Herramientas gráficas al rescate. Fotografía aérea de alta resolución para la localización de personas desaparecidas

Abstract

Since the COVID-19 pandemic changed the rules of the game

in many work environments, adaptation has been a key factor.

Restrictions such as social distance or confinement made

searches for missing persons more difficult. Although mobility

limitations led to a decrease in the number of disappearances,

they did not stop completely and search teams had to adapt to

the new scenario that prevented, for example, the participation

of volunteers. For these reasons, it was decided to implement

a tool that has been in development for years, based on the

Collaboration Agreement signed in 2015 between the Servicio

de Prevención y Extinción de Incendios de la Diputación

Provincial de Zaragoza (SPEI-DPZ) and the University of

Zaragoza. The tool is called Virtual Cloud Search and Rescue

(VC-SAR) and is still under development by the authors of this

communication. The following is a basic description of the

tool and how it was applied in a real case, in which a missing

person was being searched. The device used made it possible

to obtain about 5000 images of 44.7 megapixels, covering an

area of over 2000 hectares. Thanks to the searches carried out,

more than 100 pieces of evidence were found over the course

of four days, which could be collected for on-site investigation

by the Navarra Fire Service. All this was possible thanks to the

collaboration of 5 different fire departments, belonging to three

provinces, making possible the participation of a total of 53

searchers from different locations.