Greetings!

I'm new to this thread, and to this search effort. I'm Colorado-based Private Pilot with no SAR experience, and no experience in evaluating imagery - just a desire to help.

I'm getting a sense in this thread that there's a great deal of diversity in the experience and skills of the participants. As I understand it, our role in this process is to focus on the evaluation of the imagery, and generate high-quality leads for the SAR team on the ground.

I'm comfortable using the features of Google Earth - but I'm a complete novice in the evaluation of overhead imagery. The basic tutorial I'm looking for would address:

o How long - as a rule of thumb - should it take to thoroughly evaluate one image set?

o Aside from the outline of the aircraft, what other telltale features should we be looking for?

o I've discovered on my own that scanning the image - then spinning it 90 degrees and scanning it again, until I've looked at it from 360 degrees - is useful. Are the other practical techniques for evaluating these image sets?

o I understand how to turn the overlay on and off, and that these image sets may not perfectly line up. You can also use the slider bar at the bottom of the "Places" box to vary the transparency of the overlay, and that can be helpful to compare the overlay with the previous imagery.

o Is there an easy way to retrieve an adjacent image set?

Basically - I think I'm looking for a handful of practical techniques and considerations to help to quickly and thoroughly evaluate the image sets. There seems to be several folk on this project with training and experience who could help by posting some pointers for us newbies.

I believe this is really at the heart of making this project a credible effort - the quality of the evaluation and leads we can provide by developing and sharing techniques for good analysis.

cheers,
jreves