Online Resources for Search and Rescue Personnel

Esri has launched a web portal suppling search and rescue (SAR) personnel with GIS tools, educational materials and a virtual community for learning and sharing. The MapSAR website is the result of a community of search and rescue personnel linked together by their use of GIS.

The goal was to build on that work and supply standards, documents, and training to the international SAR community. Esri aims to help these outstanding organisations and individuals with their very important job: finding lost people. GIS and SAR professionals from Sierra Madre Search and Rescue Team, Esri, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park, Yosemite National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, and Mountaineer Rescue Group came together to develop the MapSAR application. It supplies all SAR personnel, regardless of technical background and skill, with the tools and knowledge needed to effectively use GIS in their operations. Staff members will be able to easily establish their own protocols and workflows to carry out the mapping and planning functions within the incident command structure (ICS). They will be able to apply GIS skills to effectively track search teams and assets for safety and operational efficiency.

The MapSAR site includes a MapSAR Tool running with Esri ArcGIS 10 software enabling maps to be generated, stored, and printed quickly so that search teams can deploy faster to look for missing people and two SAR E-books giving personnel a rich array of information. The first e-book: Using GIS for Wildland Search and Rescue is a core instruction manual for developing a working knowledge of all things GIS for every team member. MapSAR User's Manual is for more advanced GIS users and provides an introduction to and a detailed tutorial for MapSAR. The Search and Rescue Forum is a peer-to-peer network providing a place to discuss technical challenges.