Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Development and Integration of Spatial Analyses for Search and Rescue Operations in Yosemite National Park

University Of California - Merced, Merced CA

Investigators

Abstract

Doctoral student Paul Doherty, under the supervision of Professor Qinghua Guo in the School of Engineering at the University of California Merced will develop a system designed to estimate the location of injured and/or lost people in Yosemite National Park based on historical data of where people have been injured and/or found in past rescue events. This project has three research components. The first component involves the process of georeferencing historic incidents from text-based information. This is a common challenge for users of geographic information (ecologists, historians, curators) who rely on spatial data to make decisions. A probability-field georeferencing technique will be used to map historic search and rescue incidents in Yosemite National Park. The second component of this project evaluates the geographic one-class data issue faced by geographers with presence-only test data. More specifically, a model whose parameters are defined by expert knowledge (helicopter managers) will be compared to a model that uses presence-only test points (known landing areas) to develop helicopter landing area suitability layers in Yosemite National Park. This will project will provide a novel testing scenario for dealing with presence-only or geographic one-class data using machine-learning algorithms. The third component of this project will address the problem of locating moving objects in spatiotemporal space. This entails creating a travel-cost layer that uses slope, vegetation density, and path network presence to estimate the time required to cross a known distance within Yosemite National Park. Once this has been completed and tested, an object-oriented model will be constructed to use this travel-cost layer to generate isochrones (time-distance rings). This will allow a user to enter a geographic point and time elapsed to determine the maximum distance a human can travel from a known location. The logical problem to be addressed by this research is an entirely spatial one, "how can developments in geography and spatial sciences help rescuers find and rescue visitors in Yosemite National Park more effectively?" In essence, this research will develop tools for emergency service providers to better do their job in three ways: enable institutional knowledge from incident history in a spatially-enabled digital library format, generate a visualization tool for emergency communication dispatchers and helicopter pilots to locate landing areas, and give search managers a tool for defining the outer limits of their search area when persons go missing. The classic dilemma of search and rescue is a puzzle that professional rescuers, their rescuees, and loved-ones take very seriously. Geographic Information Systems can provide a platform for spatial analyses to help solve problems so that others may live. This research will introduce science-based techniques to provide society with safer and more effective rescue techniques.