Your snowmobile got stuck? There's an app for that.
Bonjour from the North — three cities, one corridor, and the stories that don't make it south of Barrie. You know, you hear about all these fancy new apps, the ones they talk about in Toronto or Vancouver, and you think, "When is that going to help us up here?" Well, tabarnak, sometimes it does. We had a snowmobiler, got into a collision, injured out there in the snowy wilderness near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Think about that — deep woods, snow everywhere, and you're hurt. How do they find you?
This is where it gets interesting, and frankly, a little bit amazing for us here on the border. They used this app called ‘what3words.’ Now, I've heard of it, but it's not something we talk about at the Steelton coffee shop every morning. This app apparently divides the entire world into three-meter squares and gives each one a unique three-word address. So, instead of trying to describe where you are when you're hurt and disoriented, you just give them three words. For this snowmobiler, on the other side of the International Bridge, those three words brought rescuers right to him. This isn't just a Michigan thing, either; our emergency services here in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, use it too.
### Why This Matters for Us
Think about what this means for our communities, especially as folks head out on the trails. We have so much beautiful wilderness around us — from the Agawa Canyon to the trails leading out towards Garden River First Nation and Batchewana First Nation. Getting lost or hurt out there is a real risk.
* **Safety for Our Own:** Whether you're hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, or just out for a hike along the St. Marys Rapids, knowing there's a tool that can pinpoint your exact location is a huge comfort. * **Cross-Border Coordination:** This particular incident happened on the Michigan side, but the fact that emergency services on both sides of the Sault International Bridge are using the same technology? That's huge. We're one community here, even with a border running through it. * **Beyond Cell Service:** A lot of our trails, especially as you get further north on Highway 17, don't have great cell service. This app, if it can work with limited signal or even just a text, could be a game-changer.
For us in Sault Ste. Marie, where the outdoors is part of our DNA, and where we're used to driving hours for things others take for granted, a simple app that can save a life in our own backyard, or just across the river, that’s something to talk about. It makes our vast, beautiful, sometimes unforgiving landscape a little bit safer for everyone heading out into it.
Marc-André Desjardins, MiTL Sports Desk, Sault Ste. Marie.
You want the real North? My friends on the morning show, they talk about this kind of thing every day — catch them live at mornings.live.