Save the Date for SARGIS9 November 6th to 8th

The NAPSG Foundation Search & Rescue (SAR) Working Group is pleased to announce our 9th Annual SAR and GIS Workshop! Join us for this annual opportunity that brings together professionals from diverse backgrounds, "so that others may live..."

What is SAR? Search and Rescue with a focus on missing person search and wildland rescue.
What is GIS? Geographic Information Systems - "data you can see on map".

AGENDA

Training Website

Target Audience:

The primary audience will be SAR Personnel and GIS Specialists who are interested in Public Safety. We especially encourage National Park Service, FEMA USAR, and Mountain Rescue Association Team members to participate!

Workshop Agenda:

Day 1 - Geospatial Concept of Operations for Search & Rescue

• Presentations
• Panel Discussion
• Lightning Talks

Day 2 - Geospatial Decision Support Tools (Basic & Intermediate tracks)

• Paper Maps
• US National Grid
• Spatial Analyses
• Field Apps
• Web Maps and Apps

Basic Track: Participants will learn how GIS can be applied to SAR and will practice using already built geospatial decision support tools.

Intermediate Track: Participants will be introduced to SAR concepts, and they will incorporate existing GIS knowledge to create geospatial decision support tools.

Day 3 - More Training & Testing 

Participants will complete the training tutorials and practice using geospatial tools for an instructor “Stress Test”. Also, participants will have the chance to self-assess their capabilities and readiness. 

Pre-requisites:

• Basic Training participants (SAR Practitioners) must complete the following short and self-paced tutorial before SARGIS9: Get Started with ArcGIS Online (AGOL)

• Intermediate Training participants (GIS Practitioners) participants must complete the following short and self-paced tutorials, or have equivalent knowledge before SARGIS9: Get Started with ArcGIS Pro and Get Started with ArcGIS Online  

Approval Process for Participants: 

While this is a no-cost event, a total of 60 registrants will be selected. and would like to have approximately 50% SAR Practitioners (Basic Training) and 50% GIS Practitioners (Intermediate Training) who can commit to completing the pre-requisite training. 

Organisations Involved

• National Alliance for Public Safety GIS Foundation
• Mountain Rescue Association 
• National Park Service

SpatiaLABS for WiSAR Release

Four new SpatiaLABS are now available using Search and Rescue in Yosemite National Park as their topic. These are FREE and ideal for beginners to geographic information systems (GIS), search and rescue professionals, or even GIS Specialists who are new to ArcGIS Pro or ArcGIS Online. 

In the first of these four labs, you will use search and rescue incident locations to create an interactive web map and web mapping application in ArcGIS Online to explore the distribution of incidents in Yosemite National Park.  

Click here to try the web mapping application created in the exercise.

In the second lab, you will open a map project in ArcGIS Pro and create assignment maps for the emergency search operations.  

In the third lab, you will map where searchers have been deployed and what they have found.  

In the fourth lab, you will create a “clue log” that can be edited anywhere and with any device.

Click here to try the Clue Log application.

In order to try these tutorials you will need access to ArcGIS. First of all, if you work for a government agency or are a University Student, you most likely have access to ArcGIS so check with your IT or GIS Administrator. If not, here are some other options:

1. Start a free 60-day trial http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/arcgisonline/evaluate
2. Join the nonprofit organization program (Most SAR Teams qualify) http://www.esri.com/nonprofit 
3. ArcGIS for Personal Use http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/arcgis-for-personal-use 

For University instructors - SpatiaLABS are designed to freely modified to fit your needs. 

"You'll find instructional materials in Microsoft Word and other common formats. Go ahead, change or add self-assessment questions, tweak the context for the analysis, rework the lab to use local data. Customize SpatiaLABS to suit your non-commercial needs." 

Special thanks to the SpatiaLABS team and Joe Kerski for his post on these SpatiaLABS. 

MRA Mapping Hangout #3

This week we held another MRA Mapping Hangout that covered a quick update on the MRA Mission Data Portal, talked about what is new on the portal including a new tutorial, and then we heard from Kaila Beattie from Antris. 

