Beach status app expands to include more Great Lakes beaches

An iPhone app, called the Swim Guide, has recently been expanded to cover more beaches in the Great Lakes.

An iPhone app that let users check the status of Lake Ontario beaches has been expanded to include 800 Great Lakes beaches in Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio and New York. Even more are on the way.

Krystyn Tully, vice-president of the Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, said the app – called the Swim Guide – also covers the entirety of the Lake Ontario watershed and the Vancouver area.

In the near future, Tully said, the app will include Michigan beaches and the rest of the beaches not already listed in Ohio and New York state.

“Indiana and Pennsylvania beaches are next on our ‘to-do’ list,” she said. “Michigan beaches are done but I’m still proof-reading them.”

Those using the app now might have noticed a lack of sampling results for certain beaches. Tully said the reason is that those beaches haven’t started testing yet.

“This weekend, we will see the first round of sampling in a lot of areas, so in the next week or two most of those grey beaches will become red or green,” she said.

Is this an app getting a lot of use from Great Lakes beach-goers? Could it be further improved?

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