Men rescued from Pacific island after writing SOS in sand
Call this a freely given and viable but hard to monetize idea - this is a very tractable area for software and drones. Same with locating people in lost wilderness areas. You have a programmatic way to organize coverage areas, you have access to above-human audio and video capabilities, and it reduces the resources&#x2F;time ratio that is critical in rescues.<p>This was the tragic and avoidable story that convinced me this was possible - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nytimes.com&#x2F;2016&#x2F;05&#x2F;27&#x2F;us&#x2F;missing-hiker-geraldine-largay-appalachian-trail-maine.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nytimes.com&#x2F;2016&#x2F;05&#x2F;27&#x2F;us&#x2F;missing-hiker-geraldin...</a><p>There was a limited geographical footprint and coordinated, modestly sized fleet of quadcopters with mics and&#x2F;or thermal imaging could probably cover 20 square miles&#x2F;day. Same couple be applied with optical&#x2F;higher altitude drones for people lost at sea. You could supplement sensors with basic face&#x2F;voice recognition in less remote settings. You could supplement with something like Planet in more remote&#x2F;ocean settings.<p>Does something like that exist already?