Antris is a safety solution designed to protect individuals who live demanding lifestyles and organizations with teams of work-alone employees. It communicates with your mobile phone or GPS device to monitor your safety and automatically notifies the necessary people of a user’s trip progress. 

The team at Antris is very interested in helping SAR Teams with both their Operations and Preventative Search and Rescue outreach. They have been very responsive to feedback and have added new features recently like off-road routing and a disconnected "park-mode". Finally, the announce a new partnership with the National Association For Search and Rescue.

If you would like to know more check out their free solution Antris on the App Stores and contact them directly if you have feedback or questions. 

If you missed it, watch the video below on YouTube. 



This month we also featured a "Map of the Month" - a cell phone coverage map and you can check this out below. 

View larger map

WiSAR Capability and Readiness Assessment Tool

The NAPSG Foundation Search and Rescue Working Group (SARWG) has completed an update to the Capability and Readiness Assessment Tool (CARAT)

What is CARAT? The Capability and Readiness Assessment Tool (CARAT) is a tool created by NAPSG Foundation.  It is designed to serve as a roadmap for public safety officials and GIS practitioners interested in learning how GIS can be applied to the public safety mission and/or in building GIS to support their agencies’ work.

Here is the direct link to the WiSAR CARAT Tool: http://bitly.com/WiSARCARAT

This website provides links to the qualifications and tools that can be used by SAR Teams to understand what geographic information systems have to offer. 

Here are some of the tools listed under 'Crawl'. All of the tools indexed under CARAT can be found in this Group. 

Here is a screenshot of qualifications for Field Data Entry Technician from NAPSG Foundation's Qualification and Credentialing Website.

We are hoping for some constructive feedback in the coming weeks so we can make improvements to the site and generate ideas for training to help SAR Teams get running with GIS for SAR. 

Mapping Technology in Wilderness Search and Rescue

This week Caroline Rose successfully completed and defended her MS Thesis at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. I had the pleasure of attending virtually and was extremely happy to see her hard work and innovation culminate in a superb presentation. This blog is just an update to let you know the thesis is available for download and highlight some key findings for the SAR Community.

Where can I find the thesis?
Here is the link to the research website where you can read Caroline's work and download a copy: http://cmrrose.github.io/thesis/

What are the highlights?
Caroline conducted interviews with a representative sample of the SAR community and quantified their responses to address three key research questions.

These are the three primary research questions addressed by Caroline's thesis. 

Here are some key findings (from my point of view):

• People are still using a wide variety of software for general mapping, GIS, GPS, and web mapping.
• There are many challenges to using these technologies but almost as many insightful  suggestions on how they could be better utilized in the future.
• Of all the challenges discussed, availability or accessibility of human resources, availability and accessibility of geographic information, and software usability appear to be of most concern. 

Sankey diagrams are a specific type of flow diagram, in which the width of the connection is shown proportionally to the flow quantity. Here it is applied to the 24 interviews conducted with SAR personnel. It is a way to help you visualize the quantitative data (word utilization) and begin to understand the significance and relatedness of each topic.

If you really do not have time to read the thesis or play with the super cool interactive Sankey diagram - then see an except from the Conclusion below.

One participant stated that “searches are still solved by people out on foot, thrashing around in terrain. GIS is just a tool... it’s not some magic something where technology saves the day.” What GIS technology offers is another tool in the searcher’s toolbox—a tool with unique advantages that no other form of mapping technology can replace. If GIS can help focus resources, spark a key insight, or streamline incident management, it may make an important difference in an emergency situation. As one participant put it, “any tool that is going to be there for the betterment of the search and the potential of saving that life, why wouldn't you use it?” GIS capability also can be a benefit to WiSAR teams outside of the emergent search event, supporting documentation, prevention, and preparation.

