Tangles was devised by a group of UK Scout leaders wanting a means by which to communicate with groups of Scouts during adventurous activities such as the Chief Scout Awards where participants cover a wide range in groups under remote supervision. With mobile phones everywhere, it makes sense to make use of these to communicate but the leaders were unhappy with the fact that leaders (and scouts) were able after such events to potentially continue private discussions using whatever messaging system they used for the event. They were also conscious of the need to know who they were communicating with and that other adult individuals external to the event were not given access to communications by a participant or able to participate in conversations long after the event was over.

They also wanted a simple means of actually managing events and individuals participating that allowed them to be set up quickly from the comfort of the desk or on the go but then could be managed and executed in the field using only mobile devices.

The Tangles system models the type of communication and organisation required for such events and similar activities and helps to manage things like checking individuals in, checking off things such as kit, safety equipment and briefings. We hope it will grow to cover a wide range of users and use cases. The latest additions allow the creation of route maps, in individual sub-teams based on a shared set of target waypoints or markers as well as the ability to track individuals and teams during a live event, turning tracking off automatically when participants or the event are finished.