Everything you need to run — or ride — a tracked event.
A complete, step-by-step reference for Waypoint. Organizers start on the left; riders can skip straight to joining an event. Prefer the short version? Read How it works first.
Create your account
Go to Sign upand create an account with your email. That’s the only account anyone needs — your riders never have to sign up unless they want to. Once you’re in, you land on your dashboard, which lists every event you run and the button to create a new one.
There’s no hardware to buy and nothing to install. Waypoint reads the satellite beacons your riders already carry, so all of your setup happens right here in the browser.
Create an event
From the dashboard, choose Create event. You’ll set a few things:
The three ride types
| Mode | Who pays | Capacity |
|---|---|---|
| Free group ride | Nobody — no charge | Up to 10 riders. The default; perfect for a ride with friends. |
| I'll pay for more riders | You, the organizer | $200 unlocks 40 riders, then +$40 per additional 10. You go to checkout right after creating the event. |
| Riders pay at join | Each rider, at registration | Unlimited; each rider pays a small fee ($10 / $12 / $15) set by event length. A rider only appears on the map after paying. |
Build your roster
Your roster is the list of entrants and the beacon each one carries. There are two ways to build it, and you can mix them freely.
Add riders one at a time
Open your event and use Add entrant. Enter the rider’s name, number and class, then paste their beacon share link and choose the device type (Garmin, SPOT or ZOLEO). Use Testto confirm Waypoint can reach the feed before the event starts — a green result means you’re good; an error tells you exactly what’s wrong (almost always a private MapShare page).
Let riders add themselves
Prefer not to chase everyone for links? Share your event’s join code or link and let riders register themselves — they add their own details, emergency info and beacon. Covered in the rider section below.
Import a roster by CSV
For a full field, the fastest path is a CSV import. On the roster screen, download the template (waypoint-entrants-template.csv), fill it in — a spreadsheet like Numbers or Excel is fine — and upload it. Waypoint shows a dry-run preview first, so you see exactly what will import before anything is written. A bad row is flagged by line number and never blocks the good ones.
The columns
Only nameis truly required, plus enough to locate a beacon. Column headings are matched loosely — “Rider Name”, “Bib”, “Category” and “Share Link” all resolve — so you don’t have to match the names exactly.
| Column | Required | What goes here |
|---|---|---|
| name | Yes | The rider's name. |
| number | Optional | Bib / rider number, e.g. 42. |
| class | Optional | Category — should match one of your event classes. |
| device | For beacons | One of: garmin, spot, or zoleo. |
| feed | Depends | Garmin MapShare URL, or the SPOT feed ID. Leave blank for ZOLEO. |
| password | Garmin only | Only if the rider's Garmin MapShare page is password-protected. |
| waypoint_id | Optional | A rider's Waypoint code (e.g. WPX7K2) to link an existing app user. |
| Optional | Rider email, for your records. | |
| ice_name | Optional | Emergency contact name. |
| ice_phone | Optional | Emergency contact phone. |
| blood_type | Optional | e.g. O+. Shown only on the private responder view. |
| allergies | Optional | e.g. penicillin. Private responder view only. |
| notes | Optional | Anything else for your own reference. |
What to put in the feed column, by device
| device | feed value |
|---|---|
| garmin | The rider's Garmin MapShare URL. Any shape works — share.garmin.com/Name, /share/Name, /Feed/Share/Name, or a regional host — Waypoint normalises it. |
| spot | The rider's SPOT shared-page feed ID (the long code from their SPOT share settings). |
| zoleo | Nothing. ZOLEO pushes positions to Waypoint by webhook, so the feed column stays empty. |
The importer is forgiving about file quirks — quoted commas, line breaks inside a cell, Windows line endings and Excel’s hidden byte-order mark are all handled. Just export a normal CSV and upload it.
How tracking updates
Once beacons are on the roster, Waypoint does the work. It polls every entrant’s feed roughly every two minutesand drops each new fix on the map and into the recovery feeds. You don’t start or stop anything — it runs for the life of the event.
Satellite beacons report every few minutes at best, and terrain can block the sky, so every rider carries a statusbased on how recently they were last heard from. The thresholds are deliberately generous — a normal gap shouldn’t read as an emergency.
Read the live map
The Live map tab is your command surface. Every entrant is a coloured marker on satellite imagery, labelled by number and last-seen time.
