Search 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?
• How to best keep track of your resources.

• “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,

GIS & MapSAR Significantly Enhances Situational Awareness
And Provides a Common Operating Picture

GIS will improve operational effectiveness in four areas:

Data and Information Management

Planning and Analysis

Field Operations

Situational Awareness

Common Operating Picture

Liaison Officers
(Family, Media,
Agencies)
Operations Chief
Incident Commander
Plans Chief
Safety Officer
Logistics Chief
Air Ops Situation Unit Ground Support
Basic ICS Chart
(Finance omitted)
Ground Ops Investigation Unit
Groups
Trackers, Dogs, etc.
Technical Specialists
(GIS, Behavior, etc.)
Communications
Resource Unit
Facilities
Supply Unit
Documentation Unit Food Unit
Demobe Unit

SAR Information and Resource Flowchart
Field Updates
Search
Orders
Dispatcher
Log
Ops
Clues, Location, etc .
Dispatcher
Debriefing
Clues, Location, etc .
Analysis
Clues, Location, etc .
Planning
Lead
Investigator Dog Ops
Air Ops
Tasks
Operations
Walk, Ride,
Fly
Helos,
Trucks
Equipment
Logistics
Briefing Assignments
Team
Investigations
Assignments
Resource
Unit
Investigator

Spare Ovals
Clues, GPS Locations
Orders
Dispatcher
Flex Viewer
To GIS Server
Dispatcher
Log
Field Updates
Common Operating Picture
Available to All
ArcGIS Explorer Desktop
Debriefing
Clues,
GPS Tracklogs & Waypoints
MapSAR
ArcGIS 10
Ops
Analysis Investigations
Investigator
Search
Dog Ops
Air Ops
Operations
Planning
Clues
Reports
Walk, Ride,
Fly
Maps:
Team, Briefing
Equipment
Assets
Helos,
Trucks
Logistics
Briefing
Assignments
Assignments
Team
Teams
Resource
Unit
Tasks

GIS & MapSAR: Capture spatial information in organized and retrievable structure.

Keeping better track of all clues – visually and immediately entered in geodatabase.

MapSAR: Allows automatic customization of team maps.
DDP produces those maps quickly.

Next: Quickly produce accurate team and briefing maps.
Get teams into the field!

Surface Created with Cross Country Mobility Analysis with
Roads and Trails
Dementia STATS

3D Image (ArcGIS Explorer or ArcGlobe): Effective Visualization of terrain for teams and Incident Command

Creating a Minimum Essential Dataset (MED)
I just spent two weeks in Tuscaloosa, AL for tornado damage mapping. The 1st three days were totally wasted while we waited for a data management structure to be established.
Tom Patterson
ESRI Public Safety

Pre-planning: MapSAR Structure and MED

Used with GIS Server, Greatly Enhanced Common Operating Picture

SAR dispatch enters clues and team locations in networked geodatabase which become immediately available to Command staff.

Understanding GIS to Avoid Mistakes

Understand the mapping software you use.
Practice with different types of coordinate systems and converting between them.

Coordinate Type Example
Latitude, longitude in NAD 1983 for Charlotte
Lake, Kings Canyon NP, CA
Common Users
Decimal Degrees (DD)
Degrees Minutes Seconds (DMS)
Degrees Decimal Minutes (DDM)
36.7758419, -118.426745
36
 46’39”N, 118  25’36”W
36
 46.655052’N, 118  25.604709’W
UTM, NAD 1983, Zone 11N (UTM) Often identified as y=latitude; x=longitude. MUST be entered in that order in Find command.
372681.27, 4071148.72
SPOT, GeoPro Messenger (default), OnSTAR
Many MRA SAR teams, USGS maps
Marine, Aviation
Standard data format for most NPS areas and some SAR teams. Also standard for research data.
US National Grid (USNG) 11SLA6268171149 Now the standard for all federal SAR and emergency services agencies, though still in transition to adopt.

When Reporting Coordinates, you need to be clear!
“Team 1. We’ve found a shoe print matching the missing person. Coordinates
From our GPS are: UTM Zone 11N, three seven two six eight one point two seven by
Four zero seven one one four eight point seven two. Datum is NAD eighty three
We are just south of the “C” in Charlotte Lake on the 7.5 minute USGS quad.
“… Coordinates from our 7.5 minute Mt. Clarence King quad in Degrees Minutes
Seconds are thirty six degrees, forty six minutes and thirty nine seconds North and
One hundred and eighteen degrees, twenty five minutes, thirty six seconds West.
The map datum is NAD twenty seven. We are just south of the “C” in Charlotte Lake.”
When Receiving Coordinates: Ask for Clarification! Ask what coordinate system
And datum is being used. What the source is.
If possible, follow up with a written record or email and JPG of the spot.
Take no chances!

Training all team members in GIS:
Use ArcGIS Explorer Desktop to capture initial reports and produce maps for initial hasty search.

Team safety, situational awareness & speeding up planning cycle: remote tracking of field teams
Infinity GPS MiiC:
Tracking via radio system.
Inmarsat BGAN Satellite communication: Phone & Internet
GeoPro Messenger: Satellite Tracking & Messaging

ArcGIS Explorer can be set to poll data automatically, giving it the potential to be used as a semi-realtime situation map projected into the Incident Command Post.

Screen Capture GeoPro track projected onto ArcGIS Explorer, Zion National Park

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 with
Child, Merced River, Yosemite National Park

George Durkee: gedurkee@sonic.net
Using GIS in SAR for Emergency Responders: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/sar-and-gis
Files at: http://sierranaturenotes.com/GI$/