We’ve all been there. You’re at a festival with your friends, navigating multiple stages, and you’re trying to keep track of your crew. Maybe you came into the festival an hour later than the group. Maybe you’re at different performances. This is the regular occurrence Totem Grid is trying to solve.
Totem Grid offers a unique alternative to group text message threads and meeting points – a decentralized peer-to-peer system that allows you to track straight to your connected friends. If you’ve ever used Find My on iOS, you have a good idea of how Totem Grid works. “We built a system that lets phones talk directly to each other and to lightweight hardware we deploy on-site,” says Totem Grid Founding Partner Garett Nell, “so your crew forms its own local network.”
Connecting festival attendees anywhere
The premise is simple: your group downloads the Totem Grid app, securely connects to each other directly, and can immediately track to one another down to the foot. Additionally, the Totem Grid app provides grounds maps that include bathrooms, water, medical, and exits so you can navigate the festival with ease. The system has been deployed to several test sites, including Burning Man and The Gorge, and will be joining The Glitch Mob at Substation this New Year’s Eve.
The Totem Grid system uses the technologies already available on your mobile device like Wi-Fi, cellular, Bluetooth, and UWB radios to connect devices directly. “We spent years designing a system that stays reliable and accurate, whether you’re in a 500-cap club or a stadium with tens of thousands of people,” says Totem Grid Founding Partner Jeremy Mundell. “We’ve committed to making the system human-centered from day one. Privacy baked in. Direct connection. No middlemen with extractive business models.”
“We’re designing for presence without surveillance. You share where you are right now, with people you chose, only while you’re there. That’s it.”
Totem Grid’s staff touts the privacy of their system as a foundational piece of the puzzle and their mission. “Your location lives on your device and only goes to friends you’ve explicitly shared it with in the event’s geofence,” says Mundell. A peer-to-peer network like Totem Grid or Find My uses devices within a zone to create a private mesh network, which means only explicitly connected devices can locate one another, but they all benefit from the strength of the connected network. “There’s no central server tracking your movements, and no ‘forever’ history we can mine, leak, or sell later,” Nell adds.
Supercharging festival operations
Festival organizers can also benefit from Totem Grid technologies. According to Totem Grid, their system can augment or completely replace the walkie talkies that traditionally provide the backbone of festival operations. “Totem Grid takes ‘Where are you?’ completely off the table [because] everyone’s on the map,” says Nell. “You can respond to situations as they develop instead of playing 20 questions about which stage, which side, near what landmark, and how many yards.”
The Totem Grid team shares a story from Burning Man where someone in their extended group experienced a surprise cardiac event and medical staff was not able to be reached immediately. “We opened the app, found the nearest medical station, and biked there as fast as we could with the app navigating,” says Mundell. “We probably saved minutes, and with a cardiac event, minutes are everything. In the future, we want people to summon emergency services directly to their location.”
The model for event partnerships puts the power in the hands of show runners to own their experience. Organizers partner with Totem Grid to deploy support devices on-site, then can white label the experience and even integrate it into their own apps. “Your community gets an experience that makes their night better and keeps them coming back,” says Mundell. “We’re building the platform so your brand takes the lead. This is your community, we’re here to amplify it.”
How to experience Totem Grid
To give Northwest locals a chance to experience Totem Grid, the technology will be deployed at Substation for its Glitch Mob New Year’s Eve event. While Substation regulars won’t have any issue finding their friends in the cozy venue, it will give attendees the opportunity to play with the app and see its potential, while giving club owners and event organizers a chance to see the platform in action.
“We’ll be regulars at Substation and other venues in the area, so if NYE doesn’t work, you’ll have plenty of chances,” says Mundell. For people who are interested in trying out this new technology, Substation provides a perfect place to use the app (currently in beta) in a controlled environment and provide direct feedback for the upcoming release. “We’re working on wider App Store releases for iOS and Android ASAP. For now, come to Substation and hang with us!”
Dance music fans and event organizers interested in trying out Totem Grid tech have several ways to get involved, in addition to the Substation event above. For festival organizers, “Reach out. Drop us a line at community@totemgrid.dev with your venue or event name, typical attendance, and what you’re excited to improve,” says Nell. “We’ll set up a demo and walk through the details of our pilot.”
Attendees and tech-minded friend groups can join the Totem Grid waitlist by signing up here. “Hit up totemgrid.io and join the waitlist,” says Mundell. “We’ll keep you posted on upcoming shows and new partner venues as we expand across the Pacific Northwest!”
Totem Grid is a public benefit corporation. Follow Totem Grid on Bluesky, Farcaster, X, and Instagram.
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