Transcript NAPSG_30Minute_Afternoon

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
Liaison Officers
(Family, Media,
Agencies)
Operations Chief
Basic ICS Chart
(Finance omitted)
Safety Officer
Plans Chief
Logistics Chief
Air Ops
Situation Unit
Ground Support
Ground Ops
Investigation Unit
Facilities
Groups
Trackers, Dogs, etc.
Technical Specialists
(GIS, Behavior, etc.)
Communications
Resource Unit
Supply Unit
Documentation Unit
Food Unit
Demobe Unit
SAR Information and Resource Flowchart
Field Updates
Clues, Location, etc.
Orders
Debriefing
Dispatcher
Dispatcher
Clues, Location, etc.
Log
Analysis
Clues, Location, etc.
Ops
Search
Dog Ops
Planning
Lead
Investigator
Air Ops
Tasks
Operations
Investigations
Walk, Ride,
Fly
Briefing
Equipment
Helos,
Trucks
Logistics
Assignments
Team
Assignments
Resource
Unit
Investigator
Common Operating Picture
Available to All
Spare Ovals
Field Updates
ArcGIS Explorer Desktop
Clues, GPS Locations
Debriefing
Orders
Flex Viewer
To GIS Server
Dispatcher
Clues,
GPS Tracklogs & Waypoints
Dispatcher
Log
Analysis
MapSAR
ArcGIS 10
Ops
Investigations
Investigator
Search
Dog Ops
Operations
Clues
Air Ops
Planning
Reports
Tasks
Walk, Ride,
Fly
Maps:
Team, Briefing
Equipment
Assets
Briefing
Assignments
Assignments
Teams
Helos,
Trucks
Logistics
Team
Resource
Unit
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 Type
Example
Common Users
Latitude, longitude in NAD 1983 for Charlotte
Lake, Kings Canyon NP, CA
Decimal Degrees (DD)
36.7758419, -118.426745
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46.655052’N, 11825.604709’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.
372681.27, 4071148.72
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: [email protected]
Using GIS in SAR for Emergency Responders:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/sar-and-gis
Files at: http://sierranaturenotes.com/GI$/