SARGIS7 Report

Thank you to all who participated in the 7th Annual Search and Rescue GIS Workshop on November 12-15 in Sonora, CA. The workshop was a resounding success for all participants. Special thanks to the NAPSG Foundation and Columbia College's budding GIS Program (see more about Columbia College GIS).

We are pleased to announce that the workshop materials are now available online at http://www.napsgfoundation.org/resources/materials-available-search-rescue-gis-workshop/.The Agenda posted here includes links to the materials used during each session and training for easy navigation and access. 

Additionally, we have also posted the After Action Notes from the breakout sessions on the last day, Nov. 15 at the link above. By SARGIS8 - the SAR Working Group plans to make progress in four key areas: 

• Guidelines for GIS in SAR
• Tools and Resources
• Training  
• Technology Integration (Cell Phone Analysis, Unmanned Aerial Systems, etc.) 

Who was there? 55 participants, mostly from California but also scattered across North America.

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Here are some photos of the action.

Don teaching IGT4SAR to a full classroom

Lorri presenting on where to find base data

Storytime

Why use USNG? - Talk to Cole

Hands-on with USNG

Beautiful setting - Columbia College

Action Items!

Sneak Peak of the Map Products "Menu" for Responders and Decision-Makers Link: http://bit.ly/SARGISMenu

See more: #SARGIS7 Tweets

 

The 7th Annual Search and Rescue GIS Workshop and Meeting #SARGIS7

The SARGIS Working Group within the National Alliance for Public Safety GIS Foundation will be hosting the 7th Annual SARGIS Workshop and Meeting (#SARGIS7).

Read the report and access the final agenda, presentations, etc. at: http://wisarandgis.blogspot.com/2015/11/sargis7-report.html

To Register: http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07ebj3nub834a6869b&llr=nplxpbdab
Where: Columbia College in Sonora, CA

When: November 12-15, 2015

Cost: Free 

Workshop: The workshop will include a 1.5 days of hands-on training with ArcGIS Desktop (MapSAR_Ex / IGT4SAR) along with GPS field exercises. There will also be a lesson on how to use the free ArcGIS Explorer Desktop app for basic SAR Mapping (SAR Explorer) and SARTopo.

Meeting: The meeting will have a keynote address, presentations, and discussion forums. This event will focus primarily on using GIS best practices for missing person search operations, but will address diverse topics such as:

• Review existing GIS and mapping tools for SAR
• New SARGIS tools (Web GIS, mobile apps, etc.)
• UAS, drones, and GIS
• Cell Phone Analysis GIS
• Remote Collaboration
• Update from the California GISCorps
• Standards for SARGIS symbology, SOGs, training, etc.
• Urban Search and Rescue GIS
• Preventative Search and Rescue GIS

Audience: GIS Professionals & Students interested in learning how they can help SAR teams, Search and Rescue personnel (paid and unpaid) who want to know more about GIS for SAR, and other Public Safety professionals interested in attending so they can operationalize the use of geographic information systems.

Agenda (more  details to follow)

Day	Event	Audience
Thursday	SARGIS Training	Pre-req: ArcGIS Desktop installed, Getting Started With GIS Course or equivalent
Friday
Morning & Early Afternoon	SARGIS Training	Pre-req: ArcGIS Desktop installed, Getting Started With GIS Course or equivalent
Late Afternoon	Plenary Session	Students, Professors, GIS Professionals, SAR Professionals, Public Safety Professionals, outdoor recreationalists
Evening	Social	A chance to meet the attendees and socialize. Location to be announced (local pub / restaurant).
Saturday	Presentations and Discussion Forums	SAR Professionals, GIS Professionals
Sunday	Presentations and Discussion Forums	SAR Professionals, GIS Professionals

Lodging

HOTEL / MOTEL with Special Rate

THE ALADDIN INN

Address:  14260 Mono Way, Sonora, CA 95370

Phone:  (209) 533-4971

Website:  aladdininn.com

Distance from Columbia College:  8 Miles / 15-17 Minutes

Cost:  $72 for Thursday Night & $80 for the remaining Weekend Nights for any attendee of the SARGIS7 Conference.

