The Esri User Conference 2024 (Esri UC 2024) awarded the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) with a “Special Achievement in GIS Award” (SAG Award) 2024 in recognition of its vision and innovation in adopting GIS technology to create the Rescue Map (R-Map) for mountain search and rescue (SAR) operations.

In response to the rising number of hiking accidents and the increasing demand for mountain search and rescue operations, the HKPF has developed an innovative smart search and rescue solution called Rescue Map (R-Map). Leveraging ArcGIS as the foundational system, the R-Map is uniquely designed to provide a birds-eye view for commanders to make swift decisions on deployment based on real-time rescue intelligence. This is particularly useful in coordinating large-scale joint-departmental SAR missions. R-Map is a 3D interactive digital map on both a mobile app and desktops that visualizes key information on rescue missions, e.g. search routes, topography, biometric data of rescuers with tagging and live broadcast features. Such information is critical to the rescue team for real-time situational awareness and effective coordination of SAR missions.

With its comprehensive and revolutionary features, the R-Map has the potential to reduce search times and improve the chances of saving lives. 

Developed by the Hong Kong Police Force, the R-Map was awarded the “Special Achievement in GIS Award” at the Esri User Conference 2024. 

The Hong Kong Police Force demonstrated the R-Map during a joint operation exercise in Sai Kung. (source: Hong Kong Police Force YouTube Channel)

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