Instead of lengthy coordinates, new app makes it easier to get help on Lake Norman

LAKE NORMAN, N.C. — There’s an app right on your phone that can help crews quickly locate and respond to emergencies on Lake Norman, all you have to do is say the three magic words.

Channel 9′s Hunter Sáenz went out to the lake to get a first-hand look at how it all works.

“You’re out here every single day?”

“Try to be!” said Cornelius Police Officer George Brinzey.

Brinzey has patrolled Lake Norman for more than a decade, but he took Sáenz out on the water Wednesday to show a helpful feature that can save lives.

He’s talking about the “What3Words” app, and Brinzey says it gives them a direct response to where they need to be.

“It divides the entire world into ten-foot squares,” said Lake Norman Marine Commission John Johnson. “The app gives you three words that are tied to your geolocation.”

So instead of having to figure out a GPS coordinate (try reading off 35°29′26.9″N 80°55′34.7″W in an emergency), users can shout out the three-word combination tied to the current location.

Those three words are now critically helpful for first responders when you call 911 out on the lake, especially when you may not know where you are.

Sáenz decided to test it out on a fake emergency scenario with Brinzey.

“It’s going to be Badly, Jacks, Cough,” a dispatcher said on the radio.

“Copy that, thank you,” Brinzey replied.

We punched the words to the app, and a location pops up.

“Right here is Outrigger Island, so they’re about 50 yards out of Outrigger Island,” Brinzey said.

We sped to the location on boat, getting minute-by-minute updates if the boat or person drifts off.

“We’ll get the last known location so that gets us in closer,” Brinzey said.

In minutes, we pulled up to the test emergency, exactly where the app led us.

“We get a laser-fast response, concise exactly where the phone was used to call with,” Brinzey said.

It’s a tool that’s sure to help response times and help first responders do their job.

“It can literally make the difference between life and death for a bad situation,” said Johnson.

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