Mountain Rescue Teams across the UK are urging all outdoors people to download the free OS Locate app on to smartphones.
OS Locate is a simple app that provides an accurate, easily readable UK Grid Reference. It means that if you were to get lost in the hills or mountains you can easily and quickly tell the emergency operator exactly where you are.
The app is not a navigational aid but simply a means of providing an instant, accurate location for MR should things go wrong
Ian Dawson, a volunteer with the Lomond MRT, says: “While most walkers are pretty switched on and have the means to provide a location if asked, we do still have a reasonable number of calls each year with people ‘lost’ without navigational ability.
“They might have a device in their hand that can tell them, and us, where they are but they are not always able to do so. The OS Locate makes it very simple.”
Mountain Rescue Teams also have ability to locate smartphones with bespoke SARLOC software but this technology does rely on the availability of a data signal which can be unreliable in the hills and mountains of Scotland.
To download the app see www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/shop/os-locate
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