People, animals, or objects. Any creator, any volunteer. GDPR-compliant from the first tap. Zones stay honest — checked areas expire and need re-verification.
Before anything else — what's missing? This single choice changes the search model, the probability logic, the zone decay rate, and the profile form that follows. Shown as three large, clear options with no jargon.
Each subject type uses a fundamentally different search model. This is invisible to the creator — the form and map just behave correctly for what's being searched.
| Subject | Search model | Area expands with time? | Zone decay window |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🧍 Person | Behaviour + terrain isochrone. Speed by age / mobility. | Yes — grows per time step | ~1–2 hours. Person may re-enter a cleared zone. |
| 🐾 Animal | Instinct model — water sources, forest edges, hiding spots weighted. | Yes — but slower, tends to loop back | ~2–4 hours. Animals often return to same areas. |
| 📦 Object | Pure coverage model. No movement. Full area must be visually swept. | No — fixed area | No decay. Once cleared = permanently cleared (unless creator resets). |
Account required to create and track a search over time. Quick sign-up: email + password or social login. No account needed to volunteer.
The form changes based on what's being searched. Person gets health and mobility fields. Animal gets species and behaviour. Object gets description and last known state.
Runs once at search creation. Person and animal searches get multiple time steps (area grows). Object searches get a single fixed coverage area. All results saved — no recomputation needed later.
Creator sees the heatmap and picks the time window matching how long the subject has been missing. Then chooses resource mode — "I have X" or "What do I need?" — before segmentation runs.
Enter counts of foot, bike, motorbike, car, drone. System distributes optimally.
System recommends a resource mix for the area. Creator uses it to call for help.
Before any form, the volunteer sees a short summary of the search — what's missing, where, how long ago. This lets them decide if they can realistically help before they're asked for anything personal.
The volunteer says how they're searching. This determines which zone they get assigned — forest zones go to foot volunteers, road zones to vehicles. Simple, fast, one screen.
Under GDPR (Art. 7), consent must be freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous. Location data is special-category personal data when it can identify a person in real time. The consent screen is clear, unbundled, and non-coercive — the volunteer can join without sharing location if they choose.
The system matches the volunteer to the highest-priority unclaimed zone that suits their transport mode. Foot volunteer → forest or trail zone. Car → road zone. They see their assigned zone immediately after consent.
Inside their zone the volunteer taps cells to mark them searched. They can drop remarks — sightings, clues, obstacles — at their current GPS position. All updates appear instantly on the creator's dashboard.
When a volunteer marks their zone done, the system immediately suggests the next best zone nearby. The volunteer can accept, decline and pick their own, or stand down. The assignment is never forced.
The creator can manually mark any zone or individual cell as searched — useful when they receive verbal confirmation from a team over radio, or when they've personally checked an area. Manual marks trigger the same decay countdown as volunteer marks.
A "searched" zone doesn't stay clear forever. For moving subjects, the person or animal may have re-entered the area. The zone colour shifts over time — a visual warning that the check is getting stale and should be repeated.
| Subject type | Full decay window | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| 🧍 Person | 60–120 min | Person moves, may re-enter. Shorter window for higher mobility profiles. |
| 🐾 Animal | 2–4 hours | Animals often circle back. Longer window — less predictable path. |
| 📦 Object | No decay | Objects don't move. Once clear = permanently clear. Creator can manually reset if needed. |
When a zone turns orange or red the creator sees it immediately on the dashboard. They can send a volunteer back to re-check it, or manually mark it re-searched after radio confirmation. The decay clock resets on each new check.
For volunteers who consented to location sharing, the creator sees their real-time position on the map as a moving dot labelled with their name. This helps avoid gaps, spot volunteers going off-route, and confirm coverage without phone calls. Volunteers who declined location sharing appear as a name only — no dot.
Freed volunteers get directed to the next priority zone. Remarks from the field (sightings, obstacles) appear as pins — the creator can promote a sighting to update the LKP, triggering a probability shift on the map. Wider time windows are already computed and available instantly.
On resolution, the creator marks the outcome. Live location streams stop immediately. Volunteer personal data (name, phone, location) is anonymised within 30 days per the stated privacy policy. The anonymised search record (zones, coverage, timestamps) is retained for audit and operational improvement.