An interactive visualization system for urban search & rescue mission planning

Abstract

We present a visualization system for incident commanders in urban search & rescue scenarios that supports the inspection and access path planning in post-disaster structures. Utilizing point cloud data acquired from unmanned robots, the system allows for assessment of automatically generated paths, whose computation is based on varying risk factors, in an interactive 3D environment increasing immersion. The incident commander interactively annotates and reevaluates the acquired point cloud based on live feedback. We describe design considerations, technical realization, and discuss the results of an expert evaluation that we conducted to assess our system.