PSU MGIS Capstone Workshop Pre-Proposal 25 March 2011 Loren Pfau – ldp140@psu.edu Proposed Topic: Sources and Uses of Geospatial Information in Wilderness Search and Rescue Background: Wilderness search and rescue (SAR) organizations have access to an ever-increasing set of sources and volume of geospatial information that may be employed in conducting back-country operations. This includes traditional sources such as e911 calls and Emergency Locator Transmitters that are being enhanced, as well as emerging sources such as the SPOT locator and social media applications such as Google Latitude. The challenges facing SAR teams lie in understanding what information is available; how it may be accessed; strengths and weaknesses; and how it may be utilized in a time-sensitive mission. Objectives: Develop a body of knowledge concerning the sources and uses of geospatial information that may be encountered and used in the conduct of wilderness SAR missions. Identify new information sources, explain how the information may be accessed and in what formats it will be presented, describe the strengths and weaknesses of the data sources in the context of wilderness SAR and provide guidance to SAR teams on how to integrate these new information sources into their mission management and training processes. Methods: Research into the existing body of knowledge (papers and presentations) on the uses of new geospatial information sources in wilderness SAR and closely-allied fields (urban SAR, disaster management, wild land firefighting, etc.) Research of commercially-available systems capable of producing geospatial information for backcountry travelers Interviews and/or questionnaires of law enforcement, dispatch, and SAR team mission managers on their experiences and uses of non-traditional sources of location information Possible use of real mission data from my SAR team (Alpine Rescue Team in Evergreen, CO) Possible example of use of location information in conjunction with traditional SAR methods (for instance, lost person behavior probability bands or avalanche debris field search theory) to demonstrate how to capitalize on new data sources
PSU MGIS Capstone Workshop Pre-Proposal 25 March 2011 Loren Pfau – ldp140@psu.edu Proposed Topic: Sources and Uses of Geospatial Information in Wilderness Search and Rescue Background: Wilderness search and rescue (SAR) organizations have access to an ever-increasing set of sources and volume of geospatial information that may be employed in conducting back-country operations. This includes traditional sources such as e911 calls and Emergency Locator Transmitters that are being enhanced, as well as emerging sources such as the SPOT locator and social media applications such as Google Latitude. The challenges facing SAR teams lie in understanding what information is available; how it may be accessed; strengths and weaknesses; and how it may be utilized in a time-sensitive mission. Objectives: Develop a body of knowledge concerning the sources and uses of geospatial information that may be encountered and used in the conduct of wilderness SAR missions. Identify new information sources, explain how the information may be accessed and in what formats it will be presented, describe the strengths and weaknesses of the data sources in the context of wilderness SAR and provide guidance to SAR teams on how to integrate these new information sources into their mission management and training processes. Methods: Research into the existing body of knowledge (papers and presentations) on the uses of new geospatial information sources in wilderness SAR and closely-allied fields (urban SAR, disaster management, wild land firefighting, etc.) Research of commercially-available systems capable of producing geospatial information for backcountry travelers Interviews and/or questionnaires of law enforcement, dispatch, and SAR team mission managers on their experiences and uses of non-traditional sources of location information Possible use of real mission data from my SAR team (Alpine Rescue Team in Evergreen, CO) Possible example of use of location information in conjunction with traditional SAR methods (for instance, lost person behavior probability bands or avalanche debris field search theory) to demonstrate how to capitalize on new data sources
Pfau_Capstone_Pre-Proposal_20110325.docx