User incapacitated ...

Useless

This is a four year old post. I don't remember where the duplicate was.

There is no reliable way to determine position if you are not tracking, have not pressed SOS, and have not sent any messages (location is carried with every message). 

Position information available on MapShare will be as of the last activity from the device. I believe that even a mail check will update the location. But it has to succeed, which means clear view of the sky at the time. Most iR devices perform an automatic mail check once an hour while powered.

MapShare offers a "locate" function. This requires that the device be powered and have a clear view of the sky. AND the device must be "listening" for incoming traffic - which only happens when the device sends something or performs a mail check. The net result is that it usually takes a long time (hours or days). And may fail outright.

This is why you should track at all times. If you become incapacitated, at least SAR can start from the location of the most recent track point (once somebody reports you missing).

“Position information available on MapShare will be as of the last activity from the device. I believe that even a mail check will update the location. But it has to succeed, which means clear view of the sky at the time. Most iR devices perform an automatic mail check once an hour while powered.”

This would seem to indicate that a user’s ‘position report’ is automatically generated every hour (in the course of a ‘mail check’). Fantastic news for search and rescue if correct!

twolpert said:

Position information available on MapShare will be as of the last activity from the device. I believe that even a mail check will update the location.

I have never seen this happen. That would be an involuntary update of position. Please verify this info.

We upload all positions manually and I've not registered MapShare showing any location in-between, as device does mail check or weather update.

This is not like a track point or a sent message. The "head pointer" (the blue triangle) reflects the last known location of the device. That information is not persistent. That is, you cannot see the "history" of the device location this way.

That said, it has been a long time since I tried this. MapShare is a work in progress, so there is no telling what does (or does not) work right this minute.

Personally, I would NOT EVER depend on this (or anything else on MapShare) working. I always track when in the back country. Period.

You are proposing an unknown feature:

inReach device automatically uploading and saving on MapShare the current position when doing the hourly or manual message check.

Can you site any Garmin reference on this, whatsoever? A user manual, blog post, support page etc.

I have never seen this feature and on testing not able to replicate.

twolpert said:

MapShare is a work in progress, so there is no telling what does (or does not) work right this minute.

We are not talking about some elusive Snow leopard here. It’s software.

The way you find out how software works is by testing it.

In answer to your original question....if you send someone a Mapshare link, within the link there is a Locate User selection.  The person can get your location by selecting that. Normally, you wouldn't send someone a Mapshare link unless you intended to use Tracking.  However, people who have the  Safety Plan (charged for each Tracking point sent) might want to do this.

The locate feature does not work reliably. When it works at all, it can take hours (or up to days, in some cases). Without getting into gory details, it has to do with the fact that a "locate message" from MapShare has to be "seen" by the device before the device can report it's location. At least in the past, the locate request was not handled like a "real" message. That is, the Iridium network does not queue it for delivery. It tries to deliver it immediately. If it cannot be delivered immediately, it is discarded and not retried. Retry is up to the Garmin servers. (Again, it's been a while since I tried this. YMMV)

I have not tried this lately. I do recall that it is difficult to test in real world conditions. You can make it work by sending the locate, waiting a couple of minutes, and triggering a manual mail check. This is not the real-world use case. In the real world, you have an iR device which is powered, not tracking, with a clear sky view (for the sake of argument), and probably moving. Send locate request and see what happens. Best case is that you will see the location updated on the next automatic mail check. Worst case is that it will take longer.

Do be aware that, when it works, the locate result icon will usually be under the head pointer (the big blue triangle) on the map.

If you want to know, test it. Start tracking at a relatively large interval (say 60 minutes). Wait for a new track point to appear on MapShare. At this time, the new track point and the head pointer will be in the same place on the map. Immediately after you see the point, move the device (far enough that the difference in location will be apparent on MapShare). Trigger a manual mail check. Look on MapShare to see if the head pointer moved to your new location.

It did work this way at some point in the past. I have not tried it lately. It depends on MapShare, not on device functionality per se. Yes, MapShare is software. But it's not OUR software, it's Garmin's. We take what we can get, good or bad or variable.

The theory behind this is that every transmission from the device carries the device location. What the Garmin servers DO with that location, if anything, is up to them. For track points and messages, an icon will show up on MapShare. In the past, for mail checks, the head pointer moved. I am not aware of anything related to weather checks. In the past, marking a waypoint was transmitted to the servers and showed up on MapShare. (That one MIGHT actually be different on the device end today. All I know for sure is that the waypoints no longer show up. Don't know if that's because the device no longer sends it, or the servers no longer process it, or what.)

Even if this still works this way, I don't think you will find it as a documented feature. At best, it's an unintended side-effect. 

Once more: Even if this still works, I would never depend on it. If you think SAR (or your audience at home) will need your location, ALWAYS track.