Command view & SOS
Command view is a focused, access-controlled version of the live map for the people running the event — race control and the recovery crew. You hand it out as its own link, separate from your organizer login, and its access expires when the event ends, so a link can’t be reused next season.
If a rider triggers an SOSon their beacon, or goes dark in a way that warrants attention, the event surfaces it so your team can respond. Each entrant’s emergency card — contact, phone, blood type, allergies — is reachable from the private responder view for exactly this moment, and is never shown on any public map.
Branding & white-label
On a series license, the public event page and the website embed carry yourlogo and colours instead of Waypoint’s, with just a small “powered by Waypoint” credit and a link back. Set your logo and brand colours once in your org settings and they apply across every event and embed you run.
Pricing & billing
Start free and pay only when your field grows. Everything is handled through secure Stripe checkout, and you can manage or cancel a subscription from the billing portal any time.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free group ride | $0 | Up to 10 riders. The default mode. |
| Event (you pay) | $200 | 40 rider seats. Add +10 seats for $40 whenever you need them. |
| Entrant-paid | $10–$15 / rider | Riders pay at join. Fee by event length: up to 3 days $10, up to 7 days $12, up to 30 days $15. |
| Org series license | $3,500 / year | A 1,500-entrant pool across all your events, plus white-label branding. |
Running many events a season, or a large rally series? The org license is usually cheaper than paying per event and gives you the branded, white-label look on top.
Join an event
No app to install and no account required. Your organizer gives you a join code or a link — that's all you need.
Register & emergency info
Registration is one short screen:
Connect your tracker
Waypoint shows your position by reading the satellite beacon you already own. After you join, set up your tracker from your dashboard — pick your device type and connect it as below. If your organizer added you from a roster, they may have done this for you already; it’s worth confirming.
Garmin inReach
Garmin works through your MapShare page. Two things have to be true:
SPOT
SPOT works through a shared page feed. In your SPOT account, create or open a Shared Page for your device and copy its feed ID(the long code). Give that to your organizer, or enter it when you register. That’s all SPOT needs.
ZOLEO
ZOLEO is the simplest — it pushesyour location to Waypoint automatically, so there’s no feed link to copy. Enable location sharing on your ZOLEO account so your positions flow through, and you’re set.
Phone / cellular tracking (coming soon)
No satellite beacon? RallyTrak and RallyTrak Nav — the Chasing Waypoints companion phone apps — will track you over cellular and feed straight into your event. Coming soon. Because cellular tracking depends on cell coverage, it is great for front-country and convenience but is no substitute for a satellite beacon in real backcountry.
What you'll see
Once you’re reporting, you and anyone you share the public link with can watch the whole field move across the map in near real time, colour-coded by class. Your family can follow you from home; your crew can see where you are on the course. Your emergency details stay off that public view — only the organizer and responders can reach them.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Most likely cause & fix |
|---|---|
| Rider shows 'No fix yet' | The beacon feed can't be reached. For Garmin, MapShare is off or password-protected — make it public or add the password. For SPOT, the feed ID is wrong or the shared page is off. |
| Rider stuck on 'Stale' | Normal in canyons, timber or bad sky. If it persists for a long stretch, the beacon may be off, out of battery, or the rider has stopped. Worth a radio check late in a stage. |
| Garmin link 'doesn't work' | Any MapShare URL shape is accepted, so it's rarely the format — it's almost always the page being private. Open it in a private browser window to confirm it's public. |
| Rider paid but isn't on the map | Entrant-paid riders appear only after payment clears. If they just paid, give it a moment and refresh. |
| Can't add an 11th rider | You're on a free group ride (10-rider cap). Upgrade the event to add more seats. |
Quick FAQ
Do my riders need to install an app?
No. Riders register from a link and are tracked through the beacon they already carry. There’s nothing to download.
Do I need to buy any hardware?
No. Waypoint reads Garmin inReach, SPOT and ZOLEO devices your riders already own.
How often do positions update?
Waypoint checks every beacon about every two minutes; how often each one reports depends on the rider’s device settings.
Is my location data sold?
Never. See our Privacy Policy.
Can spectators see emergency or medical info?
No. That information is only on the private responder view for the organizer and emergency responders.
Ready to put your event on the map?
Free for group rides. No hardware to buy — riders keep the beacons they already own.