SARScene 2015 and Washington DC Trip Report

As I fly back to California, I reflect on a fun and productive week and a half.

Last week I attended the 2015 SARScene in Prince Edward Island, Canada. On Thursday, I helped Norman Deschamps teach a workshop on SAR Explorer (SARX) which had students from multiple provinces. All students agreed they will use SARX for future operations and want to learn more about MapSAR and IGT4SAR for advanced mapping. Norm really broke it down and made it easy to follow, great course.

Then on Friday night, I helped "Team SAR" put together some solutions for combining an online / offline platform for hasty search response. This included a wireless server that can work without internet for signing in volunteers and providing them with a pdf map. When they return within range of the wifi router, it will automatically grab their gps track data. This solution was named "Blue Diamond" and created by Michael Coyle, Thierry Des Trois Maison, and Cameron Dykeman (the night shift). Agata Lawrynczyk built her first ever web mapping application (using ArcGIS Online Web AppBuilder) which contributed to MapSAR Online version 4. This app allows you to very quickly plot the initial planning point, draw an assignment, and print a map. Very simple, but very useful. In the end "Team SAR" won the hackathon!

The GitHub repositories for each solution are public here:

• Blue Diamond https://github.com/SARscene
• MapSAR Online https://github.com/pjdohertygis/MapSAROnline

MapSAR Online can produce a quick map and connect first responders with GIS Analysts working remotely.

After a traditional maritime "kitchen party" on Saturday night in PEI, I said farewell to my Canadian counterparts, and continued on to meet with colleagues from the National Alliance for Public Safety GIS Foundation in Washington D.C. There we met with representatives from the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Team and the National Association for Search and Rescue. As an outcome, the NAPSG Search and Rescue Workgroup now has an informal partnership with FEMA and NASAR to share best practices and hopefully form a more strategic partnership in the future to support the development of standard operating guidelines, symbology tools, and training. 

Needless to say, it was a big month for GIS in SAR. More announcements to follow at SARGIS7, see some of you there!

SAR Mapping Course @SARSceneCanada

For those of you who are going to Canada's National Search and Rescue Conference in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island October 22-26, 2015, (SARScene) we just want to give you a heads up that there will be a workshop on Thursday, October 22 devoted to mapping and GIS specifically for search and rescue location data management. The course includes almost three hours of hands on tutorial with SAR Explorer (SARX), as well as demonstrations of using MapSAR and ArcGIS online for more collaborative SARGIS data management efforts. 

The description of the course, and a link to the course description on the SARScene 2015 website are at the end of the post. There are still about a half dozen spots available in the workshop, so if SAR GIS is your thing, don't miss out!

SAR Mapping - http://www.sarscene.ca/2015/training_e.asp
It is not too late to sign up for SARScene - Registration Page / Renseignements

In this course we will share best practices for using mapping technology and the power of geographic information for both short-term and long-term search operations. We will discuss three technology options in detail and you will learn some hands-on skills. This course is a great opportunity to learn how to use software that provides virtually everything a team needs to mange spatial information during a search operation. Even if your team has already chosen to use a different mapping platform, this session will still be valuable as a way to expand your knowledge on efficiently managing GIS (geographic information system) data during a search.

Instructors:

• Norman Deschamps - Search Manager and GIS Analyst, Tri-County Ground Search and Rescue Association, New Brunswick
• Paul J. Doherty, PhD - WiSAR Specialist, National Alliance for Public Safety GIS Foundation

Location: Rodd Charlottetown - Georgian Terrace
Time: 8:00 - 16:00

Norman Deschamps, creator of SAR Explorer

Paul Doherty, SARGIS enthusiasts

#MapSAR in Canada - Resources and Updates from @SARSceneCanada

From SAR Scene 2013, Chilliwack, British Columbia - For those of you interested in using GIS for Search and Rescue in Canada, we have some resources for you. 

1) Find out about the ArcGIS Desktop for Nonprofit Organization Program by Esri Canada. Go to the website and Request Application for Membership

• $100 for ArcGIS Desktop (administrative fee)
• Designed for small ground SAR organizations in Canada 
• Organization can not be a Nationwide and/or Government owned agency
• Community Based Non Profit Volunteer Organization (with or without a CRA#)
• Must be associated with SARVAC
• CRA Charity registration number - not needed, simply note your relationship with SARVAC

2) Download MapSAR template for ArcGIS Desktop from www.mapsar.net

3) Join our Discussion Group!

Also while at SARScene a few exciting things are happening. Rick Laing and myself just taught a MapSAR Workshop and tomorrow I will give a presentation on Using GIS in SAR and Rick will be on a SAR Technology discussion panel.

There are already talks of a MapSAR training event next year in British Columbia, location TBD (and perhaps Banff as well). 

Right now - we are integrating MapSAR with ArcGIS Online via the ArcGIS Collector and Operations Dashboard. Below is a view of the action from our web map. Stay tuned for more (including a post within the next week about how to obtain base data for building your minimum essential datasets). Please comment here or on the discussion group if you know of some great place to acquire Canadian base data (trails, roads, hydro, topo etc.) or datasets that you desperately need for your area.