Search and Surveillance in emergency situations - A GIS-based approach to construct optimal visibility graphs
Michael Morin, Irène Abi‐Zeid, Thanh Tung Nguyen, Luc Lamontagne, Patrick Maupin · Corpus Université Laval (Université Laval) · 2013
We present a methodology to construct optimal visibility graphs from vector and raster terrain data based on the integration of Geographic Information Systems, computational geometry, and integer linear programming. In an emergency situation, the ability to observe an environment, completely or partially, is crucial when searching an area for survivors, missing persons, intruders or anomalies. We first analyze inter-visibility using computational geometry and GIS functions. Then, we optimize the visibility graphs by choosing vertices in a way to either maximize coverage with a given number of watchers or to minimize the number of watchers needed for full coverage.