The AdvRider Assistance List

I've posted this up in the Spot thread, but it's for everybody, GPS or not. The Assistance List is NOT associated in anyway, shape or form with advrider. Just enthusiasts like you. We thought it's time the 2 wheeled world had a consolidated help list. So with that out of the way.

The Assistance List is available for you to sign up!

http://www.assistancelist.com

What is it?

The Assistance List started life in 2006 as a voluntary on-road assistance list for the FJR Forum. It's a co-operative, you volunteer to help somebody traveling in need of assistance, and in return, you get the same when you travel. Since that time the list has grown immensely with nearly a 1000 participants all over North America and the world. Over the years, it's helped many people and proven its value over and over again.
It originally was distributed monthly via an email .pdf file, then, in 2009, a GPX file for your GPS was added. It got to be a bit of beast to manage on a monthly basis manually, so it's been automated and made available to any organization, group or forum.

Simply put, the Assistance List only maintains the bare minimum of information about you to get the job done. Your forum handle, your first name only, the city, state/prov and country your in, some telephone numbers for travelers to contact you and the types of assistance you can provide. This information is only available to other participants and not publicly available on the website.

So, what is new and how does it affect me.

1. The assistance list is no longer manually maintained. You maintain your own data via the website[/*]
2. The list is available on demand 24/7. Ready for printing or for downloading the GPX file.[/*]
3. It is no longer just the FJR list. It is for any group or organization who wants to have their own list. You decide which groups you want to participate in. Your information is only available to the groups you join. This can greatly expand the the amount of, and reduce distance to, the help you require. If your a member of another forum and want to start a list, just send me an email and I'll add it.[/*]
4. You can filter the list for only specific countries, state/provinces or even assistance types. Keeping the size small for printing.[/*]
5. Secure, the assistance list uses your email address to send you a 24 hour access code, after that 24 hours, you must generate another access code.[/*]
6. The assistance list is Telephony enabled! This means we can send out Text Messages in real time in addition to email when you request assistance.[/*]
7. You can access the assistance list at any time from any device. Desktop, tablet, or smartphone.[/*]
8. Speaking of Spot Trackers, we've wired up your Spot Tracker directly to the assistance list. Press HELP and we'll contact as many people as you define via email and via text message in addition to any members within a 100 mile radius of your location. That's right, the list is now fully location aware.[/*]
9. When we know your location, we even send a google map link to your exact location in both email and text message so responders know exactly where you are.[/*]
10. Don't have the list printed or on your GPS. Text our number with your location and we'll contact your Spot Contacts via email/SMS.[/*]

Moved to Trip Planning

Thanks for the move, I wasn't exactly sure the best place to post this. The lists are worldwide though, but this is a good a place as any.

The Assistance List is now genuinely worldwide capable. We've modified it to accept telephone (SMS) numbers from around the world, combined with our telephony provider having agreements in place with 196 countries means we can get you the help you need wherever you have a cell or Spot Tracker signal.

As always, it's free and voluntary.

77 Inmates signed up in the first 10 days! Awesome, lets keep it going!

I've gotten some feedback on the site and the number one issue was one of privacy, specifically, some don't want any personally identifiable information made available.

So, as of last night you can now choose to enable privacy on your telephone numbers. This is entirely opt-in and free.

In a nutshell, when the privacy option is enabled on a telephone number it is replaced with a 6 digit code on all output from the website. Should a participant need to call a user with a 'code', they call the Assistance Lists published number and enter that code when prompted. The Assistance List will then forward your call to that telephone number. Both parties caller id info is protected.

Edited: 2014/11/03
Removed notification of charges. Their are no charges. It's all free.

Thought you guys would be interested in seeing a heat map of the advrider coverage in North America so far. Not bad after about a month. But we can do much better, sign up, it's free!

Btw, this is an image, not a live map, you can stop clicking now

Coverage of AdvRider + General Assistance List. Non clickable map
http://www.assistancelist.com to sign up!

As of June 1, 2013

has a function issue with entering your location. i enter it and it says i need to find one from the drop menu then press the tab, I do and it says it again. Oh well , maybe try agian later

I got same message - instead of clicking the mouse over it, try hitting your tab key to it, it finally took mine that way and gave me a msg. saying location saved or something similar.

It's been an ongoing issue with some people, especially those using earlier versions of Internet Explorer.

The site needs a location that it can resolve to a longitude/latitude through google. They're 'typeahead' function behaves a little funky depending on the browser. Unfortunately, theirs not much I can do about it at this time, other than gracefully displaying an error and letting you try again.

Some rural places have no long/lat look up and you should enter the closest city or town instead.

HappyCRNA gave you good advice, give that a try.

Thanks to everybody for signing up. The advrider list is growing steadly and the more riders that sign up for it, the more useful the list becomes.

As of July 3, 2013
http://www.assistancelist.com

AdvRider Assistance List, as of Sept 2, 2013

AdvRider Assistance List as of Oct 3 2013
http://www.assistancelist.com

AdvRider Assistance List as of Nov 4, 2013
http://www.assistancelist.com

Cool idea and site. Just signed up.

AdvRider Assistance List as of Dec 7,2013
http://www.assistancelist.com

AdvRider.com AssistanceList heatmap for January 1, 2014
Sign up at http://www.assistancelist.com

Awesome idea! going to sign up ASAP - we are doing a big trip from Argentina to Alaska this year - I'm sure this will be very helpful