Abstract

GIS in the Search for US POW/MIA Service Members
Track: Defense and Intelligence
Authors: Ryan Taira, Shane Ring

The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) is tasked with finding, recovering and identifying unaccounted-for US service members from the nation's past conflicts. JPAC's mission takes them around the world as they recover remains and give closure to the families of men who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Geography and time are central to the work done every day at JPAC as they reconstruct incidents that happened decades ago.

JPAC's enterprise GIS enables access to disparate data, including document databases, historical research, and field data. JPAC historians and analysts use GIS tools in the office, and in the field, to analyze these historic battlefields and incident locations. This analysis, along with new data collection during field investigations, provides an efficient means for correlating case related historical information with current information and maximizes the probability of recovering unaccounted for service members.