Editing Balto Beacon User Guide (section)

== CalTopo Integration ==

Balto Beacon automatically relays tracker positions to a CalTopo Shared Location map layer for Team Account users, so anyone with access to that map (incident command, other teams) can see live positions without needing Balto Beacon installed themselves.  Your Team Account administrator can create an Access URL in the Trackable Devices page.  The Connect Key presented there is what you can use in Balto Beacon.

{{note|Receiving Beacon's position reports only requires a CalTopo '''Locator''' object on the target map — this works on any CalTopo account, including the free tier. A Team account is not required to receive tracker positions, though teams tracking many dogs regularly may still prefer Team-level device linking for convenience (see below).}}

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|[[File:Add Locator.jpg|center|thumb]]
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How you set this up depends on whether or not you have a Team Account and want to use a Trackable Device that your administrator has set up.  That Connect Key is what you would enter into Balto Beacon.
[[File:Connect Key.jpg|center|thumb]]
If you don't have a Team account or don't want to use a Trackable device, you can still get the tracker's position on to CalTopo.  Enter something into the Connect key field.  Valid characters are A-Z, a-z, 0-9 and the underscore.  So, Joe_Mama_123 is valid.  This name gets combined with the Tracker name and is what you use for the Call Sign when you set up the Locator in CalTopo. 

'''Notes on CalTopo uploads:'''
* Uploads are movement-filtered — Beacon avoids filling CalTopo with redundant fixes when a tracker isn't moving.
* If your device loses cellular connectivity, Beacon '''buffers positions locally''' and backfills them to CalTopo automatically once connectivity returns. You will not lose track history due to a temporary outage.
[[File:CalTopo Track 1.jpg|center|thumb]]