Search and rescue software 20+ years in the making

Otago Daily Times

09-05-2025

Ettrick man Bart Kindt does not get out in the backblocks and bush but his expertise is giving search and rescue operations a real boost.
Mr Kindt has developed the SARTrack incident management software - a system he has been working on for more than 20 years.
The work he has done with the software led to him winning a certificate of achievement at the NZ Search and Rescue Awards this week.
The software takes a lot of the guesswork and mistakes out of a search and rescue operation.
The system is management software which helps run a search and rescue operation. The software can also be run off the internet, which means it can be used in isolated areas which do not have good internet access.
When contacted yesterday, Mr Kindt said he was able to talk about the missing tramper operation at Milford Sound. It was being run off the internet as it was in such an isolated area.
He could see all the maps being used for the search from his Ettrick home.
Mr Kindt (67), a native of the Netherlands who came to New Zealand in 1989, said the system meant co-ordination between the base and those out in the field during SAR operations could be much simpler.
''What used to happen is you would not know where everyone is. Everything was done on paper. The radio operator will be away from the base. You will get people running around with pieces of paper to take to the base. No-one would know where anyone else had been.
''You could be walking 50m away from a dead body and not know it.''
Now with the new software, the information could all be collated into one system. This gave the staff overseeing the operation the ability to work out easily exactly where searchers had gone and how far away they were and radio messages were worked quickly into the system.
The development of the software had come about from him talking to those who worked on SAR operations and knew what was needed.
''This is written bottom up, which makes a big difference. So many thing are developed by people who oversee things but do not work in the field. And in the end the things they create don't work.''
It was a Windows-based system which needed a local database server.
Operators in New Zealand and around the world had been using the system.
Mr Kindt said he did not go out in the bush himself but took radio communications and other equipment to SAR operations.
He also worked with Amateur Radio Emergency Communication groups across the country, which were also involved in rescues and missing-person searches.
Mr Kindt was helped bring the internet to the country and develop it in the South Island. That involved him spending some time in Central Otago, which he took a liking to.
He wanted somewhere quiet, discovered Ettrick and stayed there.