The challenges to GIS use in WiSAR are surmountable, and many efforts are
already underway to improve the usability of, provide training in, contribute expertise from, and promote awareness of GIS. There also have been efforts to expand interoperability across mapping technology, working toward what I suggest is the ideal: not one prescribed system, but a range of compatible tools that leverage the benefits of several different forms of mapping technology, scale to meet the demands of an incident, and facilitate data aggregation across WiSAR incidents.

That sounds like a call to action to me!

What does the research mean for the SARGIS Community?
There is a lot of great information extracted from Caroline's interviews that complements the earlier work of Loren Pfau and others. This type of research is really important for informing the SARGIS community on where we should invest our resources. 

• We need more people trained in GIS and other mapping technology 
• We need more access to up-to-date geographic information
• We need more tools that make mapping technology 'usable' 

This thesis, how to take action on the findings, and much more will be discussed at #SARGIS7 in November, details coming soon...

Are you using GIS for Search Operations?

This is a short survey designed to help us understand who is using GIS for Missing Person Search Operations and/or looking for more GIS Support. You may answer anonymously, but the geographic information you can provide will be very helpful.  

Please share the survey when you are done. Results will be posted here in the next 30 days.

Thank you for your time and consideration! 

Click on link if survey does not load below or you are using a mobile device: http://bit.ly/WiSARGISSurvey

Discussion: GIS and Institutional Knowledge in Search and Rescue

Article: Meet Philly’s “Dr. House” of Missing Persons

I just read a short opinion piece in phillymag.com about Mark G. Hopkins, the Search and Rescue Chief of Greater Philadelphia Search and Rescue. Mark sounds a lot like many "SAR Czars" I have met in my life. He's been active for 20 years and he is the go-to person for his local police agency when someone goes missing. This is not because he is easy to work with, but because he cares and knows how to run a search operation.

In this article he makes a call for action - to establish "a base level system that is applied equally to all missing persons". He even wrote to the City Mayor. However, towards the end of the article he states that he will be retiring soon. This is well-deserved for him, but I wonder how his team will cope. Are they planning for his transition?

How many of you know someone like this? When it comes to planning a search, does your SAR Chief embrace the use of GIS for mapping, gut-instinct alone, or a little bit of both? How are you capturing their spatial knowledge before they retire? 

I think the integration of institutional knowledge and GIS is a very important issue to discuss, before all the wise old sages are all gone...

If you are interested here is one systematic (but not always very practical) approach to document historical information from from Yosemite National Park case incident reports: Georeferencing Incidents from Locality Descriptions and its Applications 

However, how can we use GIS to create digital records of institutional knowledge. When someone goes missing from x1,y1 place they are usually found within x2,y2 region because of conditions a,b,c? 

Experimenting with Wacom screens to capture institutional knowledge in ArcGIS, circa. 2009

This is not to say we can create "auto-magical" algorithms to predict where missing persons are, but can we capture the thought process and mental maps of experienced SAR professionals so we can teach the next generation of leaders?

Read the article and then please comment below. 

2014 WiSAR GIS Year in Review: Map Tour

Click on the link: Map Tour

In the year 2014, great advances were made in the use of geographic information systems for wildland search rescue. 

• MapSAR and IGT4SAR were used to support a number of missing person search operations
• Workshops were held across North America
• There were several peer-review publications on the use of GIS in WiSAR
• The US National Park Service has recognized the GIS Specialist role as a necessary incident command structure position during search operations

More important than the updates in technology, policy, or science, is the connection between the great people driving this movement. We have so much to celebrate - excellent work everyone and thank you for time and dedication to such a noble cause.

However, while much was accomplished this year, the reality is, GIS is still not widely used in missing person search operations and other SAR functions. 

What can we do in 2015 as a volunteer community to increase the adoption of GIS as a critical SAR function in North America and abroad? 

• Develop simple to use geo-enabled applications for mission critical tasks? 
• More SARGIS workshops? 
• Form a recognized non-profit organization with operational capacity to help when needed? 
• Present to emergency management and law enforcement agencies? 
• Lobby to federal governments for more support?
• Strengthen the alliance with GIS volunteers like GISCorps, MapAction, MAPS? 
• Create a research and development center for WiSAR GIS? 

