Using GPS and GIS, the Contra Costa Search and Rescue team can track which areas their dogs have searched and which they haven't. When Eloise Anderson isn't working as a graphic artist for EA Engineering, Science and Technology in Lafayette, Calif., her life goes to the dogs. As a volunteer search-dog handler for the search and rescue team of the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department and the California Rescue Dog Association, Anderson works with a Labrador retriever who is routinely called upon to find lost children and hikers throughout Northern California. This means that the dog is frequently working at a distance out of sight of the handler.
Handlers generally know where their dog is but there's nothing exact about it.
Determining where the dog has searched is just an approximation, especially over long distances. At first, this situation was solved by putting bells on the dog, but this provided only limited information, especially over long distances with the dog out of sight. GPS and GIS are a natural solution to the problem of knowing exactly where the dogs are and how effective they have been in their search efforts. GPS and GIS combine to provide an optimal solution when trying to quantify areas that have been searched and those that have not. In this case they solved the problem perfectly.