone capable of sending and receiving SMS messages