Typical users/purchasers of these devices are participants in activities such as hiking, mountain biking, climbing, boating and flying.
They are also useful for those who work in remote areas (loggers, foresters, geologists, fisheries and wildlife staff).
Additional features are increasingly being offered: sending preprogrammed messages, breadcrumb tracking via Google Earth.
The US Coast Guard's National Search and Rescue Committee (NSARC) set up a working group which includes representation from other US agencies, international organizations and device manufacturers to discuss how these "technologies can be properly reviewed and integrated with the SAR response system in the United States"[3] and to aid the Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services (RTCM) in "development of a minimum operating and performance specification for such devices".
[4] The RTCM working group SC has completed and approved a standard for Emergency Satellite Notification Systems, which was published in August 2011.
Like SPOT, the message is transmitted to the private Garmin Response//Garmin IERCC(FORMALLY GEOS International Emergency Response Center) who then notifies the appropriate SAR authorities.
In the event that an SOS distress signal is triggered, the information is transmitted to the GEOS who coordinates the rescue with the appropriate local authorities.