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SafesatIloilo-based GPS app experts tracked thousands of Iloilo Bike Festival participants, on March 19. Their upcoming 2.0 version could make event or tour groups feel safer in the Philippines, writes William Wadsworth

THIS month’s Iloilo Bike Festival revealed the beauty of the Iloilo Convention Center and a MICE-friendly, historic city. The popular March 13-19 celebration also highlighted new technology that could make Philippine events safer, more social, and maybe more competitive.

This technology is all the more fascinating because it is Filipino, and it was revealed on March 19, when bikers registered for a mass ride in Megaworld’s Iloilo Business Park. Facebook footage revealed several people in black t-shirts inscribed with an email address “www.safesat.com.ph“. Curious about any new event brand, MICE News Philippines froze the film, keyed up the address, and found Safesat,  a GPS technology company with offices in Singapore, Makati, and a base in Iloilo.

Safesat2Formally known as Satellite GPS Tracking and Asset Management System Corporation, Safesat was founded in 2012, but it is already known in the logistics and freight sector, where its apps tell trucking companies where their vehicles are, and monitor their manning and operational efficiency. As the company’s entertaining cartoon video shows, such information enables truckers and the managers of sales and distribution networks to operate more cost effectively. Reports say Safesat’s technology also watches fleet vehicles’ speed, distance traveled, location, time and even aggressive driving, via satellite and the Cloud.

Now Safesat has adapted its GPS tracking technology to events. At the Iloilo Bike Festival, Safesat’s technology enabled the event’s organizers to follow their registered riders “for clustering and safety as they enjoyed their cruising in the city”, the company tells MICE News Philippines.

The festival was a big home-turf opportunity, the company says. The event is “probably the largest gathering of cyclistas from all over the Philippines”, Safesat says, citing the event’s “art, Ronda Pilipinas Visayas League and the ride of thousands bikers all over the beautiful city of Iloilo”.

SafesatfaceIloilo City’s MICE-friendly mayor also encouraged Safesat to be involved in the festival, the company says.
“We were invited by our beloved Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, and it was a pleasure for us to be involved in the 3rd Annual Iloilo Bike Festival,” Safesat tells this website. “Our team introduced our new product, the SafeSat Finder. It’s a mobile app, free to download at Play Store, where users can create groups, and invite their friends and loved-ones to share their current location privately and securely, so they can easily determine each other’s whereabouts, providing safety and peace of mind.”

Such “peace of mind” could boost the international marketability of the Philippine events industry. The technology seems to have run successfully. This website searched in vain for Iloilo cyclistas’ complaints online over Easter, and instead found 3,559 Facebook “Likes”. The company says its users have offered encouragement and helpful advice.

“So far, we have had positive feedbacks from our subscribers,” a Safesat spokesman said in Iliolo yesterday. “We are also very much open to suggestions; we even included some of the [users’] suggestions in our next update, like the Chat Function.”

Iloilobike crowdIf Safesat impressed the cyclistas and their Iloilo ride organizers, then maybe the company could present the Safesat Finder to the planners of bigger run or sports events in Subic, Clark and Cebu. And if the company’s technology tracks trucks via satellite, then why not classic cars in grand events such as the Tour de Cebu? The organizers of action sports events or treks might also find similar uses for such tracking in wild country.

Safesat’s upcoming 2.0 version is “tentatively” due out in mid-April, and it could “very much help [people] who are into events”, the company tells this website. And soon, it will also be available for iOS users, it adds.

“We’ll be including features like posting of an activity you want to do, be it a simple gathering with your friends or lovedones over dinner or coffee; a simple meet-up for small to large groups, or even a big event like a party, a bike race, or a fun run,” the company says. “It’s like announcing to your preferred audience an activity that they would be interested to join.”

Such tracking potential might also interest tour operators taking bus-loads of visitors into Intramuros, or trips ashore from cruise liners in Boracay or Puerto Princesa. If Safesat can help make tourists feel safe in the Philippines, then Iloilo City Mayor Mabilog might have spotted game-changing, MICE-event technology on his doorstep.

“Safesat would be very happy to be part of any events,” the company says. “Just let us know.”

Email support@satellite.com.ph or call Toll Free 1800-10-723-3728

WATCH
Safesat cartoon video showing how distribution companies can track their trucks and monitor their drivers

Source: http://www.micenewsph.com/?p=2711