Research summary
Terrain, Terminology, and Insights: A Thematic Review of Conceptual and Spatial Reasoning in Land Search and Rescue New Zealand
A timed exercise with 70 SAR practitioners found broad agreement on basic concepts but inconsistencies in subject profiling, location terms and map annotation. Most favoured reassessing assumptions and high-probability areas before expanding the search.
By Kris Manning 1 min read
- Search planning
- Probability & search theory
- Search management
- Mapping & GIS
Authors: Ed Cook and Aly Curd, LandSAR New Zealand
Published: 1 May 2026
Original: Journal article and PDF
Evidence: Emerging — peer-reviewed workshop study.
Operational significance: The study supports several practical concerns:
People can use familiar terms while attaching different meanings to them.
Subject categories become unreliable when circumstances span more than one behavioural profile.
Inconsistent map marks can undermine shared situational awareness.
Expansion is not automatically the right response to an unsuccessful search.
Reassessment should examine both the probability model and the quality of previous coverage.
Limitations: This was a conference exercise involving a relatively experienced, self-selecting New Zealand sample. Answers were produced by groups rather than independent individuals; no inter-rater reliability analysis was reported. The short response time assessed reasoning under pressure, but not necessarily considered operational judgement. Preferred answers were not linked to better search outcomes.
Training sections: Information gathering and subject assessment; behavioural profiling; scenario development; briefing and confirmation of understanding; Search Operations; reassessment and replanning; handover.
Training decision — Reinforce: Retain the manual’s existing emphasis on a shared incident picture, explicit terminology, confirmation of understanding and reassessment. Use ambiguous subject classifications and conflicting location terms in exercises rather than teaching profiles as rigid labels.