In January we witnessed the end of the search and rescue efforts for the missing Adam Air Boeing 737-400 which crashed around Indonesia. As the events of the desperate search and rescue efforts unfolded, I found myself amazed at how GIS played an important part in the search efforts.
One contributor to the search efforts was Intermap. In a GeoSpatial Solutions article dated 11 Jan 2007, Intermap revealed that they had diverted a radar equipped aircraft to scan areas of Indonesia, so that the company can process and analyse the collected radar data to detect any changes in the terrain which may indicate the coordinate location of the crashed aircraft.
A 16th Jan 2007 Flight International article reported that sonar technology (a technology reminiscent to radar for use primarily underwater) was also utilised in the search efforts, and assisted Indonesian authorities in approaching confirmation of the location of the plane wreckage. The sonar equipment had detected metal objects at the bottom of the seabed off the coast of Parepare several days before a fisherman found a part of the plane near Parepare, north of Macassar, revealed a spokesman for the Indonesian National Transportation Safety Commission chief.
With such technology in our grasp today, and taken a few steps further, the integration of land mapping data, and sea mapping data, can only lead to the improvement of search and rescue efforts around the world.
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