Knowledge empowers travelers to stay safe, and AlertTraveler® further enhances this by offering City Scorecards and optional Neighborhood Scorecards. These scorecards cover various topics, including nighttime safety, women's safety, LGBTQ+ safety, among others. They provide seven category-specific scores along with an overall score, aiding travelers to stay informed and vigilant about their environment. This valuable information can be accessed through the AlertTraveler® app by both travelers and administrators, and is also available on the admin web interface via Traveler Locations.
This article covers the following topics:
City and Neighborhood Scorecards
GeoSure powers the City Scorecards feature for AlertTraveler®. City Scorecards are available to all AlertTraveler® clients and consist of an overall city safety score and city-wide situational safety scores. The situational score categories include:
- Nighttime Safety
- Physical Safety
- Women's Safety
- Theft
- Basic Freedoms
- Health & Medical
- LGBTQ+ Safety
Admin View
From the three horizontal dots in the upper right corner of the AlertTraveler > Traveler Locations screen, admins can toggle the map on and off and view city scores:
When viewed, the map will show color-coded dots corresponding to overall city safety scores:
Clicking on a city will show you the overall city score and city-wide situational safety scores. The situational score categories include:
- Nighttime Safety
- Physical Safety
- Women's Safety
- Theft
- Basic Freedoms
- Health & Medical
- LGBTQ+ Safety
Neighborhood Data
Neighborhood data powered by GeoSure includes Neighborhood Scorecards with the same categories that are on the City Scorecards. This provides a more nuanced view of the safety situation within a given city.
If you’re interested in including Neighborhood data to your travelers, please open a support ticket for more information. Neighborhood data is an optional service that is available at an additional cost.
Note: All AlertTraveler® clients were granted a trial of Neighborhood data from May to December 2021.
Traveler Views
To make use of this rich safety information, travelers have access both from the web and mobile app interfaces. Additionally, users will receive timely information as they travel and have the opportunity to provide feedback to support continual adjustment of scores.
Local Safety Map
Travelers can access a local safety map on the web interface:
- From a Study Abroad site by locating the AlertTraveler tab within their applicant profile, and scrolling to the Country Intelligence section:
- From a Travel Registry public site - This can be deployed using workflows (see Travel Registry: Configuring Workflows for more information)
This option provides quick access to an interactive map that includes the traveler's location and a visualization of the color-coded city scores. By clicking on a city score, the traveler has access to the City Scorecard.
Clients who opt to purchase the Neighborhood data will also see color-coded Neighborhood scores when they are in a covered city. This allows travelers to easily visualize where they are in proximity to neighborhoods of varying Safety Scores. Travelers can also zoom and pan the map to explore the given location.
AlertTraveler Mobile App Map View
Both travelers and admins have access to the Local Safety map on the go through the AlertTraveler® mobile app. After logging into the app, a Safety Map page centered on the user's current GPS location appears. This page includes City Scores, nearby Incidents, and neighborhood data for service subscribers. The magnifying glass icon allows users to search for countries and cities. The GPS icon centers the map on the user's current location:
On the Safety Map, it is possible to see a quick overview of multiple cities at once:
Or users can hone in on finding detailed information within a particular city. To assist with visibility, City Scores show only the number by default (left image below). Tapping on a city score expands the label to display the name of the location and how many new alerts there are for the location in the last 24 hours (right image below):
Tapping on either a city or neighborhood icon, (for subscribers), opens the appropriate City Intelligence or Neighborhood Intelligence page. Each City or Neighborhood page also includes the associated Country Intelligence below.
- Name of the location and any applicable
- Subscription status, and the option to subscribe or unsubscribe
- City or Neighborhood Intelligence
- Composite safety score
- Number of alerts currently active for the location; tapping this button opens the Safety Feed filtered to show alerts related to the city or neighborhood
- Detailed Safety Scorecard for the location
- "How safe do you feel here?" button (See "Share Experience" below for more)
- Country Intelligence
- Country flag
- DOS, CDC, and CDC COVID scores
- Number of alerts currently active for the location; tapping this button opens the Safety Feed filtered to show alerts related to the country
- SOS Contacts button to view a list the contact numbers in this country
- Overview of the location safety
- More Topics You May Like, including topics such as Political Conditions; Security Issues; Crime, Law & Corruption; Personal Safety; and Health Advisory
Note: On October 3, 22, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced they would no longer maintain their COVID-19 country-specific list of travel notices. For this reason, Terra Dotta’s Travel Registry retired the display of CDC-COVID-19 ratings within the Country Intelligence web interface in the 22.3 release. CDC-COVID rating displays will be removed from the AlertTraveler® mobile app in the following App release.
Welcome Notifications
Travelers with GPS and notifications enabled for the AlertTraveler® mobile app will begin to receive push-notifications when they arrive in a new city. These messages will include the city's safety score to help improve travelers' situational awareness. Travelers of clients who opt for the neighborhood data will also receive push notifications when they enter a new neighborhood:
Share Experience
In order to help keep everyone safe, travelers will have the opportunity to contribute to the data that drives the city/neighborhood scorecards. From a city or neighborhood intelligence page in the AlertTraveler® mobile app, a traveler can tap on the "How safe do you feel here?" to indicate their impression of safety conditions in a neighborhood or city:
At the conclusion of an itinerary, travelers will be prompted to share their input:
City and Neighborhood Score Ratings
Below is a breakdown of the City and Neighborhood Scorecard ratings.
90-100: This range indicates an exceptionally high level of safety, representing an incredibly stable area with little to no unsafe conditions.
81-90: this range indicates a very high level of safety, representing a highly stable area with very rare occurrences of unsafe conditions.
71-80: This range indicates a high level of safety, representing a generally stable area with some occurrences of unsafe conditions.
61-70: This range indicates a slightly higher than average level of safety, representing a generally stable area with occasional unsafe conditions.
51-60: This range indicates an average level of safety, representing a somewhat stable area with a slight elevation in unsafe conditions.
41-50: This range indicates a slightly lower than average level of safety, representing some stability with an increase in volatility due to an elevation in the occurrence of unsafe conditions.
31-40: This range indicates a somewhat low level of safety, representing an intermittently stable area that experiences times of volatility with occasionally unsafe conditions.
21-30: This range indicates a low level of safety, representing an occasionally volatile area with regularly unsafe conditions.
11-20: This range indicates a very low level of safety, representing a mostly volatile area with frequently unsafe conditions.
1-10: This range indicates an extremely low level of safety, representing a severely volatile area with the rampant occurrence of unsafe conditions.
What Factors Determine Scores
Composite Score: An average of all the safety scores for one location. It offers a snapshot of the safety environment but does not provide the full picture.
Nighttime Safety: Overall Safety experienced from dusk to dawn.
Physical Safety: Safety from all forms of physical harm.
Theft: Safety from loss of personal or community property by force or other non-forceful means.
Basic Freedoms: Safety from arbitrary detention, discriminatory laws, oppressive restrictions, or lack of due process.
Health and Medical: Safety from the effects of inadequate access to medical care, deficient local hygiene, and water or air contamination.
LGBTQ+ Safety: Safety from all forms of mistreatment, discrimination, and violence committed against LGBTQ_ persons or groups.
Women's Safety: Safety from all forms of mistreatment, unwanted attention, and violence committed against persons who identify as female.