CAMPING / RV OPTIONS

TUTTLETOWN CAMPGROUND AT NEW MELONES RESERVOIR

Address:  Reynolds Ferry Rd, Sonora, CA 95370

Phone:  (877) 444-6777

Website:  usbr.gov/mp/ccao/newmelones/camping.html

Distance from Columbia College:  9 Miles / 13-15 Minutes

Cost:  $22 per night for Standard Campsite; $18 a night for Walk-In Campsite (No Special Arrangements for the Conference were available)

MARBLE QUARRY RV PARK

Address:  11551 Yankee Hill Road, Columbia, CA 95310

Phone:  (866) 677-8464

Website:  marblequarry.com

Distance from Columbia College: 2 Miles / 4-5 Minutes

Cost:  $40 per night for RV; $25 per night for Tent Camping (No Special Arrangements for the Conference were available)

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#SARGIS6 Discussion and Report

This blog post highlights the activities and topics covered in the 6th Annual Search and Rescue GIS Meeting. The meeting was held simultaneously in Dunsmuir, California and Morgantown, West Virginia. The final agenda can be found here: https://esri.box.com/SARGIS6Agenda

MapSAR Training - Thursday and Friday

We kicked off the week on Thursday morning at the Dunsmuir High School with the Yosemite ("Clark SAR") Tutorial. There were both GIS Professionals and SAR Professionals (most with little or no GIS experience) in the room. The students were able to complete the tutorial in one day and get through the basics of MapSAR. Excellent instruction was provided by Jared Doke, Caroline Rose, Rick Laing, and Dave Hansen from the GISCorps. On Friday we then started from scratch and launched MapSAR to respond to a fictional scenario on Mount Shasta, the "Hunter SAR". 

Friday Evening

After some free time to check out the town of Dunsmuir and an open house at FireWhat Headquarters we went to the theater for a keynote address on WiSAR GIS Research and an introduction to the FireWhat Team. This was followed by some live music, dessert, and a raffle on top of the Dunsmuir Hotel rooftop. 

Saturday

Beautiful Mount Shasta was a great backdrop for our meeting.

For the rest of the conference we spent time up at the Mount Shasta Ski Park after a great interpretive talk from Nick Meyers, Mount Shasta Ranger. On Saturday Morning we received a MapSAR update from Jon Pedder and were introduced to the Antris Registry by Kaila Beattie. Then we heard some excellent lightning talks:

• Who are the GISCorps? Dave Hansen
• Using GIS for Kansas USAR Jared Doke
• Why don’t we all just use GIS? Caroline Rose 
• Remote Support for WiSAR Don Ferguson
• Using cell phone analysis for WiSAR George Durkee

In the afternoon - we used our "Hunter SAR" scenario to try out some new technology in conjunction with MapSAR. We published our incident data to an ArcGIS Online web map and launched the Collector for ArcGIS for mobile data collection. We also used DeLorme inReach devices for situational awareness in the field - we always knew the location of our teams. 

Finally - we tied all of this information together using the Operations Dashboard to track team status and instantly view photos of clues from the field. This is the first time we have tried this integration and it worked quite well. We still used the paper maps from MapSAR as a fail-safe method to make sure teams had the information they needed in the field. 

For free training on this new technology:

• Creating Hosted Map Services with ArcGIS Online
• Smartphone GIS: Capturing Data with Collector for ArcGIS
• Offline Data Collection Using Collector for ArcGIS
• Monitoring Data Using Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS

Sunday

Finally, we finished off the meetings with presentations:

• Missing Aircraft Search in Arkansas Wes Cleland (click on link to view presentation)
• Missing Persons w/ Alzheimer in British Columbia Rick Laing
• The MRA Mission Collection Project Paul Doherty
• What’s new with IGT4SAR? Don Ferguson (click on link to view presentation)

Both days of the meeting were shared via webcast with SARGIS East. Despite technical difficulties most of the presentations were recorded and available (I am working on converting these videos into a viewable format right now).

What did we learn? What's next?

1. It is time to present what the SARGIS community has to offer to agencies that have jurisdiction, not just the volunteers
2. We need to simplify deployment of MapSAR / IGT4SAR workflows for Day I of operations
3. We need to move MapSAR / IGT4SAR to one code-sharing framework (GitHub)
4. How do we implement remote support procedures?
5. Should the WiSAR GIS group become a non-profit (5013c) organization?
6. UAV/S have a role in WiSAR - but it is yet to be determined how they can be used effectively, we need to do more research

We are looking forward to SARGIS7 and potential locations have already been discussed (Simon Fraser University, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Estes Park, Dunsmuir, CA).

