AdventureLive vs SpotWalla: which should you use?

What is the difference between AdventureLive and SpotWalla?

SpotWalla is an independent site that collects positions from your tracker and lets you share them as trips. AdventureLive is a separate service that reads an inReach, a SPOT or Garmin LiveTrack and shows the trip with the weather where you are. Neither replaces your tracker or its satellite plan, and AdventureLive does not replace SpotWalla.

We make AdventureLive, so weigh our view with that in mind. Everything below about SpotWalla comes from its home page and its devices help page, linked under Sources. Where those pages say nothing, we say so. This page is part of our guide to the best live tracking for adventures.

At a glance

What does SpotWalla do well?

SpotWalla is built for control and for groups. Its home page calls it an online personal location management system. It works with satellite trackers from SPOT, Garmin and ZOLEO, and with phone apps: SpotWalla App on Android and SWTracker on iOS. That breadth is its strength. If you have a mixed set of devices, it brings them into one account.

Trips can be shared publicly or privately, with or without a password, and embedded in a blog or forum post. Secure Zones hide your location around places like home or work. Retrospectives show several trips on one map. Location Pages show the last known location of several users on one map, with optional track overlays, and the site says groups and event organisers use them. If you run a team event, that is a real advantage over a single-trip page.

Its help page explains how each device connects. For SPOT, SpotWalla polls SPOT's XML feed, and each SPOT needs its own feed. For an inReach it uses the Garmin KML feed from MapShare, which must be on. ZOLEO connects through the ZOLEO partner list. SpotWalla needs a membership to create devices and share trips, and the pages we read do not give prices or say what followers need to view a trip.

What does AdventureLive do well?

AdventureLive is a trip page for family. Followers open a link in any browser, with no app and no account. They see a 3D satellite map, your planned route, the line you have actually travelled and your dot, with "Seen 22 min ago, via SPOT". They see check-ins, and the weather where you are now and for the next 48 hours, with safety alerts for strong wind, gales, severe cold, heat, heavy rain and thunderstorms, where you are and on the route ahead.

You can name up to five home contacts. If the inReach or SPOT sends a HELP message during a trip, each gets an email with the time, the place on a map and the trip page. A cancel email follows if you cancel it. Followers never see that. You can link several trackers and the freshest position wins, so there is one dot.

Planning is on the web. Sign in with your email and password, confirmed by a 6-digit email code, or with Google. A leg can have a GPX route or no route, and you can fly the route in 3D.

It has limits. It needs an inReach, a SPOT or Garmin LiveTrack, plus that device's own plan. It does not support ZOLEO or phone tracking apps, and it has no phone app. It shows one person's trip, not a group map. Your dot is only as fresh as the tracker's own interval, and AdventureLive reads a SPOT at most every 2½ minutes and an inReach every 4, only while a trip is live.

When should you choose SpotWalla?

• You run a group, a club or an event and want several people on one map.
• You use a ZOLEO, or a mix of SPOT, inReach and phone apps.
• You want embeds in a blog or forum, or Secure Zones around your home.
• You like a long-standing site that has covered SPOT for years.

When should you choose AdventureLive?

• Your family wants the weather where you are, next to your dot.
• You want a map anyone can open with no account.
• You want named people to get an email when the tracker sends HELP.
• You carry an inReach or SPOT, or wear a Garmin with LiveTrack.

To start, Plan your trip and follow link a tracker. Set up home contacts before you leave.

Which is better for a team or a race?

For a team or event with many people on one map, SpotWalla's Location Pages are built for it, and AdventureLive is not. For each person's own family, AdventureLive gives a calm page with the weather where that person is. Event organisers can use SpotWalla for the shared map and give each runner's, rider's or rower's family their AdventureLive link. If you are an individual with a SPOT and one family to inform, either works, and the weather and HELP emails are the reasons to add AdventureLive. For an inReach, see share your inReach MapShare with family.

Can you use both?

Yes. Both read your tracker, so you can use both with one device. SpotWalla's help page says each SPOT needs its own XML feed, so follow its steps for SpotWalla alongside ours. SpotWalla can then carry your team's map or your blog embed, while the AdventureLive page is the link you give your family. For the SPOT side, see AdventureLive vs the SPOT shared page and SPOT shared page alternatives.

What about an emergency?

Neither site is a rescue service. An SOS goes to SPOT's emergency centre or Garmin Response, which runs the rescue and tells the emergency contacts you set up with them. Set those up. AdventureLive emails home contacts on HELP only, and SPOT's public feed shows HELP but not SOS. The forecast is a guide, so check local forecasts and warnings.