Using technology to coordinate dives

[vam]

Last weekend I had agreed to dive with someone on a Facebook thread from a local group. I drove an hour to the site, got my gear together, and then I had some time to kill. So I loaded Facebook on my phone, and saw that the other diver was up all night with a sick dog and couldn't make it. He had replied to the thread after I had left home so I hadn't seen the update.

No hard feelings... I'm a firm believer that anyone can thumb the dive at any time - including before the dive - for any reason, and I'm not going to get bent out of shape. There's a happy turn of events - another diver saw the thread, asked if I was still there and came out to join me anyway, so I still got my dive.

I wished that the first diver had contacted me either through Facebook messenger or a text message instead of replying to the thread. That got me thinking about how we coordinate our dives.

In my diving circles dive coordination is mostly done over Facebook, and a lot of that privately over messenger. A close second is done over text messaging. So I often find myself relaying dive information between my text messaging friends who don't facebook, and my facebook buddies who operate there. There has to be a better way!

Obviously I'm not the first one to think so. We have Research, plan and share your scuba diving experiences in ScubaEarth, DiveBuddy.com and more. None seems to have managed to pull it off.

I think that if there was a good solution, divers would flock to it. It would spread virally between dive groups. I think it should be just about planning dives. It might help to find buddies, but that isn't really the focus. I think it should require a mobile phone so that divers can get updates at a dive site.

Who wants to dream this with me? Is there really a need for this? How could it work?

Full disclosure - I am a coder, and I could build it, and I could even try to make a business out of it. But I know from experience that I don't have time for side projects, and I'm not interested in leaving my comfortable government job for my own business (again). I'm really more interested in exploring the concept and hoping that if a good idea is formed someone else will run with it. I also have to confess that I'm fantasizing about reallocating dive time to coding time over the winter and making something happen, but I think that's a REAL long shot.

So here's what I think would work:

• This is a mobile app, so it can send you alerts at any time.
• This is also a Facebook app since for me Facebook is so entrenched in dive planning
• This might also be a text messaging app so that it can be used by text messaging alone
  
• Add / invite dive buddies (on-boarding has to be dead simple)
  
• Add / discover dive locations
• Add dives at sites - public or private
• Join a dive to receive updates about it (other divers joining or cancelling)
• Alerts could be smart - always, never or only on the day of the dive

Am I being stupid? Have I missed anything obvious? How do you plan your dives? Would something like this be an improvement to that?

 

[Steve_C]

Text or email. Facebook I find is not so good in the messages can get buried. Text or email me and I get the message within seconds on phone or computer. If I am meeting somebody I always make sure we have each others phone number and email address. Has always worked and notification is immediate and can be read with one tap/click.

 

[Divegoose]

E-mail works great for my small group. We set up the dive a few days before hand, and everyone is notified via e-mail. They reply if the can make it or not. Any last minute cancellations can be done via phone call so that no messages are missed.

Divegoose

 

[Bob DBF]

I'm old fashioned, I just use the phone, I don't have texting. I have used messenger here on ScubaBoard to see if a member was interested, but only on the phone for the details. I have noticed that people on social media are not as committed to any action as they are in person or over the phone.

On my solo dives there are no problems, it also comes in handy if a buddy cancels. Unfortunately this is not a choice for some.


Bob

 

[TMHeimer]

Text or email. Facebook I find is not so good in the messages can get buried. Text or email me and I get the message within seconds on phone or computer. If I am meeting somebody I always make sure we have each others phone number and email address. Has always worked and notification is immediate and can be read with one tap/click.

This is what I do the rare time I buddy dive. Except I don't text, just e mail. I have found probably all of my buddies via scubaboard. I post well ahead of time where I'll be (like in Florida) and where I would like to dive with a buddy. Then get back to the buddy via SB closer to the date. Then I make sure we each have each other's e mail and phone number. Sometimes I never use the phone and all goes well using e mail to meet. Good to have phone numbers in case something happens during the drive to the site or even the day before. But, I never dive with more than one buddy, so other methods for groups may be a good idea. I'm also not a fan of Facebook.

 

[RainPilot]

We use WhatsApp here. Have a group chat with all the members of the diving community and we coordinate the meetings there. It doesn’t solve the FB integration issue but I’m not a FB person anyway so it works for me.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I watch swell models and live beach cameras for the days leading up to my dives. If I have a buddy going with me we keep in touch by email or phone. I don't text nor am I on Facebook. My buddy texts me but sometimes I don't receive the text until the next day.
I also can't use apps with my phone.

 

[undrwater]

One thought;

relaying dive information between my text messaging friends who don't facebook, and my facebook buddies who operate there.

• This is also a Facebook app since for me Facebook is so entrenched in dive planning

• This might also be a text messaging app so that it can be used by text messaging alone

It would have to be platform agnostic. A Web app seems the easiest way to develop such a thing.

 

[Schwob]

You benefitted from someone else seeing that you might be buddy-less and doving with you... Good for you. Maybe creepy for others. Not everyone might want to accept that kind of offer if from someone only known through web contact... it all depends...

But I am curious:
Those of you, who organize your dives or your future other activities not in point to point communication of some sorts (messenger, text, whatsapp, email, phone,...) but in a more shared way:
Why?
Is there a benefit in who knows how many people being informed what you are up to... I am not discarding that possibility ... I am, ScubaBoard aside, a social media dinosaur and just don't get it ... yet... Actually I mostly see downsides...
I can understand sharing of an amazing adventure or trip or dive or picture... , but not that much of all that other sharing.

So, help me understand, just as an example in this case:
When setting up a trip, making an appointment, to do whatever, what are the benefits of sharing that in a wider circle of non participants, as opposed to just communicating with those involved?

 

[vam]

It would have to be platform agnostic. A Web app seems the easiest way to develop such a thing.

Yes, but I don't think I could do reliable notifications with a web app. I want my watch to tap my wrist while I'm en route so I can glance at it and know that the dive is off. So I'm thinking iPhone and Android native plus Facebook and a possible text messaging interface.

When setting up a trip, making an appointment, to do whatever, what are the benefits of sharing that in a wider circle of non participants, as opposed to just communicating with those involved?

In this case it was semi-private. It was a Facebook group for a local dive club. I'm in two such groups, and dives are frequently organized by members who post to the group. Its a lot easier to post to one or both of those groups than to send individual text messages to each of my buddies. I don't have may of their email addresses, but I suppose I could try to collect them. I don't think I'd sway too many from Facebook and texting though. Email seems like a step backwards to me. Too easy to ignore, too easily lost and forgotten. I think people are swamped with too much junk in their inboxes.

On my solo dives there are no problems, it also comes in handy if a buddy cancels. Unfortunately this is not a choice for some.

I strongly considered it! It was particularly cold and choppy though, so I decided against it. I've resorted to this in better conditions.

My buddy texts me but sometimes I don't receive the text until the next day.
I also can't use apps with my phone.

This is where I thought a text message interface might be good, to support any old phone. Clumsy but well supported on old phones.

We use WhatsApp here. Have a group chat with all the members of the diving community and we coordinate the meetings there. It doesn’t solve the FB integration issue but I’m not a FB person anyway so it works for me.

This is interesting. I know WhatsApp supports old phones very well too. It would solve the problem if relaying info between groups who communicate in different ways.

I've found all of your answers very interesting. The technologies different groups are using is even more varied than I'd thought. And nobody has said that the concept I imagined would improve their situation. Oh well, that's exactly the sort of honesty I was looking for. There's no point building something that nobody wants!