These are all ideas that have been discussed and are always on my mind. Now that the SARGIS Discussion Group has reached +600 members across the world I truly believe we have reached the critical mass to make global change. 

I think we can all agree, that someday, when a person goes missing, the use of GIS for planning, operations, logistics, command, and public information will be the "standard of care". Imagine that your loved one (a relative, a spouse, your child) was missing - how would you want the search management team to use geographic information?

Let's make 2015 a spectacular year and have a great time doing it - so that others may live... 



Please add comments below if you think we missed an event, have a case-study you think should be highlighted, or have ideas on how we can make a bigger impact. 

Webinar: Mission Reporting and Search and Rescue Mapping for the MRA

Thanks to Pigeon Mountain Industries (PMI), Jon Pedder and I were able to brief the WiSAR Community on how the Mountain Rescue Association is using GIS to record mission data and we also discussed possibilities for how GIS could be used in the future. 

Here is the link to the PMI recording: http://pmirope.com/media/2014/12/02/mra-webinar-series-mission-reporting-and-search-and-rescue-mapping-for-the-mra/ 

"The Mountain Rescue Association has access to a mapping system called ArcGIS Online http://msar.maps.arcgis.com/home/ and it has been configured for the MRA Mission Reporting initiative. We will cover how this is being used for mission reporting and how it could be used to support operations, especially missing person search operations. The presenters, Paul Doherty and Jon Pedder, are both members of the Esri Disaster Response Program. Paul Doherty, PhD is the Technical Lead for the Program. He has 4-years with Yosemite Search and Rescue, and is also an active researcher who focuses on the use Geographic Information Systems for Search and Rescue. Jon Pedder is the newest member of the Esri Disaster Response Program and has 9-years volunteering with the Sierra Madre Search and Rescue Team." 

Here are some training videos created for the MRA Members.

2014 SAR Special Interest Group Meeting

This is just a quick recap of items discussed at our Search and Rescue Special Interest Group Meeting at the 2014 Esri International User Conference in July. 

• An update on MapSAR / GISCorps pilot project. There was a lot of interest and it sounds like it is time to expand beyond California!
• An update from Caroline Rose on her MS Project. She is looking to interview more SAR personnel on the types of mapping solutions they currently use so we can design better solutions in the future (ie "MapSAR 3.0"). 
• Karyn Tareen spoke about  opportunities to collaborate and learn from other workflows eg USAR, Damage Assessment. She and her GeoCove team have already pioneered some  new workflows.
• Robert Koester has secured funding to continue building out the ISRID Database. 
• D4H has added support for the International Search and Rescue Incident Database and MapSAR!
• A brief update on SARGIS6 East and West. There were a lot of similar themes discussed and everyone seemed very happy with the collaboration between the two locations. 

If you were there or have questions - please feel free to add comments!

Here is a map of attendees.

View larger map

2014 CGIA GeoSummit

The 2014 GeoSummit will be held at UC Merced, March 14th (register by March 7th)

Please consider attending - it's free and this a great way to find out more about GIS Resources in California. I will be giving a talk on GIS in Disaster Response, including Search and Rescue.

For more information see the flier below and register online (by March 7th) at http://communityresearch.ucmerced.edu/form/gis-integrating-your-community-world-life

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.

Where should we have the 6th Annual SARGIS Meeting?

We need a Search and Rescue Team to help us host our 6th Annual Search and Rescue GIS Meeting.

Ideally it would be at a location that: 

• Has a networked computer lab with +20 computers for MapSAR / IGT4SAR training (A University Campus or Training Center)
• A meeting room with projector, high speed internet, and room for +30 people 
• Accessible by airport and public transportation 
• Tent camping nearby 
• Within 30 miles of a microbrewery & a National Park site 

This map should help (zoom in to your area of interest for more local intel)

View Larger Map

I can help organize the event, but need someone to take care of on-site logistics. For example, helping the IT department at a University setup computers for training (install software, test tutorials, etc). We could also consider finding a sponsor for the event once we know where it will be. 

