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新技术帮助救援人员找到失踪人员

时间:2019-07-01 12:16:10

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New Technology Helps Rescuers Find Missing People

Yesenia D’Alessandro added a global positioning system, or GPS, recording1 program to her mobile phone before entering a hard-to-reach Hawaiian forest.

She was joining more than 100 volunteers looking for a missing person.

D’Alessandro flew all the way from the state of Maryland to join the rescue efforts. The volunteers searched through dense2 plant life, crossed rivers and faced other environmental difficulties.

The group was searching for D’Alessandro’s friend, Amanda Eller. She had disappeared last month.

“You have to search everywhere,” D’Alessandro told the Associated Press.

She and others gathered GPS data of the ground they covered using apps on their phones. Organizers put that data on a special computer-based map to help better understand where they should look next.

In time, the technology led the volunteers to Eller. She survived for 17 days in the Maui forest by eating plants and drinking water from a small river. Her rescue shows how new technology helps rescue teams more effectively search the wilderness3 for missing people.

“It kind of led us to search outside of that high-priority4 area to where we actually found Amanda,” said Amanda’s father, John Eller.

In the United States, more teams are turning to the technology that combines mobile phone GPS with computer-based maps. This details waterways, underground areas and other hard-to-search places. It helps organize the work of large numbers of volunteers.

The system showed when Hawaii searchers had covered a three-kilometer radius5 around Eller’s car. After that, searchers sent a helicopter deeper into the forest, where they found the 35-year-old woman.

Chris Berquist, a volunteer search leader, said the team would never have looked outside the area they thought she was likely in without the technology.

“There’s no reason to start reaching further and further out of the box if we hadn’t completely searched the box,” he said.

David Kovar works for the nonprofit National Association for Search and Rescue. He said most search and rescue teams use computer-based maps. That could mean anything from Google Maps to specialized6 software called SARTopo. California search and rescue experts used SARTopo to advise the Maui volunteers from a distance.

Search organizers in Hawaii asked volunteers to download a low-cost app called GPS Tracks. It puts lines on a map showing where a user has walked.

GPS data showed that searchers were covering the same areas repeatedly as dense plant life or other natural barriers blocked their path, Berquist said. Organizers started dropping markers on volunteers’ maps to give them targets. This pushed volunteers to cover more ground and made the search more accurate.

Matt Jacobs is a California software engineer and search volunteer. He developed SARTopo more than eight years ago after noting teams struggled to identify details on wilderness maps drawn7 by different agencies. What started as a project of personal interest has grown in popularity8 in the past few years to become Jacobs’ full-time9 job. Search and rescue teams from Oregon to North Carolina have started using it.

Rescuers used it in March as 100 volunteers searched a Northern California forest, eventually finding 8-year-old Leia Carrico and her 5-year-old sister, Caroline.

SARTopo also is becoming available as a mobile phone app. This will make it even easier to directly connect the GPS data with computer-based maps so searchers can look at them wherever they are.

Government officials are looking at making use of new technology. Most large searches are done by volunteers because many places do not do enough of them to keep official teams employed.

Maui firefighters used hand-drawn maps as they looked for Eller over the first three days of her going missing. That is because the walking path system in the Makawao Forest Reserve where Eller went missing does not appear on Google Maps.

Mike St. John is a volunteer leader of the search and rescue team at the Marin County Sheriff’s Office in California. He was among those who advised the Maui team. He said GPS recordings10 of where people have looked are very important.

“It’s about using GPS maps and utilizing11 GPS to make sure you’re hitting your assignment,” St. John said.

St. John said his search and rescue experts are not always able to offer the same level of help to others that they gave to the group in Maui. But they are trying to find out how to be able to in the future.

Berquist, the Hawaii search leader, visited California this week to talk with St. John about how Marin County’s volunteer program works. He aims to set up something similar back in Maui.

After technology helped find his daughter Amanda, John Eller donated software and other equipment to Berquist’s team. He is also developing a search and rescue app and giving $10,000 to support Hawaii searches and rescues.

He said, “We feel so lucky with everything everybody did for us, so we’re looking to give back.”

I’m Susan Shand.

And I’m Pete Musto.

Words in This Story

app(s) – n. a computer program that performs a particular task

priority – n. the condition of being more important than something or someone else and therefore coming or being dealt with first

radius – n. an area that goes outward in all directions from a particular place

accurate – adj. free from mistakes or errors

utilizing – v. using something for a given purpose


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 recording UktzJj     
n.录音,记录
参考例句:
  • How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间?
  • I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。
2 dense aONzX     
a.密集的,稠密的,浓密的;密度大的
参考例句:
  • The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
  • The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。
3 wilderness SgrwS     
n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等,荒漠
参考例句:
  • She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
  • Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。
4 priority qQ1xB     
n.优先处理的事,居先,优先(权)
参考例句:
  • The development of the national economy is a top priority.发展国民经济是应予以最优先考虑的事。
  • Things should be taken up in order of priority.办事应有个先后次序。
5 radius LTKxp     
n.半径,半径范围;有效航程,范围,界限
参考例句:
  • He has visited every shop within a radius of two miles.周围两英里以内的店铺他都去过。
  • We are measuring the radius of the circle.我们正在测量圆的半径。
6 specialized Chuzwe     
adj.专门的,专业化的
参考例句:
  • There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
  • These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。
7 drawn MuXzIi     
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的
参考例句:
  • All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
  • Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。
8 popularity bO4xU     
n.普及,流行,名望,受欢迎
参考例句:
  • The story had an extensive popularity among American readers.这本小说在美国读者中赢得广泛的声望。
  • Our product enjoys popularity throughout the world.我们的产品饮誉全球。
9 full-time SsBz42     
adj.满工作日的或工作周的,全时间的
参考例句:
  • A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
  • I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作,我不知道她是如何对付的。
10 recordings 22f9946cd05973582e73e4e3c0239bb7     
n.记录( recording的名词复数 );录音;录像;唱片
参考例句:
  • a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
  • old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐
11 utilizing fbe1505f632dff25652a1730952a6464     
v.利用,使用( utilize的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • Utilizing an assembler to produce a machine-language program. 用汇编程序产生机器语言的过程。 来自辞典例句
  • The study and use of devices utilizing properties of materials near absolute zero in temperature. 对材料在接近绝对零度时的特性进行研究和利用的学科。 来自辞典例句

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