How technology helps save people

1. Detailed interactive GPS maps

Standard online maps are good for navigating cities, but finding people lost somewhere in the wild is difficult. In forests and reserves, not only the area is important, but also the features of the landscape. A way out of this situation was proposed by a Californian programmer and volunteer Matt Jacobs. In 2010 he created SARTopo/CalTopo map with a detailed description of the area, display of paths and the ability to leave drawings and marks with comments. They allow search parties to remember where they've been so they don't have to search multiple times in the same place.

SARTopo is used by volunteers in the USA. For example, in 2019 the map helped find two little girls in the North Carolina woods, a 35-year-old woman in Hawaii, and a 67-year-old man in San Francisco. Plus, SARTopo periodically acquires new features. So, in 2021 there appeared SMS locators: search engines send a message to a lost person with a link. By clicking on it, he automatically sends his exact geolocation. True, for the system to work, a person must be in the network coverage area.

A similar card is used in Russia. The volunteer search and rescue team "Lisa Alert" for this There is resource "Tracks LA". From 2020 he works all over the country: in the database you can see every currently open search. Already studied routes are fixed on the LA Tracks maps using colored lines - this allows you to form hypotheses and speed up the process.

2. Drones

Flying drones with cameras help search teams to more quickly explore the area and check hard-to-reach places. Sometimes they are equipped with additional tools, such as thermal imagers and microcomputers. Latest installed in the drones of the Russian company Albatross. The device studies the picture using a neural network: it looks for the missing person in appearance and, if found, transmits a signal to the operator. Such a drone can distinguish facial features even in the dark or during rain. Some versions of Albatros drones also have a built-in loudspeaker that allows you to send a message to the lost that help is close. A way to search by appearance through drones offers and Beeline. Their Beeline AI - people search technology was created specifically for Lisa Alert: by the beginning of 2022, with its help, the detachment found 42 people.

Drones are useful in other cases as well. For example, their use for monitoring territories after hurricanes, earthquakes and floods. They can also transfer humanitarian aid to affected people. And the Australian drones "The Little Ripper Lifesaver" work in a team with lifeguards on the beach. Drones are able to identify sharks approaching shallow water and transport rescue equipment: in 2018 this drone function helped two teenagers who were far from the shore.

3. SMS alerts

Mobile messages can save people in different situations. Through them, warnings about high risks of natural emergencies or safety rules during epidemics can be sent. Thus, in 2014, through the TERA platform, humanitarian organizations shared with the people of Sierra Leone for advice on how to reduce the risk of Ebola. Sometimes SMS become and the only source and means of information exchange for people stranded in affected areas.

Messages also help in finding missing people. They are used, for example, by "Lisa Alert" - it sends SMS with information about the person they are looking for. But not randomly, but by specific numbers. The development of “Beeline. Search". With the help of big data analysis algorithms, the system finds people who could see the missing person or have important data, and ask them to help with any information.

4. Facial recognition systems

This is a technology based on neural networks that can identify a person by facial features and other distinguishing features. Similar systems are built into CCTV cameras in various cities around the world. There are many successful cases of this technology. For example, in 2020 in China, the face recognition system allowed find the guy who was kidnapped 30 years ago when he was still a child. And in 2021 in India cameras identified lost woman, even though she was wearing a mask.

Often this technology is used to search for missing children. For this purpose, the software of companies is used. clearview AI, TrackChild, Youtu Lab. The GMCNgine system from the US National Center for Missing Children, for example, works not only for face recognition. After receiving a message from the parents, it automatically creates posters with information about the child, and then transmits them to the Federation of Internet Alerts (FIA). As a result, network users in the region where the missing person may be, instead of the usual contextual advertising on sites, see an ad from GMCNgine.

5. search beacons

Such came up with rescuers in Yakutsk to quickly search for people lost in the forest. Beacons help to call for help even where mobile communications do not work. They are placed on trees in different parts of the forest - the distance between the devices is about 3-4 kilometers. They give light and sound signals so that lost people can navigate in space. Approaching the lighthouse, a person must press the feedback button - the message will immediately go to the rescuers, and they will go to the place.

This development allows not only to reduce the efforts of the search team, but also to get to work faster. A missing person is usually reported on the second or even third day of his absence, and with beacons, rescuers do not need to wait for a signal from relatives or loved ones.