spidertracks

All Spider versions come with a three button keypad. The Spider S4 has the keypad on a 6 foot (1.5m) lead, external to the Spider, that can be connected via the mini USB port on the Spider. This allows the Spider to be mounted in a location where it has a good view of the sky, whilst still having the keypad mounted in a position where the pilot has easy access to it. The Spider S3 and Spider S5 have the keypad mounted on the unit itself, so it must be located in a position where it can see the sky and be easily reached.

All Spiders can be set to a reporting interval by time or distance. The time or distance can be set to anything above 1 minute or 1 kilometre or a combination of the two. Please note that the reporting interval will be restricted by the plan that is set. If the Spider is set to any of the plans except the Flexi-plan the reporting interval must be either one or two minutes.

Mark button messages are pre-defined user messages set on the website and are activated by pressing the mark button. Up to four messages can be added. A 'mark button two' press would be two presses of the mark button in quick succession. For example, one of the four messages might be 'diverted due to WX'.

Allows the pilot to send an SOS to support people who are set up in the website. Pilots or administrators of accounts set their own SOS recipient details online.

Radius allows the pilot to suspend position reports from being sent where they are right now. Press the radius button at any time to prevent position reports being sent whilst you remain in that area where the button was pressed. As soon as you exit the radius area, normal tracking will resume. An example or use would be agricultural operators using the Spider whilst over a small area for an extended period of time. As soon as they leave the area normal tracking will resume. Radius helps lower usage costs.

Like Radius, geofence allows you to control the number of position reports sent in specific areas. However, with Geofence the area is pre-set. You can set up to 6 Geofence regions. Each region can have specific reporting intervals (including no reporting) dependant on altitude, type of tracking used, and time. Geofence is often used by aero clubs and flight schools who do not require tracking within airfield circuits however need to track students flying outside of controlled air space. Each Geofence is $10 per Spider per month.

The Spider can send a position report when accelerating through a set speed (between 10 and 50 knots) and when going back down through the speed trigger.

The Spider can send a position report when the direction, from the last sent position report, changes more than the set angle. Angles allowed range from 30 to 90 degrees. This allows you to set the position reporting rate at a higher rate (for example 10 minutes on the Flexi-Plan) and then have the Spider only send more often if the aircraft changes direction significantly.

Spidertxt allows you to connect to the Spider via a Bluetooth connection, wirelessly. Once connected you will be able to send and receive SMS messages to and from any mobile phone on the ground, from the website, or send messages to email. The messages are custom messages, just like a normal SMS message, however with the Spider and the Iridium Satellite Network sending the messages you will not have any black spots or loss of coverage (charges apply). The Spider S4 and Spider S5 can be connected with Blackberry, Android and Apple smartphones. Please see more about Spidertxt.

Notifications allow you to send pre-set messages that you can customise to any people you like by email and mobile. All mark button press messages, take off and landing messages, Watch on and off messages can all be sent to specific recipients when one of the events occur.

Currently only available for New Zealand, the Visual Navigation Charts can be overlaid on the maps. To request more charts to be added please contact support@spidertracks.com.

Get a record of your flight data including how far you have flown, for how long, max altitude, max speed, how many flights and more. Some data is currently not available to all users.

API stands for application programming interface, and the spidertracks API allows you to send your data to third parties such as the US Forest Service for companies doing AFF work or the Australian Fire Service (NAFC). Please see a list of all current third parties able to recieve data from spidertracks. Some recipients, such as Flight Vector are able to feed the data into their flight management software.

Plans available are The Weekender, The Regular Flyer, and The Enthusiast.

Plans available are Frequent Flyer, High Flyer, Ultra, Flexi-Plan, Commercial 1 - 4.

The Seasonal Plan is $200 per year and $0.07 per position report. The plan is limited to a two minute reporting rate or less.

Flexi-Plan allows the Spider to be put on a reporting rate of any time, distance, or combination of the two that you choose. This allows you to put the Spider on a larger reporting rate to reduce ongoing data costs. It is also a good plan for land vehicles only wanting to be tracked by distance and not time.

Should your support people be out of mobile phone contact in the event of an SOS, have spidertracks support centre ensure the SOS is responded to for only $5 per event. Spidertracks Call Centre will make contact with your support people. If they can not make contact with your support people a spidertracks staff member will be called to pass the SOS on to the appropriate SAR service.

Call or email us at any time within the first few months to get the most out of your Spider. After the first few months each support call may be charged for.