AlertTraveler®: Alerts Follow

AlertTraveler® is an add-on subscription service from Terra Dotta. It features an app for iOS and Android devices and utilizes GPS and the itineraries that are already stored in your Terra Dotta software. AlertTraveler® provides travelers with country and city intelligence, safety and security alerts, and an instant check-in option. Administrators have access to AlertTraveler® through a plug-in to their Terra Dotta software. They have the ability to view alerts, view and act on impacted travelers, and issue check-in requests. Administrators also have access to country and city intelligence.

NOTE: It is recommended administrators use Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox with Terra Dotta & AlertTraveler®. If using Mozilla Firefox and the map within AlertTraveler > Traveler Locations does not appear, check your privacy options setting for Tracking Protection within Firefox. If set to "Always" this will not display the map in Firefox.

AlertTraveler® > Alerts

Navigating to AlertTraveler > Alerts displays a continually updated list of every alert that is issued. The alerts can be filtered by alert status (all alerts, only active alerts, or only alerts impacting your travelers), severity, country, category, and timespan, as well as a keyword search. You can also change how many alerts are being displayed per page. By default, impacted alerts within the last seven days are displayed. These filters are all found at the top of the page.



Each alert will display the following information:

A. Severity: Each alert is assigned one of the following severity levels: Informational, Warning, or Critical. Severity-levels allow administrators to quickly see which alerts require their attention and respond accordingly. Note: Alerts of Critical severity are generally considered to indicate actionable events.

B. Impacted Travelers: The total number of your travelers impacted by the alert is displayed in this column. See “Impacted Travelers” and “Working with Impacted Travelers” below for more information.

C. Proximity: Similar to "Impacted Travelers", this column shows those travelers who are impacted based on a proximity (set by you) to the event.

D. Country: This column displays the impacted location for which the alert applies. Travelers in these areas according to GPS or Terra Dotta itinerary and those who have created opt-in subscriptions for these areas will receive the alert.

E. Headline: The headline provides a short description of the incident. Clicking the headline will take you to the Full Alert page. See “Full Alert page” below for more information.

F. Start Date/End Date: This column displays when the alert was issued and when it is set to expire.You can choose to add or remove these columns from view using the “Hide/Show” dropdown. Clicking a column name will hide/reveal it accordingly.

Under the “Options” dropdown (G), an administrator has the ability to export alert information into an Excel file. This export will contain all relevant information for all active alerts. You can use the filters on the page to narrow down which alerts will be included in the export. They can also access a full alert history (more below).

If a check-in request has been issued for an alert, clicking the total number of impacted travelers will bring you to an "Impacted Travelers" page that is filtered using the chosen alert as its criteria, showing only the travelers affected by that alert. They will be mapped (if you have toggled the map using the slider in the top right) and you will be able to use the same functionality you have on the general AlertTraveler > Impacted Travelers page (refer to our documentation on that page for more information).

Alert History
Using the Options dropdown when viewing the impacted travelers list of an alert, an admin can view the full alert history for a particular alert. This page shows a timeline of actions taken in regards to a particular alert, travelers impacted, and the alert details. This information can be exported to Excel.



Full Alert Page
A new page opens when you click the headline of an alert. This new page provides you with the full details about that particular alert.

NOTE: Alert Radiuses are defined by google in correlation with the impacted areas reported by your intelligence provider.

The following things are displayed on the Full Alert page:

• Alert Severity Level: The alert severity level ("Warning" in the image above)
• Map: A zoomable map of the impacted area, showing the region for which the alert was issued
• Impacted Travelers: Your total number of affected travelers and a check-in request link if you have any affected travelers and a check-in has not already been requested. If a check-in request has already been issued, you will see numbers representing the number of your travelers who are safe, need help, and have yet to respond.
• Proximity: Your total number of affected travelers based on the Proximity radius set on the AlertTraveler Settings.
• Affected Areas: A list of specific affected areas - Includes "Impacted Areas" information with the latitude/longitude of the incident and a radius of impact
• Start & End Date: The time and date for the alert’s beginning and end
• Categories: A tab to display the alert’s relevant categories
• Details: A tab to display detailed information about the incident
• Advice: A tab to display advice for impacted travelers
• Locations: A tab to display the alert’s relevant locations

If provided, a tab to display sources for the news agencies that reported the incident for which the alert was issued will also be displayed.

From this page, you'll also be able to access the Alert History. This will show you a detailed timeline of any alert including any Check-in Requests, impacted travelers, and communication with impacted travelers
This information can then be exported.

AlertTraveler® > Why a Traveler is Impacted

When an alert is issued, there is always a geographic Impacted Area associated with the alert. In order for a traveler to be considered as impacted, the system must believe the traveler may be in that area. There are two reasons a traveler may be impacted by an alert: their Terra Dotta itinerary record or their GPS location. Of course, in order for a traveler to be impacted by their GPS location, they need to activate the AlertTraveler® app and enable location services. 

When it comes to travelers being impacted by the itinerary record, if the alert city matches the itinerary city, the traveler is impacted. Inversely, if the itinerary city does not match the alert city, the traveler will not be impacted. If the alert is for an entire country and a traveler has an itinerary record in that country, the traveler will be impacted.

This chart shows the various combinations available for how a traveler can be impacted by an alert:

AlertTraveler® > Which location (GPS or Terra Dotta) overrides when it comes to what alerts a student gets?

Travelers will be put into alerts for either location. For example, if a traveler's GPS is for London, the itinerary is for Paris and the alert is for London, the traveler will be in the London alert as long as the GPS is within the radius coordinates. If there's an alert for Paris but the GPS still shows London, the traveler will be in that Paris alert based on the Terra Dotta itinerary. This is to ensure all travelers receive thorough coverage.

Additional Resources

Here are other resources that may interest you: