Crowdsearching ideas

[Auntie Cipation]

I've been wondering...

Anyone familiar with Tomnod, the organization who provides post-event aerial photos (unsure if they are custom flights, or, more likely, satellite photos) of an impacted area and then has software allowing volunteers to scroll through the images to help with a specific search, such as finding plane crash wreckage, assessing post-fire or post-flood damage, etc?

Why isn't there some organization doing similar for missing person searches? The scale/zoom issue would have to be improved a bit, if possible, but even if it stayed as is, lots could still be seen.

Anyone know better about the obstacles, or maybe that it is actually in the works? All of us who wish we could help search for Serenity Dennard, or Matthew Weaver, or the dude lost in the Owyhee Mountains (to name three current cases) etc could be scouring aerial photos for bright spots of clothing, etc.

 

[iulia]

I've been wondering...

Anyone familiar with Tomnod, the organization who provides post-event aerial photos (unsure if they are custom flights, or, more likely, satellite photos) of an impacted area and then has software allowing volunteers to scroll through the images to help with a specific search, such as finding plane crash wreckage, assessing post-fire or post-flood damage, etc?

Why isn't there some organization doing similar for missing person searches? The scale/zoom issue would have to be improved a bit, if possible, but even if it stayed as is, lots could still be seen.

Anyone know better about the obstacles, or maybe that it is actually in the works? All of us who wish we could help search for Serenity Dennard, or Matthew Weaver, or the dude lost in the Owyhee Mountains (to name three current cases) etc could be scouring aerial photos for bright spots of clothing, etc.

I don't know about other cases, but in Matthew Weaver's case there are aerial photos available on Aerial Photos
ETA I agree that this is a good idea, and maybe in time it will become the norm for certain types of searches. I don't know what costs it envolves, but I am sure that private funding could cover it in most cases.