GroupTalk App

Immediately alert colleagues and an Emergency Operations Center when help is required. Live location tracking and remote voice listen in.

To increase personal safety, panic alarms can be used. The personal alarm configuration is managed centrally on the web and pushed to the users device. Different safety features can be enabled when the panic alarm / personal alarm is triggered, such as sending of SMS, automatic dialup for full duplex communication or remote voice listen in over IP, real time location tracking and alerts on co-workers devices with GroupTalk and on PC Dispatcher in control rooms.

SMS can be sent automatically by the phone to preconfigured phone number(s) with an personal alarm message based on a template. Supporting standards, such as OVLS. The message may contain name and other user information and location at the time of the panic alarm. For iOS based devices the SMS will be sent from the GroupTalk server on behalf of the iOS device.

Android phones can be configured to automatically call a preconfigured number. This way a central may listen to and optionally talk to the user.

The personal alarm can be configured to remain active until cleared by an authorized user. In this case the device will continually report its location to enable a dispatcher to follow the position of the device in real time. Personal saftey alarms will also be clearly displayed and notified in the PC dispatch application and / or in the mobile apps.

For Ad hoc communication between two users

In addition to group push to talk, private calls can be initiated between two users. This creates a temporary half duplex push to talk session that only the callees can participate in. The call will be terminated when only one participant is left in the call, or the call has been idle for some time. This feature can be configured so that calls can only be initiated from one party to the other and not the opposite.

Allows users to request feedback / attention from PC Dispatcher without disrupting their workflow

It is quite common that a mobile worker need assistans from a PC Dispatcher, but that the response is not super urgent. It might also be the case that only a couple of dispatchers are managing hundreds of mobile workers. 

In such scenarios it is preferable if the mobile users do not call or contact the central dispatchers directly with PTT. Instead, whenever the users need to talk to the dispatchers they enter a queue by pressing a button. The dispatchers can manage the queue and take appropriate actions for each queue ticket. Thus, respond in the most efficient way. Multiple queues can be configured, with optional prioritization. Multiple dispatchers can manage the same queues.

Queues can also be used to inform the PC Dispatch of the status of a user. For example that a car towing truck is available for a new job, or that a taxi is vacant. 

Send a text message to your coworkers in GroupTalk

In some situations a text message can be a great complement to voice Push to Talk. For example, text can be used to communicate an address of a location or a name of a person that is difficult to remember. Text is also practical when communicating something that should not be overheard. The Text Messaging option can be added to PTT Groups as well as to Private Call for private Text Messaging, user-to-user.

There are some configuration options when setting up Text Messaging in GroupTalk. For example you can have a PTT Group that only the Dispatchers can send messages in, whereas the mobile users can only read the messages and not reply. This can be convenient if you have an Announcement group with a large number of users and you only want one way communication.

Another option is to configure who can initiate private Text Messages. A good example is that typically you want Dispatchers to be able to send private messages to mobile users, but you do not want the mobile users to be able to initiate private messages to Dispatchers. It is a much better workflow that mobile users use the Queue functionality to contact the Dispatcher and that the Dispatcher initiates a private call to mobile users in text or using PTT.  

Adding Text Messaging to PTT Groups is a free feature for GroupTalk Users that already use Group PTT. Enable the feature and enjoy it!

Keep your coworkers posted on your User Status

The GroupTalk feature “User Status” is a way for users to show their status to other GroupTalk users, both mobile and PC dispatcher. A user can select a User Status from a predefined list.  The statuses are created by an administrator in GroupTalk admin and each status has both a name and optionally a color. 

A User Status should indicate a state that a user can be in, example "Available", "Busy", "On route", "Arrived at scene ","Lunch " etc. A mobile user can set his or her own User Status by clicking on the status button on the screen in the GroupTalk app, and then select one of the available statuses from the list. The selected User Status will then be displayed on the status button and it will also immediately be visible to all other users.

The feature's main advantages is that it is flexible and centrally configurable in the GroupTalk web admin and that the user status is visible everywhere in the system, both in the GroupTalk app and for PC Dispatch. And that the users themselves and / or PC Dispatchers can change their status.

Mobile users and PC Dispatchers can easily see if their colleagues are available to assist in an accident or if they are busy with other duties. Mobile users and PC Dispatchers can easily see this without having to make a PTT call.

For example, if a PC Dispatcher receives a panic alarm that a user needs assistance in the event of a traffic accident, the PC Dispatcher can quickly and easily see if the other colleagues are available to step in and assist. Or if, for example, a user does not answer a private PTT call, the other colleague can quickly see that the user is having lunch or is busy.

Select network username to fit current assignment

GroupTalk's Call Sign feature is a way for users to set a "call sign" name on their device so that other users (both mobile and dispatcher) get more information about who is actually using the device and what their current work task is. Ideal for staff who switch between tasks/objects during working hours. For example, guards who stand at various sentries during a working day.

If you have a set of generic radios numbered from 1 to 10, it is good for the user to be able to set a call sign with their own name so that the other users know who is using each of the radios.

Use scanning to participate in multiple PTT Groups

While a PC Dispatch client can have full access to a number of PTT Groups simultaneously the mobile phone client can only speak in one group at a time. The scanning feature in GroupTalk allows mobile phone users to listen to an unlimited number of groups. When a conversation is started in one of the scanned groups, the user will be moved there automatically. When the "scanned conversation" is over, the user will be moved back to the primary group. 

It is quite common that mobile users communicate in a primary group but scan a secondary "emergency" or "announcement" group that can be used by a dispatcher to quickly reach out to many users within an organisation with important and urgent information. 

Security and transportation companies are frequent users of scanning.