Create the event
Set the course, controls, event locations, timing, participant invites, and public link.
Live GPS tracking + participant app + event control
Run outdoor events using participants’ phones
MapCatch helps outdoor event organisers run many events with the phones participants already carry, without renting, shipping, handing out, or collecting GPS trackers. The phone becomes the participant’s event map: it shares live position and shows own location, route context, official messages, progress, and other competitors when allowed. Organisers can update routes, checkpoints, visibility, tracking sources, messages, and results while the event is running.
For phone-based events, organisers do not have to rent and distribute GPS trackers. Add prepared Android phones, GSM trackers, or satellite trackers only when the event needs managed hardware, stronger coverage, longer battery life, or stricter proof.
Run with phones
Let participants use their own phones, or rent prepared Android phones when you want the app workflow with predictable hardware.
Add trackers only where needed
Use GSM, SPOT, Garmin, ZOLEO, uploads, timing data, or corrections when coverage, battery life, rules, or proof require more than a phone.
Change the event while it runs
Update routes, checkpoints, event locations, messages, tracking sources, and result notes during the event.
Keep everything in one event view
Positions, route progress, participant messages, public following, replay, and result corrections stay connected.
How MapCatch works
From setup to live event control
Set up the event once, then adjust routes, checkpoints, participant devices, messages, and results as real-world conditions change.
Choose the devices
Use participants’ own phones, rented Android phones, GSM trackers, satellite trackers, uploaded activities, timing data, or organiser corrections.
Operate the event live
Send official messages, update routes or checkpoints, switch tracking sources, handle incidents, and keep the event map aligned with reality.
Follow, replay, and review
Spectators follow the event on a live map. Organisers can replay, correct, and explain what changed.
Built by organisers with 20+ years of race experience Includes Lost Ride and Spiral MTB, where we tested 10 km rolling route reveal and live route changes.
Event types
Built for routes, checkpoints, locations, and changing formats
Use MapCatch for fixed routes, checkpoint logic, hidden or gradually revealed sections, optional route choices, and formats that change during the event.
Endurance events
Bikepacking and endurance races
Long courses, spread-out fields, course progress, replay, and corrections.
Trail and adventure
Trail runs and adventure races
Controls, crews, course or control changes, safety context, and changing conditions.
Stage formats
Stage competitions
Separate stages, timing context, participant state, and public story.
Outdoor games
Treasure hunts and outdoor games
Locations, clues, missions, proof points, teams, and custom scoring.
Self-paced formats
Self-paced and rolling-start challenges
Different start times with shared rankings, progress, and a public live view.
Controls and navigation
Orienteering and control-point events
Mandatory or optional controls, route choice, map context, and reveal rules.
Remote journeys
Expeditions and remote crossings
Sparse updates, satellite devices, narrative context, and long-duration awareness.
Why it is different
Built for events that may change after the start
MapCatch keeps routes, checkpoints, event locations, tracking sources, official messages, public following, replay, and result corrections together as the event unfolds.
Clear live information for everyone
Participants and spectators see route progress, live results, organiser messages, tracking-source information, replay, and visible corrections.
Flexible event structure
Use routes, checkpoints, event locations, optional variants, progressive reveal, and event-specific rules.
Edit the event while it runs
Update routes, checkpoints, messages, tracking sources, and result notes while the event is live.
Phones, trackers, and uploads together
Use phones where they are enough, trackers where conditions require them, and uploads or corrections where proof is needed.
Built for organisers in the field
Manage the event from the start area, a control, the car, the forest, or the finish without returning to a laptop.
Control from a phone
Can I run the event from my phone?
Yes. Organisers can make field decisions from a phone instead of returning to a laptop.
Change the route or checkpoint structure. Publish route, checkpoint, or location changes for closures, permit changes, unsafe sections, or optional variants.
Send official event context. Participants can receive messages, checkpoint updates, and route context in the app instead of relying on scattered chats.
Switch tracking sources. Move a participant from phone to tracker, tracker to upload, or correction to official result when reality changes.
Keep corrections transparent. Tracking source changes and result corrections can remain visible in the live event record.
Devices
Can I combine participant phones, rented phones, GPS trackers, uploads, and corrections?
Yes. MapCatch can combine several sources for one participant and keep the history understandable when coverage, batteries, hardware, or organiser decisions change.
Participant phones
Best for simple logistics, rich interaction, official messages, course or control updates, and high-detail tracks.
Rented Android phones
Best when you want phone-app benefits but need prepared, predictable hardware.
GSM trackers
Best for simple dedicated equipment where cellular coverage is usable.
SPOT, Garmin, ZOLEO
Best for remote terrain, oceans, long signal gaps, and sparse satellite updates.
Uploads, timing data, corrections
Best for official evidence, post-event completion, control confirmation, and clear results.
What changes for organisers
Why MapCatch is more than a tracker view
Traditional tracker-only setup MapCatch live event operations
Event model
Usually built around one route and participant dots.
Supports routes, checkpoints, event locations, reveal rules, tracking sources, and result corrections.
Hardware
Every participant usually needs assigned hardware.
Use participant phones where possible; add rented phones or trackers only where needed.
Participant interaction
A tracker reports position but tells the participant little.
The app can show route context, official messages, live results, updates, and event state.
Live changes
Course or rule changes often sit outside the tracking map.
Update routes, checkpoints, messages, and tracking sources during the event.
Source fallback
A failed tracker creates a gap or manual cleanup later.
Combine or switch phone, tracker, upload, timing, and correction sources.
Result story
Followers see dots and maybe a leaderboard or replay.
Followers and organisers can understand what changed, why it changed, and how the final result was corrected.
Pricing
What does it cost?
Start with app access for participants. Add rented phones, GSM trackers, satellite trackers, delivery, setup, or race-day support only when your event needs them.
The estimator shows an example setup first. Your quote depends on duration, rented hardware, integrations, and support.
Public live view
What do spectators see?
Spectators, crews, families, and fans can follow on the web or in the MapCatch app.
They open the public event view to follow positions, progress, live results, estimated arrivals, messages, replay, and visible corrections.
The public view is what followers see; organiser tools behind it keep the map, messages, and results accurate.
Trust and safety
What if coverage fails?
MapCatch improves event awareness, but it is not an emergency dispatch service and does not guarantee remote-area coverage.
Plan remote or high-risk events with suitable trackers, communications, local procedures, and support.
Safety awareness and incident context. Stale positions, low battery, off-course context, and organiser messages can support human decisions without replacing emergency procedures.
Changing conditions. Course, control, or location changes can be published with official messages when weather, access, or field decisions require it.
Plan your event
Ready to plan a phone-first live event setup?
Tell us the format, terrain, participant count, route or checkpoint structure, and where conditions may change.