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

I think this year we will open up the event to a webcast for more events so those of you who cannot make it can still attend. 

Here is the agenda from last year.

Here are results as of 01/27/2014. 

This is based on 100 votes so far. I will leave the survey open until Friday - but it is looking like two locations will be needed, joined via web cast.

MapSAR Training in New Mexico

Learn how to use MapSAR and GIS for Search Operations

MapSAR

Participate in the first MapSAR Training in New Mexico! The training is designed to help participants learn how to use MapSAR – a GIS (Geographic Information System) application – for improving Search and Rescue (SAR) efforts. Prior GIS experience is not required to participate in the training but we recommend strongly that those without GIS experience complete ESRI’s free ‘Getting Started with GIS’ web course prior to attending the training. The MapSAR Training is composed of three parts:

• Friday, 01/17/2014, 1530-1700: Seminar, GIS for Search and Rescue
• Saturday, 01/18/2014, 800-1700: MapSAR Tutorial, Yosemite National Park Scenario
• Sunday, 01/19/2014, 800-1700: MapSAR Workshop, New Mexico SAR Scenario 

The seminar on Friday is open to the public. However, registration is required for the trainings on Saturday and Sunday and space is limited. So, register now by submitting the attached form! 

Cost: $0; computers, software, and training materials will be provided 

Location: New Mexico State University, Breland Hall 185 & 194, Las Cruces, NM 88003 Contact: Michaela Buenemann (elabuen@nmsu.edu) for registration details

Due by December 15th, Go to the Registration Page

Participants will be selected from all registrants to ensure that the class is composed of SAR team members from across New Mexico as well as a mix of people with SAR and GIS knowledge and skills.  If vacancies occur, participants on the waiting list will be notified at a later time. See the NM SAR Council Calendar page.

Happy #GISDay from Kenya

Team - 

Today is GIS Day around the world and it has been a very busy year. I am here at ICCM 2013 and learning a lot about what everyone is doing in the CrisisMapping community. 

Most recently the Philippine typhoon and MidWest tornadoes have GIS specialists across the globe working in conjunct with the CrisisMapping community to support response agencies. 

Here are some examples of maps being produced for the Philippines response: 

• GISCorps Philippines Typhoon Online Maps  
• MapAction Map Gallery
• Digital Humanitarian Network Map Gallery

I'd like to recognize the great work of the GISCorps and MapAction this year and look forward to the building bridge we have built between the SAR and GIS professional community.

Critical Planning and Analysis using GIS for WiSAR

By Don Ferguson 
dferguson@mix.wvu.edu

Wilderness search and rescue is understood to be an inherently spatial problem which is relative to both the subject and searcher.  From the standpoint of the subject, many decisions that are made before and after becoming lost or injured are influenced by the terrain and the environment.  These decisions may be either conscious (active) or sub-conscious (passive), and in many ways are driven by both time and space.  In WiSAR related to lost persons, it is the decisions that were made by the subject that resulted in them becoming lost.  Studies on lost person behavior have allowed searchers to categorize individuals that exhibit similar behaviors when they become lost.  These categorical behaviors are observed by plotting Initial Planning Points (Point Last Seen or Last Known Point) and Find locations then extracting information about the terrain and observing trends in the data.  When combined with a critical analysis on the influence of terrain and environment (T & E) on a specific individual, geospatial trends in lost person behavior provide valuable information that could reduce the time taken to locate a lost subject.

Integrated Geospatial Tools for Search and Rescue (IGT4SAR) is a dynamic tool developed to take advantage of using Geographic Information Systems to model lost person behavior and provide a critical analysis on the influence of T & E.  The primary advantage of a GIS is that it allows a user to interact with spatial data and even create new data from existing information, for example estimating cellular coverage across the search area using a digital elevation model and cell tower attributes.  No more is a search analyst limited to extracting information from a printed, topographical map that is most likely outdated.

