using gis in search and rescue search: to locate persons in distress rescue: to retrieve persons in...
Post on 19-Dec-2015
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Using GIS inSearch and Rescue
Search: To locate persons in distress
Rescue: To retrieve persons in distress, provide for their initial medical or other needs, deliver them to a place of safety and get your teams out safely.
Search is often the more time-consuming task:
• Where to look?• What resources to use?• How long do you look?
SAR: The Basic Map
A map is not the territory it represents, but if correct, it has a similar structure to the territory, which accounts for its usefulness.
-- Philosopher and Scientist Alfred Korzybski, 1931
• “What hampers me as a searcher is that I don't think like a lost person (well, mostly ...). Maybe one (two?!?) out of 10 times have I looked at a map, waved my divining rod over it and said: "There!" and been anywhere close to right. Each SAR is like learning all something new each time. So the priority tools (and tech devices), for me, would be those which contribute to better organizing and visualizing the SAR and the terrain.”
Robert Koester, Lost Person Behavior
GIS & MapSAR Significantly Enhances Situational Awareness And Provides a Common Operating Picture
Walk, Ride, Fly
Tasks
Analysis
InvestigationsOperations
Debriefing
Planning
Equipment
Team
Briefing
Search
Field Updates
DispatcherDispatcher
Log
Assignments
Helos,Trucks
Ops
Clues, Location, etc.Orders
Air Ops
Dog Ops
ResourceUnit
Logistics
LeadInvestigator Investigator
Assignments
Clues, Location, etc.
Clues, Location, etc.
SAR Information and Resource Flowchart
Walk, Ride, Fly
Tasks
Analysis Investigations
Operations
Debriefing
Planning
Equipment
Team
Briefing
Search
Field Updates
DispatcherDispatcher
Log
Assignments
Helos,Trucks
Ops
Orders
Air Ops
Dog Ops
ResourceUnit
Logistics
Spare Ovals
Investigator
Clues, GPS Locations
Assignments
Maps:Team, Briefing
Assets
Flex ViewerTo GIS Server
MapSARArcGIS 10
Teams
Clues,GPS Tracklogs & Waypoints
Clues
Common Operating PictureAvailable to All
ArcGIS Explorer Desktop
GIS & MapSAR: Capture spatial information in organized and retrievable structure.
Next: Quickly produce accurate team and briefing maps.Get teams into the field!
MapSAR: Allows automatic customization of team maps. DDP produces those maps quickly.
3D Image (ArcGIS Explorer or ArcGlobe): Effective Visualization of terrain for teams and Incident Command
ArcGIS Explorer can be set to poll data automatically, giving it the potential to be usedas a semi-realtime situation map projected into the Incident Command Post.
SAR dispatch enters clues and team locations in networked geodatabase which become immediately available to Command staff.
Used with GIS Server, Dynamic & Enhanced Common Operating Picture
Analysis: Surface Created with Cross Country Mobility Analysis with Roads and Trails
Dementia STATS
Training all team members in GIS:Use ArcGIS Explorer Desktop to capture initial reports and produce maps for initial hasty search.
Understanding GIS to Avoid Mistakes
Using GIS in SAR:Sometimes The Map is Not the Territory
Understand the mapping software you use.Practice with different types of coordinate systems and converting between them.
Inmarsat BGAN Satellite communication: Phone & Internet
Infinity GPS MiiC: Tracking via radio system.
Team safety, situational awareness & speeding up planning cycle: remote tracking of field teams
GeoPro Messenger: Satellite Tracking & Messaging
Screen Capture GeoPro track projected onto ArcGIS Explorer, Zion National Park
When applied to GIS, Korzybski’s “the map is not the territory” is a warning not to make maps or computer analysis a substitute for local knowledge and a team’s skill.
For all of this technology’s potential, the lost and injured are found and rescued by dedicated searchers working in difficult and dangerous conditions far from help themselves.
Effective SAR is founded on the actions of searchers voluntarily leaving a warm and comfortable environment to go out in often horrendous weather and terrain to look for a lost person. SAR will always require people with specific knowledge of an area to be able to properly evaluate and make decisions based on that experience.
GIS, though, is a vital tool to efficiently and effectively envision complex information – turning a flat piece of paper into a better approximation of the territory.
A Good Day for SAR: Yosemite Ranger Dave Pope withChild, Merced River, Yosemite National Park
George Durkee: [email protected] GIS in SAR for Emergency Responders:http://groups.google.com/group/sar-and-gis