Look for updates from SARGIS East soon as well.

Please continue the discussion or ask followup questions from the presenters on the SARGIS Discussion Group.

6th Annual SARGIS Meeting #SARGIS6

We are going to West Virginia....and Dunsmuir, CA

View Larger Map - click on the points to see who is currently going to attend SARGIS6

Dates: June 19th - 22nd, 2014

• Training will be available Thursday all-day and Friday morning
• Friday night will be a public seminar and social
• Saturday and Sunday will be an interactive meeting with presentations, demonstrations, and discussion

Locations:

• SARGIS6 West: Dunsmuir, California (FireWhat, Inc Headquarters)
• SARGIS6 East: Morgantown, West Virginia (Exact location TBD)

Cost:
Free - although a small charitable donation on-site will be appreciated!

Training Prerequisites: 
This training opportunity is meant for people who would already have GIS training and want to learn how to use the ArcGIS Desktop template for SAR or SAR professionals who are willing to prepare for the training by completing some free online training.

• SARGIS6 West - see prereq information
• SARGIS6 East - TBD

RSVP

• SARGIS6 West - please contact Cassie Hansen 
• SARGIS 6 East - please contact Don Ferguson 

Proposed West Coast Agenda (Joined by webcast in bold)

Thursday

• 0830h - Introductions
• 0900h - MapSAR Training Session I
• 1200h - Lunch
• 1300h - MapSAR Training Session II
• 1700h - Wrap-up

Friday

• 0900h - MapSAR Training Session III
• 1200h - Lunch
• 1300h - MapSAR Q&A
• 1600h - Presentation: Why use GIS for WiSAR?
• 1730h - Welcome / Social

Saturday

• 0800h - Presentation: 2013 SARGIS Review, 2014 What's coming next?
• 0900h - Introductions
• 0930h - Demonstration: Introduction to MapSAR (part I)
• 1030h - Presentation / Discussion : How to use Cell Phone data for SAR? 
• 1130h - Demonstration: Finding local base data
• 1200h - Lunch
• 1300h - Presentation / Discussion: Satellite Emergency Notification Devices 
• 1400h - Hands On: Making maps with MapSAR
• 1500h - Field Demonstrations: UAVs and GPS
• 1730h - End of meeting

Sunday

• 0900h - Presentation: SARGIS Case Studies
• 0930h - Hands On: Making maps with MapSAR (part II)
• 1030h - Presentation: What's new in Lost Person Behavior?
• 1130h - Discussion: What do we want to accomplish in 2014?
• 1200h - Lunch
• 1300h - Demonstration: Advanced MapSAR
• 1400h - Discussion: Q&A with Esri
• 1500h - End of meeting

This agenda will likely be modified based on feedback from the group but I thought I would give you all an idea of how it will work. 

Atlantic Schedule TBD (Joined by webcast in bold)

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Friday

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Saturday

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Sunday

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Search and Rescue GISCorps Team Members sworn in as Disaster Service Workers

Today history was made in Sacramento, CA!

Thanks to the hard work of the GISCorps and California Office of Emergency Services, members of the California GISCorps SARGIS pilot program have been sworn in as Disaster Service Workers (pending background and paperwork processing).

This means that the GISCorps members trained in MapSAR and other SARGIS tools can be called up as mutual aid resources by the State to help with missing person searches, recoveries, and any type of disaster where a GIS resource is needed. We will be discussing topics like standard training and qualifications, remote support, and equipment provisioning in future meetings. 

Don't forget the GISCorps can volunteer to help on project work as well, don't wait until there is a disaster! There is probably a member near you and their response area is worldwide.

A very special thank you to Lorri Peltz-Lewis (GISCorps / USFS), Matt Scharper (CalOES), Tom Patterson (Esri, retired), and the California OES GIS Team for making this possible. 

To find out more, see the California Disaster Service Worker Volunteer Program website.

So....which State will be next? How long until all 50 recognize the need for GIS in search and rescue operations? Let us know if you would like to see something similar in your State.