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, Lost Person Behavior

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

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

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

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

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

Pre Planning: 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

Using GIS in SAR: The Map is Not the Territory

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

Coordinate TypeExample Latitude, longitude in NAD 1983 for Charlotte Lake, Kings Canyon NP, CA Common Users Decimal Degrees (DD) , SPOT, GeoPro Messenger (default), OnSTAR Degrees Minutes Seconds (DMS) 36  46’39”N, 118  25’36”W Many MRA SAR teams, USGS maps Degrees Decimal Minutes (DDM) 36  ’N, 118  ’W Marine, Aviation UTM, NAD 1983, Zone 11N (UTM) Often identified as y=latitude; x=longitude. MUST be entered in that order in Find command , Standard data format for most NPS areas and some SAR teams. Also standard for research data. US National Grid (USNG)11SLA 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 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.

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

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: Using GIS in SAR for Emergency Responders: Files at: