Last winter, my dad took a seasonal job driving snowplows for the Oregon Department of Transportation. Like many DOTs across the country, ODOT needed more drivers, and before long he was out on the highways in the middle of winter storms, helping keep the roads open.

What I didn’t realize at the time was how much of that job revolves around mile markers. Every radio call references them. Every crash report. Every road closure. They’re how crews report conditions, track where sand, salt, and brine have been applied, and coordinate a response.

Once I started paying attention, I noticed mile marker references everywhere. Crash alerts. Road closures. Emergency responses. Tow trucks. Maintenance crews. Dispatchers.

If you call for help on a mountain highway, how do you tell anyone exactly where you are?

That’s what mile markers are for.

Most drivers pass hundreds of them without a second thought. But the people who keep roads open, respond to emergencies, and help stranded motorists rely on them every day.

The problem is that knowing your exact mile marker isn’t always intuitive, and they aren’t built into most major navigation apps. Signs get missed, damaged, or stolen. Snow covers them. Staring at the shoulder waiting for a small green sign while you plow through a storm isn’t exactly ideal.

There’s an app people use for this, but it only works on iPhone. My dad uses Android, and so do many of the drivers around him. Asking him to switch phones for a single app was never realistic, so I built him a simple web app that showed his nearest Oregon mile marker from his GPS location.

As it grew, it became a family effort. My mom, my sister, and I spent countless hours driving highways and back roads, checking mile markers, comparing numbers, making adjustments, and trying again.

I still remember the first time the number changed at exactly the right moment. We were SO excited — it felt like magic every time we passed a milepost.

My dad showed it to a few people at work. They showed it to others. Soon feedback was coming in from truck drivers, road crews, first responders, and everyday drivers. Nearly every feature in MileCheck exists because someone using it on a real road asked for it.

Today, MileCheck does a lot more than show mile markers. It helps drivers find their location, stay ahead of road conditions, and plan long drives.

What started as a simple tool for my dad turned out to be useful for a lot of other people, too.