Position Tracking and GIS in Search and Rescue Operations

Geographical information systems can be useful in supporting an operational or situational picture in emergency situations. One particular use case is to keep track of moving personnel in the field. This has proven to be useful for safety (of rescue personnel), as well as for monitoring, planning and documentation of operations in the field. In this chapter, we define some concepts of tracking information, and tell the story how enthusiasts from the radio-amateur and red-cross communities developed and applied position tracking to search and rescue services in Norway. Based on years of experience from this work we discuss some issues related to how systems could deal with such spatiotemporal data in emergency and SAR situations.