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Resorts in this article: Big Sky Resort, Moonlight Basin

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Big Sky, Moonlight Get Maps For Cell Phones

Oct 28, 2008 Becky Lomax, Associate Editor     Comments (7)

GPS is coming to Big Sky and Moonlight Basin. GPS is coming to Big Sky and Moonlight Basin.

SatSports, Inc. recently chose Big Sky and Moonlight Basin in Montana as the first resorts in the U.S. to offer its Satski interactive ski map. Satski, which is available in many European resorts, plops a real-time, touch screen GPS map and resort directory right into a cell phone.

"We have had great success with Satski in Europe and now that the application can be downloaded on to mobile phones, it's easily available to anyone," said Jean-Claude Baumgartner, Director of SatSports. "Having Big Sky and Moonlight Basin as the first U.S. resorts covered by the system prior to a nationwide launch next year was a natural choice."

Satski applications allow users to navigate in color around the mountain while showing current location. It also provides live statistics and records the day's vertical for replay via Google Earth. Beginner and intermediate skiers can plot how to get from one run to another by avoiding more difficult runs. Experts can measure their speed, distance skied, and vertical.

The program also allows skiers to receive instant live messages for emergency alerts, weather forecasts, and lift closures. It also conveys the latest live information from subscribed restaurants, shops, and real estate companies and permits purchasing goods or services directly from a cell phone.

For families and groups, a "buddy" feature allows a group of users to link their Satskis to locate each other on the mountain. Ski patrols can trace exact locations of skiers in distress via an emergency feature.

 

Recent Comments

  • by Patrick Keen Sep 5, 2009
    I have read a lot of discussions about hardware reliablity and problems regarding Satski GPS. I personally have no experience with this product. However to all who are considering to purchase a Satski (like me), I would suggest to read the below forum: http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=48595.
    How safe is Satski for advance payment credit card transactions and (longer term) service issues? Satski ltd. was dissolved from Companies House Register this year. I think this last fact and the discussion on snowheads forum say important things to make the right decission. The 'behaviour' of their CEO is also described in several forums. Check the whole story out I would personally advise.
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  • by JamesGold Jul 31, 2009
    I read somewhere that some one got into a terrible fight with Satski customer support. Seeing the above comment from jcb it looks more like aggressivenes rather than defending. To me this doesn't seem professional. But that is just my personal opinion. I would be a little scared to buy from them myself after reading this. Hmm..
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  • by gma1970 Jul 28, 2009
    This actually seems like it could be a pretty cool app and, I might trial it on a phone but, certainly wouldn't buy a device for it exclusively. Sounds a little like a GPS rangefinder for golf. By the time somebody using one is able to get it to give them the distance to the pin, I've already stepped it off from the nearest marker, picked the right club and, hit my shot. Besides, it just looked like a 6 iron anyway. Skiing, like golf is all about feel and I think too much data would probably get in the way of just enjoying a day on the hill. If my pants start to flap, I'm over 30. If I ski 10 Red Chair runs at Magic, its 17,000 verts. How much more do I need to know? Sometimes analog is perfectly ok. As for buying anything from a business that would allow a defense such as was posted above rather than a professional description of the merits of the product, forget it.
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