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Uepaa! – 24 h safety – An app that works like a Guardian Angel in remote areas (A seasonal gift for the trekker …)
Travel Medicine and Infections Disease (2015) 13, 515–516
SERENDIPITY
Uepaa! – 24 h safety – An app that works like a Guardian Angel in remote areas (A seasonal gift for the trekker y) Jane Chiodini The Village Medical Centre, Bedford, UK Received 12 November 2015; accepted 12 November 2015 Available online 21 November 2015
Travel medicine practitioners may encounter many a high attitude traveller or remote trekker in their daily practice. Safety in an environment that may have patchy or no mobile signal can be challenging so the Uepaa app may be an additional resource for such individuals. This is a smartphone app which is a peer-to-peer system that provides extra safety. Several years of research by the Swiss company
E-mail address: [email protected] http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tmaid.2015.11.010 1477-8939/& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Uepaa AG and considerable funding, led the technology to be launched into the market place in 2013 in Switzerland followed by Germany, France, Austria, Italy, the UK and Ireland in 2014. It works by creating a connection from mobile to mobile phone using a network created by the devices themselves so the greater the number of users, the more effective it will be. So if there is no signal in the area,
516 the alert gets passed from one user to the next until it reaches an area with cell-phone reception. From there the emergency alert is passed to the Uepaa Emergency Centre who will then notify the emergency services. In 2014, it was reported that 450 rescue organizations linked worldwide – these would include police and voluntary worldwide rescue teams. Facilities within the app allow the user to trigger the alarm and data entered can notify what colour clothing they are wearing, the type of activity being undertaken, what equipment they have, who they are travelling with and enter details of their route. The app and basic functionality is free to use when the offnet protection is activated and emergency data is added to the app. A premium service can also be bought within the app on a daily, weekly and annual basis. (approximately 53 GBP, 80USD and 74 EUR annually or 3.29 GBP, 3.45 USD and 3.21 EUR on a daily basis). This provides the following:
buddy aid – where not only is the Emergency centre alerted but also Uepaa users nearby
accident detection – the app checks if you're OK by sensing the phone is motionless and if there is no
J. Chiodini
reaction, the app automatically requests help from nearby and alerts responders a one-time alarm – the phone will check the alarm set at the specified time. If there is no reaction, help is requested an interval alarm – the phone checks if everything is alright at regular intervals and again if no reaction, then help is requested remote tracking – enables the user to share their route in real-time with friends and family.
Some of these features would appear very useful for travellers we see in other situations where safety and security may be of concern. In 2015, Uepaa was nominated for the ‘Most Innovative Mobile App’ at the Mobile World Congress which is the world's largest annual gathering for the mobile industry. The app is free to download from the iTunes App store and Google Play. For a video to appreciate the functionality view within the app or go to https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v¼Pt6k0JpRX3o and to watch a video that explains the technology, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch? v¼enm9lzAis0w.
SERENDIPITY
Uepaa! – 24 h safety – An app that works like a Guardian Angel in remote areas (A seasonal gift for the trekker y) Jane Chiodini The Village Medical Centre, Bedford, UK Received 12 November 2015; accepted 12 November 2015 Available online 21 November 2015
Travel medicine practitioners may encounter many a high attitude traveller or remote trekker in their daily practice. Safety in an environment that may have patchy or no mobile signal can be challenging so the Uepaa app may be an additional resource for such individuals. This is a smartphone app which is a peer-to-peer system that provides extra safety. Several years of research by the Swiss company
E-mail address: [email protected] http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tmaid.2015.11.010 1477-8939/& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Uepaa AG and considerable funding, led the technology to be launched into the market place in 2013 in Switzerland followed by Germany, France, Austria, Italy, the UK and Ireland in 2014. It works by creating a connection from mobile to mobile phone using a network created by the devices themselves so the greater the number of users, the more effective it will be. So if there is no signal in the area,
516 the alert gets passed from one user to the next until it reaches an area with cell-phone reception. From there the emergency alert is passed to the Uepaa Emergency Centre who will then notify the emergency services. In 2014, it was reported that 450 rescue organizations linked worldwide – these would include police and voluntary worldwide rescue teams. Facilities within the app allow the user to trigger the alarm and data entered can notify what colour clothing they are wearing, the type of activity being undertaken, what equipment they have, who they are travelling with and enter details of their route. The app and basic functionality is free to use when the offnet protection is activated and emergency data is added to the app. A premium service can also be bought within the app on a daily, weekly and annual basis. (approximately 53 GBP, 80USD and 74 EUR annually or 3.29 GBP, 3.45 USD and 3.21 EUR on a daily basis). This provides the following:
buddy aid – where not only is the Emergency centre alerted but also Uepaa users nearby
accident detection – the app checks if you're OK by sensing the phone is motionless and if there is no
J. Chiodini
reaction, the app automatically requests help from nearby and alerts responders a one-time alarm – the phone will check the alarm set at the specified time. If there is no reaction, help is requested an interval alarm – the phone checks if everything is alright at regular intervals and again if no reaction, then help is requested remote tracking – enables the user to share their route in real-time with friends and family.
Some of these features would appear very useful for travellers we see in other situations where safety and security may be of concern. In 2015, Uepaa was nominated for the ‘Most Innovative Mobile App’ at the Mobile World Congress which is the world's largest annual gathering for the mobile industry. The app is free to download from the iTunes App store and Google Play. For a video to appreciate the functionality view within the app or go to https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v¼Pt6k0JpRX3o and to watch a video that explains the technology, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch? v¼enm9lzAis0w.