Rubble Viewer maps disasters in 3D

Almost six years ago a staff member came up with an ad that said "Emergencies don't wait, Neither should victims™ Emergencies don't happen on a schedule, they happen 24 hours a day, 7 days week...©"

If your a first responder you know this all too well. You also know when it comes to disaster response time spent surveying the scene means time not spent looking for survivors.

Researchers at Texas A&M University and Delft University in the Netherlands may have worked out a solution to save cricital minutes; deploy several unmanned air vehicles (SUAV's) to take snapshots of the rubble. The photos are then uploaded to a program based on Microsoft's Photosynth® software called RubbleViewer which turns them into a 3D navigable map. First responders can click on different areas of the map to help locate possible survivors.

View Rubble-Viewer in action http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid263777539?bctid=18022720001

The creators of Rubble-Viewer hope to have the software available in August which is the height of hurricane season.

Trademarks are property of their respective owners Microsoft Corporation, R. Murphy, rights of Rubble-Viewer unknown at this time