Search and rescue crews from all over the world need a technology that is able to cover vast distances with a minimum cost. This type of technology can take the form of aerial drones because drones are cost effective and they can cover vast distances. Moreover, recent developments in terms of collaborative mapping and computing power mean that drones will have a higher resolution camera and they will benefit from a universal map that can be of significant importance to the coordination effort.

Drones need to use a common map in order to keep track of the distance that they cover. This map can be created by the OpenStreetMap community and it can be supplied to organizations such as sardrones.org in order to save lives. We need to acknowledge one fact and that fact is that OpenStreetMap is a fantastic tool for search and rescue people. Moreover, OSM is also great for tourists who may get lost on a mountain.

Imagine a scenario for example – one person gets lost in the woods. There is the need to establish a perimeter around the area and given the fact that a lot of victims are found dozens of miles away – the perimeter needs to be larger than usual and this implies the fact that securing such a perimeter with foot power is not easy. It is far easier to secure this perimeter with drones. With the help of a map and with the help of an automatic communication system between drones this type of perimeter can easily be established and maintained while essential manpower can be used in order to provide additional effort inside the perimeter.

Search and rescue crews need drones more than ever and it is about time to use technology in order to save more lives. Far too many people get lost in the woods and far too many people are never found. Just imagine for a second how much land a drone can cover and you will soon realize that this technology has a huge potential for amplifying the effort of search and rescue crews.

Now, to begin with – search and rescue operations are not typical. They do not have a typical response and it is not easy to determine what can happen. Quite often, the weather goes bad and this fact alone can spell gloom and doom for the victim that may get lost in the woods or natural forests. For this exact reason, I strongly believe that the OpenStreetMap community must be fully aware of the fact that mapping remote locations is a fundamental effort for the search and rescue people.

As members of this community, we are fully aware of the fact that we are working on one of the best maps in the world and we need to add in all the details that we need in order to create a useful map for search and rescue people. I believe that we need to map out only important information and this information is local. Local knowledge is important but in the rest, when it comes to armchair mapping – we need to come up with something smart and fortunately, there are plenty of options available in order to do some great armchair mapping.

I believe that in the near future, the price of drones will go down exponentially due to the fact that computer chips will become cheaper. In about 5 years we will be able to use 40$ drones in order to create high-quality imagery and this fact alone is going to contribute to the overall quality of our maps in an exponential way.

In the end, it is important to acknowledge the fact that search and rescue organizations need aerial imagery and maps and with our strong community we have the power to help these organizations in a truly innovative way. Just as drones have created a revolution in the realm of imagery, drones will also create a revolution in OSM and the innovations brought on by this revolution will spread to the search and rescue organizations of the world.