georeferencing in sar and catastrophic incidents · 1. no single map/chart projection or...

Georeferencing in

SAR and Catastrophic

Incidents

CDR Aurora Fleming

United States Coast Guard

National SAR Committee(www.uscg.mil/nsarc)

U.S. SAR System

Homeland

Security

Defense State TransportationCommerce NASAInterior FCC

All SAR:

Land Sea Air

National SAR Committee

NSARC Observers:

• Civil Air Patrol

• National Transportation Safety Board

• National Association for Search and

Rescue (NASAR)

• State SAR Coordinators

• National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

National, interagency

committee focused on

matters relating to:

• SAR policy, processes,

organization

• Other areas of interest

to promote SAR

cooperation and

coordination

19-Page Plan:

“. . .coordinating search and rescue

(SAR) services to meet domestic needs

and international commitments.”

2007

• Identifies NSARC

member agency SAR

responsibilities

• Assigns U.S. SAR

Coordinators

• Overview of general SAR coordination, &

national/international SAR responsibilities

• Serves as the basis for the U.S. SAR system

National SAR Plan

U.S. Northern

Command

Continental

U.S. and Alaska

U.S. Coast Guard

All U.S. maritime SAR

regions, Hawaii and

U.S. navigable waters

and waters under U.S.

jurisdiction

National SAR Plan

U.S. Federal SAR

Coordinators (SCs)

U.S. Northern

Command

Continental

U.S. and Alaska

U.S. Coast Guard

All U.S. maritime SAR

regions, Hawaii and

U.S. navigable waters

and waters under U.S.

jurisdiction

National SAR Plan

U.S. Federal SAR

Coordinators (SCs)

State SAR CoordinatorsLocal and volunteer SAR

professionals

Georeferencing

and SAR

Framing the Issue:

Georeferencing through

the lens of Hurricane

Katrina

SAR Responders:

Three georeferencing challenges in

disasters… and for any SAR response

1. How do SAR responders, planners

and support personnel navigate when

landmarks, such as street signs, are

destroyed?

…or SAR responders can’t find the

location of persons needing help?

??

• SAR responders may

not have local/on

scene knowledge

• Can cause delays in

getting critical

lifesaving resources

on scene

2. How do SAR

responders, planners

& support personnel

communicate

position information

in a common

language & format?

• What coordinate system

should be used?

• What format should the

information be relayed?

3. SAR resource deconfliction: Multiple

SAR responders/resources working

in a common operating area

• The challenge: Use

position information to

ensure SAR resources are

effectively managed in a

large area search/disaster

Communicating Location

1. Local knowledge

• It’s great if you have it!

• If you don’t, you can easily get lost in

a response…

o Critical SAR resources can be

delayed in arriving on scene


2. Latitude & Longitude can be

communicated three different ways:

• DD-MM-SS.S(43°-38’-33.2”N 79°-23’-13.7”W)

• DD-MM.mm(43°-38.55’N 79°-23.23’W)

• DD.dd(43.64°N 79.39°W)




• DD-MM-SS.S(43°-38’-33.2”N 79°-23’-13.7”W)

o Most common format used to mark maps

o Most cumbersome to work with…

• DD-MM.mm(43°-38.55’N 79°-23.23’W)

• DD.dd(43.64°N 79.39°W)




• DD-MM-SS.S(43°-38’-33.2”N 79°-23’-13.7”W)

• DD-MM.mm(43°-38.55’N 79°-23.23’W)

o Most common format used when

working with electronic navigation

equipment

• DD.dd(43.64°N 79.39°W)




• DD.dd(43.64°N 79.39°W)

o Displayed by most computer

based mapping systems


Catastrophic Incident

Georeferencing Matrix

(www.uscg.mil/nsarc)

Georeference

System UserUSNG

Latitude/Longitude

DD-MM.mmm(1)GARS

Land SAR Responder(2) Primary Secondary N/A

Aeronautical SAR

Responders (3)Secondary Primary Tertiary

Air Space Deconfliction (4) N/A Primary N/A

Land SAR Responder/

Aeronautical SAR Responder

Interface (5)Primary Secondary N/A

Incident Command:

Air SAR Coordination

Land SAR Coordination

Secondary

Primary

Primary

Secondary

N/A

N/A

Area organization and

accountability (6)Secondary Tertiary Primary

1. During SAR operations,

Lat/Long will be in one

standard format:

DD-MM.mmm

2. Land SAR Responders

use USNG; however, a

good familiarity with

lat/long is necessary for

effective interface

between Land & Air

SAR Responders

NSARC Georeferencing

Matrix: Footnotes

3. Air SAR responders will use lat/long

4. Air space deconfliction: only in Lat/Long

5. Air SAR Responders working with Land

SAR Responders have primary

responsibility of coordinating SAR using

USNG (Both need to know USNG and

Lat/Long)

6. GARS (Global Area Reference System):

Used for CISAR response leadership

situational awareness

NSARC Georeferencing

Matrix: Footnotes

Bottom Line

1. No single map/chart projection or

coordinate/grid system will be perfect

for all SAR applications (Urban, Land,

Aeronautical and Maritime)

Bottom Line

• Georeferencing

matrix is a bridge

to help SAR

responders work

together

2. Matrix is for NSARC

Federal SAR Responders

Bottom Line

• NSARC won’t impose

georeferencing standards

on volunteer/local/State

SAR responders

• But it does work…

3. Effective interface

between the Incident

Command, and Land

(or maritime)/Air

SAR responders is

vital to successful

SAR coordination

and response

Bottom Line

4. Standardized georeferencing guidance

will break down comms and cultural

barriers that can impede a SAR response

Questions?

NSARC: www.uscg.mil/nsarc

Background Slides

Lat/Long,

USNG

and

GARS

Keeping it simple ~ The commonly

described “Latitude and Longitude”

describes what a SAR responder will

use on a standard chart/map and

what is displayed in a GPS receiver

Lat/Long

U.S. National Grid (USNG):

• Ground-based gridded coordinate system

based on Universal Transverse Mercator

(UTM) System

• Basic unit of measure: meter; positions

reported as distance north from equator

and distance from the zone central meridian

• Purpose: provide a seamless, standardized

reference system for nationwide use during

times of crisis(Talbot Brooks, US National Grid [article online];

http://mississippi.deltastate.edu/)

• Functionally

equivalent to

the Military Grid

Reference

System (MGRS)

U.S. National Grid (USNG):

Global Area Reference

System (GARS):

• Worldwide area reference system

• Used for unit deconfliction; can be

used for large-area SAR efforts;

• GARS divides world into 30-min by 30-min

cells and further subdivides those cells into

15-min by 15-min quadrants that are further

subdivided into 5- min by 5-min cells.

• GARS is an overlay area reference system

based on standard Latitude/Longitude.

• Proposal to further subdivide GARS into 1-

min by 1-min quadrants to further facilitate

SAR ops.

Global Area Reference

System (GARS):

georeferencing in sar and catastrophic incidents · 1. no single map/chart projection or...

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