WiSAR operations that involve a lost subject are plagued with uncertainty.  Where did the subject leave the trail, or is the object found by a search team an actual clue related to the lost subject?  In order to deal with the cognitive complexity of all this uncertainty search analysts often resort to developing scenarios, or hypotheses, to describe what is believed to have happened to the lost subject.  These scenarios provide justification for applying resources to specific geographical locations.  This is critical as lost person searches often cover large geographical areas and have few resources with which to search.  Thus a method is required to assist in prioritizing the search area otherwise the search effort is limited to merely purposeful wandering which is typically less effective than targeted searching.  Among other functions, GIS allows analysts a way to “play-out” various scenarios to determine what is possible and likely. 

Several Lost Person Behavioral models are built directly into IGT4SAR, for example using data provided in Robert Koester’s text on Lost Person Behavior, concentric rings are automatically drawn around the IPP based on subject category that represent the recorded distances to find locations of similar individuals.  Similarly, a Track Offset Model provides a visual representation of how far from a linear feature such as a trail or road in which the subject was found.  The Find Locations tool provides a means of re-classifying spatial data such as roads, trails and hydrology vector data along with a land cover surface raster to display the typical types of features where similar subject were found.

Expanding on the concept of reclassifying raster data, a similar approach is used to create a Least Cost Path Surface that represent the potential subject mobility, or distance travelled, over a period of time.  This model takes terrain features such as slope, access to travel aides (roads, trails, etc) and barriers (bodies of water) along with land cover to estimate how far a subject could have traveled over a given period of time.  Analysis of historical data from Yosemite National Park suggested subjects (predominately hiker category) did not travel more than 1.5 hours walking distance from the IPP.  Know this information could drastically reduce your search area. See Jared Doke's MS Thesis for more on this study. 

Combining these estimates together with specific information you know about the subject and the local T & E, an analyst can “play-out” various scenarios to see what makes sense and assist is assigning a probability of most likely occurrence to the various regions.   This ultimately leads to a Probability Density plot of the search area.   While assigning numerical values in the form of Probability to various regions of the search area may be slightly misleading as it gives the impression that a rigorous quanitfied analysis has been done as opposed to the qualified (Bayesian) analysis, the numerical values allow for easier tracking of progress within the search area in the form of Probability of Detection and Probability of Success.  While to some this may sound complex, GIS is well equipped for handling these types of analysis and these concepts are built into the functionality of IGT4SAR.

To learn more about Integrated Geospatial Tools for Search and Rescue (IGT4SAR) and for using GIS for critical analysis and planning of lost person incidents subscribe to the YouTube videos at:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrWNjhnpNOiEAATDzNw3lFg

If you have development skills or are a GIS Specialist and would like to test these tools please see the GitHub Repo: https://github.com/dferguso/MapSAR_Ex

NAPSG & MapSAR Virtual Training: Wildland Search and Rescue

For more information and sign-up visit the NAPSG link directly: http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e815v7w25372c4c4&llr=nplxpbdab

Saturday September 14, 2013 from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM EDT
Add to Calendar 

Please join NAPSG Foundation and our partners at MapSAR for a special training session on the MapSAR geospatial tool set. Maps are at the core of any Search & Rescue operation.  MapSAR, a combination of maps and GIS technology, helps us to conduct operations so that search teams get out the door more quickly, find those who are lost, and bring them home safely.

Experienced SAR instructors, GIS specialists and NAPSG are excited to offer this no-cost training seminar to show how public safety can incorporate MapSAR geospatial technology into the public safety mission.  Take this opportunity to learn first-hand from SAR members who have successfully used MapSAR in the field to complete their mission.

The purpose of this training is to:

• ·        Introduce how SAR and other public safety operations can benefit from GIS.
• ·        Introduce the MapSAR software (a free download).
• ·        Learn how MapSAR can help with planning and mapping within ICS operations.

While MapSAR is designed for the wildland environment, this training session is not limited to wildland responders.  At NAPSG's recent Northeast Summit, MapSAR was successfully taught to a wide mix of public safety officials - including urban SAR, structural fire, and law enforcement personnel.